Enough passport book stocks until June, says Immigration DG

KUALA LUMPUR: There are enough passport booklets in stock to fulfil the demand until June, says Immigration Department director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud.

"There are currently 1.2 million passports in Immigration's stock and this is expected to fulfil the demand until June," he told reporters at the Jalan Duta Immigration office here.

He said since international borders reopened on April 1, a total of 208,607 passports have been issued, adding that 42,000 passports were issued over the past five days.

Thursday (May 11) was also the first day where Immigration Department operating hours were extended to 10pm in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor, Johor, Negri Sembilan and Melaka.

Khairul Dzaimee said around 30 to 40 people turned up at the Jalan Duta Immigration office after 7pm to renew their passports.

"There are not that many (people) and it could be because some are unaware operation time has been extended to 10pm," he said.

The Immigration Department is anticipating the numbers to increase from Friday (May 13), he added.

He expects the congestion at counters to continue for three to four months as the borders are now open.

"We expect the queue now to shift to night," he said.

"The night service will continue until the situation returns to normal to pre-pandemic levels.

"(For now) there's no deadline (for the night service), but our target is three months," he added.

He encouraged applicants to renew their passports online, adding that applicants could save between 45 minutes and an hour by using the online system.

On problems with the online system, he said the issues have been addressed.

"The system has been rectified and improved," he said.

He added that those who have trouble uploading the photo can bypass the requirement and proceed to pay online.

They can then submit their payment slips at Immigration counters.

"If they don't receive any notification from us after three days, they can come to the Immigration counters and collect the passports," he added.