If you’ve been reading my Tweets, you might have read my moaning about having to renew my passport, which means having to take a new photo ID for the new passport.
If you have a decent enough camera you can actually take your own passport photos – this way, you can be sure you look human, decent and not like a fugitive (unlike mine, made more so by pixelation :P) but you can also run the risk of your photo being rejected by the immigration department for not fulfiling certain criteria. I had mine taken at a photo shop – it was rejected because the photo shop did not tell me my hair was covering half my forehead. Actually I pointed it out to the man but he said it would pass muster – it didn’t.
Tips for taking passport photos
To help you (and since the wounds are fresh) here are my tips for taking a passport photo for Malaysian citizens:-
- Make sure both your ears can be seen in the photo. Tuck your hair behind your ears.
- Make sure your hair does not cover your eyebrows or too much of your forehead – they want to see your whole face – easier to identify a fugitive 😛
- Do not smile widely – they prefer if you don’t smile at all or if you do, just slightly. My guess is you aren’t always smiling when you reach the immigration counter at your destination 😛
- Look straight at the camera – no cute kawaii camwhore shots please.
- Wear a shirt, blouse or T-shirt with a collar so you look dressed in the photo but don’t hide your neck with a mandarin collar.
If you are female and don’t want to look too washed out in your passport or ID photos, do put on a little makeup. However, don’t go slapping on thick layers of makeup. Its a passport photo or photo ID, not your wedding pictures. Keep it light and natural.
Light makeup in photos so you don’t look washed out
- If you have dark circles, use a concealer.
- Use foundation or powder to even out skin tone.
- Line your eyes – it helps them look more prominent. Eye makeup is optional.
- Draw in your brows – it frames your face.
- Use a light matte blush to add some warmth to your skin. ID photos can make you look pale due to the flash.
- Use a lipstick that is a shade darker than your natural lip colour. ID photos tend to wash you out, so having a lip colour that’s a little brighter will make you look better in the photo.
Some other tips can be found in a previous post.
My personal advise is to use the photo studios at the Immigration Department. There are usually a few and the people there know exactly how to take the photo for your different requirements (e.g. passport, visa etc) and they know exactly how you should look. It isn’t as pricey too. I paid RM15/4 photos at an external photo shop. When I retook my photos at a random photo studio at the Immigration department, I paid RM12/4 photos (and I looked better – my hair looked a little lopsided but I looked better overall 😛 )
The early bird catches the worm
If you are Malaysian looking to renew your passport at the Immigration Department, you can do it at the self-service machines (only up till 55 years old – above 55 years you have to get it done manually).
At the Immigration Department at Pusat Bandar Damansara, its in Block I on the ground floor and its called KiPPAS. No idea why the corny acronym which means “fan” in Malay. Incidentally, the air conditioning wasn’t working and there was no “kipas” in sight 😛
Go early. I was there at about 8+am and there was about 5 people per machine. I went back at 11am and there were more than 20 people in the queue in the hot sun. If you are reading up till here, you probably want to know how to go about renewing your Malaysian passport (or are really bored with your day) so here goes.
What to bring to renew your Malaysian passport
Here’s what you should bring with you to renew your passport:-
- Your expired passport
- 1 passport photo
- 1 photocopy of your MyKad IC
- RM100 (2 years validity) or RM300 (5 years validity)
- Pick up the envelope at the counter inside and complete your name, NRIC number and Telephone number.
If you can read English or Malay and can follow simple instructions, it will not take you more than 10 minutes at the machine to complete the transaction. You can pick up your new passport within 2 hours, the charter says. I gave them half a day just to be sure 😛
If you are super bored and want to know how the process at the self-service passport renewal machine goes, here it is 😛
- Choose English or Bahasa Malaysia
- Insert your passport (just like you do at the Autogate at the airport)
- Insert your Mykad IC (slot is below the passport – don’t try feeding it where the money goes like I did 😛 )
- Verify the information using your thumb.
- Remove your passport and mykad.
- Verify your height and key in your Telephone contact number.
- Verify your personal information that shows up on the screen.
- Choose the number of years you want your passport valid for and pay the requisite amount.
- Place the passport, copy of your IC and 1 photo into the envelope you filled up earlier and drop it into the slot provided.
- Complete and pick up the receipt generated by the machine.
- Pick up your new passport later in the day.
And there you go! I’m not exactly thrilled with how I presently look in my new passport but I do look marginally better than in my old one. When I produce my old passport at foreign immigration counters, they’d look twice to make doubly sure – I don’t think they believed it was me 😛
Are you as traumatized about taking ID photos and passport photos as I am? It takes a lot of psyching up for me to get it done and despite all my preparations, I’m never quite satisfied with how I look. Sigh…
A community service guideline by…
Paris B 🙂
Note: I live in Kuala Lumpur. This guideline was written based on my experience using the passport renewal kiosk. I do not know how else or where else you can renew your passport nor the opening times of the immigration offices in Malaysia nor other ways in which to renew your passport outside of Malaysia, and how long that will take. For all formal questions relating to your Malaysian passport, please check at the immigration offices. Caveat Emptor.
Hey there Paris…a very informative post u got up there…thank you so much…but i got a question for u…my passport expired on the 24th of jan 2009…if i do wanna renew it maybe in like 2 weeks time,how much willl it cost?im confused with the price range for the renewal pasport for less than 6 months and everything…for my case,will it still be rm 100 for 2 years renewal?…thank you so much!
As far as I know there is no “special rate” for “renewal. All prices are based on the number of years you want it for, whether new or renewal. The only difference when you renew I am guessing is that they already have your details on file.
Oraite thank you so much paris…im afraid it will be up till 300 or smtg..haha…
anyways thank you so much for the helpful information! cheers-Adam Scott
Hey there Paris. Thank you so much with the detailed information. 🙂 Just wanna ask you something. You did your passport renewal through machine right? and you could collect it later on the same day. Any idea how long will it take if I were to do it manually? 🙂 thanks in advanced.
I believe it will also be ready the same day. The difference doing it manually is the queue whilst at the machine is really quick.
Hey Paris, thanks for your informations… but do you have any informations to renew passport in other countries like Hong Kong, cause i’m in China working right now and my passport will be expired in Aug 2011 and i need to renew it, so my dad told me to renew in Hong Kong ( it’s only three hours drive from my place), so what documents should i bring with me? and how long will it takes to renew passport in Hong Kong? cause i only will stay in Hong Kong not more than two days (one night only), so can it be done within two days?? please reply me as soon as possible, thanks!
I’m afraid I’m not familiar with renewal of Malaysian passports outside of Malaysia. The best thing you can do is to call the Malaysian Embassy and find out the details from them so you don’t make a wasted trip.
I think I will take your advise, thanks anyway!
yes you can renew your passport in HK coz mines also same situation like you
MyKad money go to wanchai road near
24th Floor, Malaysia Building
47-50 Gloucester Road
Wanchai
I will be flying home from the US in Feb 2011 to renew my passport as it takes them 6 months to get it renewed if i were to send it to the Malaysian Embassy in Washington DC.
These are my questions.
1) At any point in the submission of documents etc at the renewing machine, will the machine ask for my thumbprint?
I am asking this as i would like to renew my sister’s passport, who also lives in the US.
Do let me know if there is a way for me to renew my sister’s Malaysian passport while i am in KL.
Thank you
Jayn
According to the guidelines I’ve posted based on my experience, the answer to your question is Yes and as to whether you can renew another person’s passport, you’d best ask at the immigration office but my guess is probably No. You probably have to sign for it, and if not, provide a thumbprint to verify ownership.
Hey Great Post Paris B!! Wished I read your post before my photo shoot yesterday!!! Did it at two different studios, the second one turned out worst! They wanted me to put on their ugly oversized men coat, Goodness me! haha… I’m still traumatised. So will go get another one done tomorrow with my hair pulled back and a little make-up. You said we can take our own photo but what about the blue background?
BTW, do you know we can renew our passport online now? Here’s the link
https://eservices.imi.gov.my/myimms/myPassport
Thanks for the link to the online passport renewal. I didn’t know that 🙂 As for the blue background, that’ll be what you’ll need so just take it against a blue background. However, I’d still get it done professionally because they might reject your photo for not having the right kind of blue background
I didn’t go back to the studio for a re-take but tried taking it at home with my digital camera. The shop gave me a digital file so I managed to get the correct blue for the background and smiled quite a bit too. It got through! :D. All of the officers at the George Town immigration office were really friendly so I took the opportunity to ask about photo criteria.. was told it’s ok to wear blouse without collar but white and blue colour is not allowed. Also enquired about online application… he said if photo is not approved they will give you a call and ask you to re-submit and then will give you a time to pick up your new passport. I think that’s really cool.
i just dyed my hair red. but im gonna take a photo for my new passport. is red hair allowed?
Hi, I wanna ask, is it acceptable for dyed hair for the photo or must be black colour hair?
Any tips that how long time would be a Sabah/Sarawak people to do their passport at west Msia?
I’m not sure about the hair colour and for passport processing time, it should be standard 1 hour. Best to check with the Immigration Department because I’m not sure about details.