Renew Malaysian Passport in less than 2 hours

Once upon a time, renewing passports were a struggle. You have to be at the Immigration office early, brave the cue and be patient the whole day. You are lucky if you can renew or make a new passport in a day.

Those times are gone. Now, with modern technology, renewing your passport (in Kuala Lumpur, not sure of other places) takes less than two hours.

I did mine at Kompleks Kementerian Dalam Negeri Wilayah Persekutuan, (close to Publika). I arrived there at 2pm, where I went again the advice of my friends, which is to get there early morning to get into queue.

Dress code. Obey or don't get anything done here.

Malaysians (and Non Malaysians) of all races and religion are usually united at Government offices.

1246, my number.

Got my number, 1246 after I queued for less than five minutes at 2.16pm. At the time, the current number was 1236. My number was announced at 2.27. That's 11 minutes for 10 persons served, averaging 1 minute per person. Not bad at all.

All I have to bring was my expired passport and my Identification Card.

The people waiting at the area for passport renewal and new passport.

After my number was called, my passport picture was taken at the counter itself. I was informed to wait for 1 hour before they called my name for the passport. In the meantime, I had to fork out RM 200 for renewal of five years. Last year, it was RM 300. I basically saved money here! 

At 3.45pm, my name was called and I got my new passport. Hooray! Less than two hours. Looking forward to see more efficiency like this at other Government services.