Malaysia to introduce newly designed passport and identity card within 6 months: Minister

Malaysia will introduce a newly designed passport and identity card (MyKad) with additional security features within six months, said Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on Thursday (Jan 8).

Speaking to the Malaysian media after a New Year's event, Saifuddin said the new passport and MyKad will be enhanced with "more advanced security features" to strengthen the documents' integrity and reliability.

Bernama reported Saifuddin as saying that the upgrades mark a key milestone given that Malaysian passport is among the world's most trusted.

"This is important because our passport is now the third most trusted, measured by the number of countries Malaysian passport holders can travel without a visa. That is a key benchmark," he was quoted as saying.

According to the Henley Passport Index 2025, Malaysia's passport is ranked 10th, with visa-free access to 181 countries.

Meanwhile, Passport Index ranks Malaysia's passport in joint third, alongside 17 other countries, including France, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

In comparison, Henley ranks Singapore's passport in first place, with visa-free access to 193 destinations. On Passport Index, Singapore is ranked joint second with Spain. 

Saifuddin stressed that the impending updates were not done arbitrarily, but borne out of "security responsibility" to prevent forgery.

He also assured Malaysians that their existing passport and identity card can be used until they expire.

"Replacements will only be necessary at that time. Details on the implementation schedule, updated features, and additional announcements will be provided in due course," Saifuddin said.

In December 2025, the home ministry also announced upgrading works to immigration facilities and systems at the Sultan Iskandar Building and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex.

As part of the upgrading work, the home ministry said it would add 40 additional National Integrated Immigration System eGate units and 145 MYNIISe QR code scanners at the motorcycle, car and pedestrian crossings of the two Customs, Immigration and Quarantine  complexes. 

editor@asiaone.com