Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC): Who Must Submit It, When, and the Seven Exemptions

The Malaysia Digital Arrival Card replaced the paper arrival form for foreign visitors and has been mandatory since 1 January 2024. It is an online declaration, not a visa or a travel authorisation: it neither admits anyone who needs a visa nor refuses anyone who does not. Its purpose is to give immigration your passport, contact, flight and accommodation details before you land.

Who must submit it: The Immigration Department's infographic says all foreign citizens travelling to Malaysia, with seven exceptions: citizens of Singapore; holders of diplomatic and official passports; Malaysian permanent residents and long-term pass holders; holders of the Brunei General Certificate of Identity; holders of the Brunei-Malaysia Frequent Traveller Facility; Thailand border pass holders; and Indonesian cross-border travel document (PLB) holders. Visa-free visitors and eVisa holders alike submit it; the High Commission in New Delhi lists it among the conditions of the Indian exemption and the Embassy in Beijing among the conditions for Chinese visitors.

When: Within three days before the arrival date, and before immigration inspection. It cannot be filed earlier. The UK government advises doing it before travel because airlines may ask for the confirmation at check-in.

Where and cost: Only at imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/mdac. It is free. Copycat sites charge for the same form and sometimes submit wrong details.

What it asks: Passport number and expiry, nationality, date of birth, email and phone, arrival and departure dates, flight or vessel, mode of travel, last port of embarkation, and the address of your first accommodation in Malaysia. A confirmation appears on screen and by email; on arrival, first-time visitors present passport and MDAC to the officer, and repeat visitors at Kuala Lumpur's KLIA terminals and the Johor Bahru checkpoints may be directed to autogates.

Transit: Passengers who stay airside and do not pass through immigration do not need one. Anyone leaving the transit area, for example to change terminals landside or to stay overnight, does.

Common mistakes: Filing more than three days out, entering the wrong passport number, and paying a third-party site. None of them is fatal at the border, where a new card can be filed on a phone, but each costs time.