Since last week I’ve been making arrangements for today to bring baby to the Immigration department to get his very first passport done. I was informed by colleagues that nowadays passports can be ready within the same day. I also got some good suggestions as to which Immigration office I could go to if I want to avoid long queues, which is the one in Putrajaya.
When we went to bed last night, I was wondering where on earth the Immigration Department at Putrajaya is as we’re not familiar with that part of the world. I did look around the Immigration’s website in the day but they didn’t have any maps. Nevertheless, I figured we probably couldn’t get lost. So I set my alarm clock to buzz us off in the wee hours of the morning.
As it turned out, we overslept despite the alarm being set. It was already 8.30 when we woke up while baby was still snoozing away. I thought we’ll just have to bring him another day because the department was probably not going to give out anymore numbers to do same-day collection of passports. But my better half said we should just go and try anyway.
So we did and decided we should just try the Immigration department at Subang’s Terminal 3 instead. By the time we got there, it was around 11am. I had earlier downloaded the application form from the Immigration department’s website (you can download the form here) and had it all filled out before we arrived at the Immigration department. So that saved us a little time. A little reminder if you are downloading the form: the form comes in 2 pages but you need to print it out only on one sheet of paper. This means you need to print it on the front and back of the same sheet of paper. It is said so on the website and if you print the form in 2 separate sheets of paper, they will not accept it.
The first thing you need to do if you have not done some preparations prior to going to the Immigration department is to make copies of the relevant documents and have your baby’s photographs taken. You can do them at the department itself too, but if it is crowded, then you may spend precious time waiting in line. Luckily for us, there wasn’t a queue at all. So I made copies of my baby’s birth certificate, IC and a copy of my own IC for RM1 at the department.
Next, we had baby’s photo taken in the photo booth provided at the department too. I thought it was going to be a challenge for him to stay still but as it turned out, he was quite intrigued about staring into the black box and so we had little difficulties to get a shot of him. He was sitting on daddy’s lap in the booth and daddy had to dodge himself out of the view of the camera. For this, we paid RM10 for 4 pieces of passport sized pictures.
Then, you are ready to queue up at Counter 1 to get a number to wait your turn. Fortunately again for us, the queue was not long at all. I told the officer that we’re making a first time passport for baby and I was asked how old my boy is. I told him he’s just 15 months while he looked through my form and documents attached to it. He then gave me a number and I was surprised that I was right next in line to be serviced! I was expecting to be waiting in line behind some 20 odd people or so.
In less than 5 minutes my queue number was called and I noticed that I was being serviced at a special counter instead of the normal ones. And then it occurred to me that this is probably because I’m doing a passport for a child. The lady at the counter took my documents and also needed to look at the baby himself as prove that I am indeed bringing my own son. She was done doing her job in less than 2 minutes and I was given yet another queue number, this time to make payment at the cashier.
We waited for about 20 minutes before our number was called. The payment for a 32-page passport for a child is RM150, which is half the price of an adult’s passport with the same pages. Then we were given a receipt and was told that the passport will be ready by 1.30pm. A check on my watch said the time was 11.45am. That means we spent just about 45 minutes to get through the process.
We went off for lunch and got back sharp at 1.30pm to collect the passport. At the collection counter, the office again needed to see baby and me in person together with the original copies of his birth certificate and my IC. I was made to sign for it and finally was handed my little boy’s first passport! And that was it, our experience to make baby’s passport was very smooth and quick.
Now baby is free to travel to any part of the world! His first destination will most likely be Singapore to catch the beautifully lit up Christmas decorations at the end of the year! 
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I was thinking of getting Hayley her passport too and I thought it will be crowded since it’s school holiday. Thanks for sharing this, now I know which Immi Dept to go
My sis went to the one in KLang just recently and it took her a couple of hours!
I processed my son’s passport at Kajang. Its quick and convenient too.
But Amy, need to check with you on one thing. Do we’ve to change our kid’s passport again when he/she is 2 yrs old ? As I heard before that, we need to change their photo again since its different from birth.
Oops…typo error. I wanted to ask Penny not Amy. Sorri…
Amy, it does seem to be pretty efficient nowadays to make passports. So go ahead and make Hayley’s passport before the year end so you can go holidaying with her!
Rae, I have no idea about changing the photo and thus passport when the kid turns 2. But it does seem like the right thing to do also since the kid will be totally different from the photo. Thanks for bringing this up. I’ll go find out!