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This post serves as a general post to anyone moving to or flying back to Malaysia wanting to know about the travel and immigration process. Feel free to skip through the headings to find what applies.
All of these things are just based on my experience and what helped make my process a little easier coming (back) to Malaysia!
Documents needed for travel!
It would be best to print this ish out! This expedites your process a bit at each airport where you need to show documentation. Upon arrival in Kuala Lumpur, the agents took copies of all my documentation and having them printed made the immigration process so smooth. Those who only had info on their phones seemed to have more trouble.
My suggestion is to put a Post-It label on each form because there seem to be a lot of different names for all of the forms. Since there are very very few people flying to Malaysia, the airlines are unfamiliar with what the paperwork looks like.
- PCR Negative Covid Test 72 hours before arrival
- Updated MySejahtera app. (New staff need to download and fill out the information form.) Obviously this isn’t a form, but you need to prove it’s download.
- Printed Copy of the MyEntry (for foreigners) This should be the 90-day approval letter to exit or enter the country
- Director-General Approval allowed entry – this is your work visa
- MySafeTravel fees (the covid test and landing fee – RM3100 if you’re coming from the US)
- Hotel Confirmation Page
- Keep all your boarding passes. I had to show all every boarding pass to the officer. But you might only have to show the last.
- Quick access to the address of the hotel quarantine if you paid for premium
- *** Please note** – each airline and airport has a different approach to handling documents. Some airports did not care about anything but the Covid test while others looked at everything.
Flights / / Flying Qatar
This one is a bit niche – but essentially if you have a longer layover in Doha, and don’t already have lounge access, purchase this before your flight to Doha. Qatar has been squishing and changing flights which means many people have 6+ hour layovers in the airport now.
My flight was surprisingly full. I thought that with the restrictions coming to Malaysia, my flight would be nearly empty, but a lot of people trying to get to other restricted countries like Vietnam, Myanmar, and Australia.
Both my bigger flights to Doha and Kuala Lumpur were at about 75% capacity. For most rows, there was a seat in-between each person.
What to expect upon arrival
The immigration process
- From the time off the plane to my hotel with premium booking is about 2.5 hours total! And considering the closest hotel is like 1 hr away this isn’t bad!
- USE THE RESTROOM ONCE YOU’RE OFF THE PLANE!! You’re in for a lot of lines and forms within the immigration process and you might not have time before leaving the airport
Now let’s get to the actual immigration process…
- You’ll update your MySejahtera app before being able to leave the terminal
- Take a bus to the main immigration center
- Connect to wifi once you’re in the main building – you’ll need it for various forms
- Go through all of the stations, have your papers and latest boarding pass ready
- Register for the immigration process – they take a look at all your documents from above + passport and give you some extra forms that they fill out
- Covid Test (Nasal and Oral)
- There is a QR code at the 3rd station where you will out some additional information called TracAPM (use camera for this not MySehjahtera)
- Show that you’ve paid for both covid tests and your hotel quarantine with the MyEq page or the MySafeTravel page
- Immigration Line – there is a waiting area towards the right – drop off your passport by the small table of immigration and then go and sit down in the area
- Here you give them your passport and the exit/entry letter
- Normal Immigration Center with the exit/entry letter. The officer will keep this form.
- Random station – Here, they check all your forms and send you to the luggage waiting area with a receipt.
- Hand the recept to the officer. Then wait for your name to be called and before getting your luggage. (this, I believe is when you’re able to go to the restroom)
- With premium booking, an officer will escort to your driver outside of the airport. They will make you put ALL bags including purses on the ground where they will sanitize them.
- With standard booking, you wait for enough people to fill a bus, then are escorted to your luggage. You’ll still need to put all bags including hand luggage on the ground to be sanitized before they will put it into the bus.
- Then you’re off to your hotel!
Other random but important (!!!) things!
- They ask for ethnicity a lot – if you’re from the US and you can’t find the United States, then look up American instead
- If you’ve booked premium, make sure you stay in the car once you arrive at the hotel until they come and get you
- If you don’t already have a driver, you can ask your driver to also pick you up after quarantine just get his number and WhatsApp
- You will receive a bracelet upon arrival to the hotel. This needs to stay on for the duration of your stay. It will have your arrival and release date on it.
Tips for surviving for your 14 days prison aka mandatory quarantine
So you’ve survived the immigration process and getting into the country, but now you face mandatory quarantine.
- Bring a variety of things to do/read/play – my Netflix account and Kindle have been getting a looot of use
- If you’re a bit of a picky eater, then bring snacks! (most rooms come with at least a kettle for hot water)
- Bring water enhancer if you don’t like weird tasting water. (all water is bottled)
- If you’re really fancy, bring an HDMI cord to connect your computer to the TV for a bigger screen
- The food comes at literally all hours and is terribly inconsistent so again, bring snacks if you need to be on a schedule
- Bring any adaptors you might need
- I brought a mini speaker for dance parties
- Don’t forget your favorite toiletries!
- Don’t be afraid to interact with random people on the WhatsApp groups or fight for your comfort in your hotel room! When I arrived at my hotel, my outlets next to my bed didn’t work, my sheets smelled moldy, and my Ac wasn’t working! But, within the day the hotel staff had fixed everything. The whole process might seem a bit unorganized but the staff is quite committed to doing the best they can to make you as comfortable as possible
Random Quarantine FAQ’s
Honestly, I’m not sure what all y’all know so I’m just going to tell you everything haha
- In all rooms you should (from my experience and others) receive the following:
- Basic tolietries
- Towels
- Silverware either with meals or in the room
- Daily ration of water
- Sponge and dish soap
- Tea/coffee and a kettle
- Mini refridgerator
- Housekeeping is obviously not allowed, but they will give you a change of sheets upon request for you to change yourself.
- Malaysian hotels don’t have fitted sheets on the beds, just flat sheets. Which is NOT something I was aware of when I first did my hotel quarantine. This led to a looot of confusion between me and the hotel. (whoops!)
- The bathrooms… are just cleaned when you leave when you check out.
- When you arrive you should receive a packet telling you how to order food and with QR codes to join Whatsapp groups – this is how you’ll mainly communicate with hotel staff. It gets to be a lot sometimes so mute that ish baby
- Bedsheets and towels will go into clear bags and regular trash goes in bright yellow bags. There are still trashcans but I just usually use the yellow bag as my main trash
I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
If you are traveling to Malaysia, let me know if you need help!
ARE YOU PLANNING A TRIP TO SE ASIA?
Check out these posts about planning your next epic vacation to one of SE Asia’s Favorite Gems: Thailand!
