Spouse Visa Renewal in Malaysia
It is time to renew his spouse visa. Just in case things has changed with the Malaysian Immigration Department's regulation or process, I'm here to jot down our experiences and share all the relevant guides and documents we obtained or procured for the renewal of a spouse visa.
We were told to go to the counter for renewal a day before the spouse visa expires. However, please consider any possible delay due to insufficient documentation or any other unforeseen circumstances. So we'd advise you to begin your renewal application a little bit earlier.
Visa renewal should take into consideration the next possible available appointment slot. E.g. if your town's usual appointment slots are available only 1 month away, then you better start your online application more than 1 month ahead of time.
Login and apply online via e-PLSI
Firstly, you can now apply for your spouse visa renewal online! The link to the online portal is THIS ONE. You will first have to sign up for an account if you don't already have one.
An introduction to ePLSI can be read on the Malaysia Immigration Department's website link HERE.
To access and apply for your renewal via the online portal, you can refer to Ginny's blog post for a step-by-step walkthrough of the portal - link to her blog HERE. She's a lifesaver.
Before you begin, please note that these are the documents that will be requested during your online application for the visa renewal. This is a checklist for an online social visit pass renewal:
- Valid passport
- Form IMM.38
- Form IMM.55
- Marriage declaration form (stamped by the commissioner of oath from a civil court)
- Sponsor declaration form (stamped by the commissioner of oath from a civil court)
- Copy of Malaysian spouse IC
- Copy of your Malaysian marriage certificate
- Latest 3 months pay slips
- Any other relevant document if required
You can check out my earlier post to download form IMM.38 and IMM.55:
Our first spouse visa application
Once your application and relevant documents have been uploaded and submitted, and payment has been made, it takes about 3 days or so to be approved. You will receive an email stating that your renewal application has been approved. You will then be required to pay RM90 for the renewal, and instructions will be given in the email.
A 2-page receipt will be provided for reference.
Make an appointment to visit your preferred immigration department
Once it is approved, you need to set an appointment to go to your preferred immigration department to hand in your passport and documents at the counter. Remember, the earliest available date should be before your visa expires. When we were applying for the renewal, we were instructed (in the approval and payment email) to book an appointment online via the immigration department's online appointment booking system: http://sto.imi.gov.my/
Unfortunately, at the time of writing this post, it seems like the department has decided to pause the booking system. We do hope they bring this function back as it was truly convenient.
You can also try heading straight to the nearest immigration department for a queue number, which is actually still required.
Head to your nearest Immigration Department
You will need to submit your passport for the visa renewal. At the counter, they will also still request to check all your uploaded documents. So bring along all the documents you have uploaded online to the counter for verification. Also do remember when you submitted the application and when it is approved, as the officer may need this information to filter through the stacks of other applications to find yours.
Please remember that both husband and wife should be present at the counter.
If all is well, you can then wait in the queue for your passport to be returned along with your e-pass (the latest spouse visa is an A4 printed document, not printed onto the passport itself anymore). It should take about 1 to 2 hours for them to process everything before calling your number for your passport collection.
If you are in KL and heading to the Jalan Duta immigration department, we recommend you be there as early as possible. Any time before 8am will be best, as you should be done by 11am.
We got ours renewed for another year! Other than the waiting and sitting around, it was a rather smooth process to renew the spouse visa.
We hope yours will go well too! All the best!