KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 2 — Foreigners who enter Malaysia will have to fill up the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) online three days before they arrive, with citizens of 10 countries having the added benefit of using autogates for immigration clearance at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) if they meet conditions such as submitting the MDAC, the Immigration Department of Malaysia has said.

In announcements posted yesterday on its official Facebook page, the department said this requirement for foreign nationals to complete the MDAC before arriving in Malaysia takes effect as of December 1.

On its website for the online registration of MDAC, the department said the requirement to submit MDAC before arriving in Malaysia applies to all travellers, except for three categories.

The three categories of travellers who do not have to submit the MDAC are those transiting or transferring through Singapore without seeking immigration clearance; Malaysian permanent residents; and Malaysian Automated Clearance System (MACS) Holder.

To register and submit MDAC, travellers would have to use the Immigration Department's website.

The MDAC registration form requires details such as name, nationality, passport number and expiry date, email address and mobile phone number,

In the MDAC form, travellers are told that their trip to Malaysia must be within three days (including the date of submission of MDAC), and are required to fill up their date of arrival, date of departure, mode of transport (air, land or sea), and last port of embarkation.

According to the requirements for entry into Malaysia, visitors must show both their passports and the complete MDAC to the immigration officer on duty upon arrival.

Based on an infographic at the Immigration Department's MDAC website, visitors from 10 countries (Australia, Brunei, Germany, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, US and the UK will be eligible to use autogates when arriving and leaving KLIA's Terminal 1 or Terminal 2.

To use the autogates at KLIA for immigration clearance, these visitors must have passports with a validity period of six months or more. They must have submitted their MDAC three days before arrival (except for permanent residents and long-term pass holders).

But they would also not be able to use the autogate if they are visiting Malaysia for the first time, as their first trip would require them to submit the MDAC three days before arriving and to then enroll and verify their passport at the manual counter manned by Immigration personnel.

These visitors can use the autogates upon arrival and departure only for subsequent visits (where MDAC would still have to be submitted three days before every visit to Malaysia) and only after they have successfully enrolled to use the autogate for immigration clearance.