On my last two visits to KL, the most recent of which was last week, I just went straight through the e-gates on an Australian passport. I've not registered nor had my fingerprints taken at a counter before. Was with two others who were on Taiwan passports, one of whom had never visited Malaysia before, and we all went through the e-gates with no issues (both inbound and outbound immigration). We had all filled out the online MDAC prior to arriving.

Did you fill out the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) before arriving? The info from this now pre-registers eligible nationalities for the e-gates.

Thanks for the update.

Yes apologies forgot to mention that, will update my post.

My re-written first post to save folk trawling through the entire thread most of which is now out of date.

Just to clarify: the system will not accept an application outside the three-day window before arrival. If you forget to complete the form, you can fill it in when you get to the arrival area.

Is there a charge for the MDAC? Can one get the MDAC at KUL airport and then use the e-gates? If I have to wait until 3 days before arrival,most of those days will be in transit (aloft) or at an airport. I don't like to enter PII over non-secure networks outside of my home.

no charge.

registering at the airport kind of defeats the objective of a a speedy entry.

I agree that it is not the fastest way. But looking at the USA State Dept website for Malaysia country info, there is conflicting information.

https://travel.state.gov/content/tra.../Malaysia.html

Upon arrival, all travelers must complete the Malaysian Digital Arrival Card (MDAC).

Autogate: U.S. citizens who registered for a Malaysia Digital Arrival Card can use the autogate at some Malaysian airports. The autogate lets travelers scan their passport and walk through an automated gate for immigration clearance. U.S. citizens using the autogate will not get an entry stamp in their passport.

If you entered Malaysia using an autogate and don't have an entry stamp, explain this to the local authorities you meet. U.S. citizens who cannot prove their nationality and legal status may be arrested. Be prepared to show your passport with a valid entry stamp.

To me it seems that NOT using the autogates is the best way based upon the info above. Or is the information overly cautious? What are real world experiences?

By law, everyone has to carry some form of identification with you at all times in Malaysia (along with most other countries in Asia). Having that said, unless you look/dress like a migrant worker and acting suspiciously, authorities will not ask for an ID unless you are suspected of committing a crime. It is very rare for a police to check for your ID on the streets even as a local (other than police road blocks if you are driving). The e-gates for foreigners are not new and I can imagine most, if not all, police are aware that a lot of tourists (including mainland Chinese) can enter Malaysia using the e-gates (without a passport stamp).

If the website you are on requests a payment, you have strayed into one of the scam websites. Navigate your way to the MDAC from an official government page.

I hop between SIN and KUL and frequently overlook the MDAC and have regularly completed it while taxing to the gate on my phone, but of course you'll need a signal. Same when returning to SIN.

I'm not sure if KUL has terminals for MDACs if you can't get a signal, but then I've never looked for one. (Kuching doesn't and I came unstuck there as I couldn't get a signal, but immigration let me through anyway, which makes you wonder what its all about - though please don't rely on my one off anecdotal experience).

Same experience today. Had done my MDAC beforehand. Been to KL before but not on this passport which is 2 months old. I had thought I would need to go to a manned desk to register for the egates and have fingerprints taken, but on reading this thread I just went straight to the e gates and all worked fine.

for the mdac I can’t see you can do it more than 3 days before - the form only allows you to select an arrival date of today, tomorrow, and the day after. All other days are greyed out.

It worked fine because you had used that passport to register your MDAC.

For anyone else catching up on this thread - there is no more separate registration for the e-gates - it is done through your MDAC.

indeed, that was the purpose of me adding my datapoint to help confirm that. unfortunately there is a lot of information elsewhere which still suggests you do need to register.

I'm not sure how it is today but this was my experience back in 2022 when I first registered for the use of eGates.

I had gotten a new passport in 2022. Flying SIN-KUL, I registered MDAC while in SIN (within the 3 day window of the departure flight). Landed in KUL and proceeded to the normal manned counters. While at the manned counter, I told the Officer I had registered for the egate. He acknowledged and said I would be able to use the eGate immediately on my return flight (which was in the next day or two since I was only there for a short weekend). On the day of the return flight, I used the eGate. Fast and efficient.

Since then all I had to do was register MDAC (within the 3 day window of the departure flight) and use the eGate when I land and return. Never encountered any problems so far. Very fast and efficient as I have said.

I'm assuming once I change a new passport, I would need to go through the manned counter again once to register the new passport number into their system.