How to fill the Malaysia Arrival Card (MDAC): the fields people get wrong, in form order.

This guide walks through the MDAC registration form in the order it presents its fields: Personal Information, then Traveling Information. It has 21 fields, all marked required; only the second address line can stay empty. Pre-check your entries below before you type them into the official site.

Field rules below come from the live registration form at imigresen-online.imi.gov.my, read 2026-10-15.

Section 1: Personal Information

Name

One box for your full name. The MDAC does not split given and family names.

• Max 60 characters. Letters and spaces only: the box will not take a comma, hyphen, apostrophe or digit.
• Order: follow the order printed on your passport photo page. Many Western passports print given names first; some Asian passports print the family name first. Match the passport, do not reorder.
• Hyphen or apostrophe in your name: type a space for the hyphen and leave the apostrophe out. That is how the MRZ line at the bottom of the photo page writes the name, so SMITH-JONES becomes SMITH JONES and O'BRIEN becomes OBRIEN.

Passport No.

The number printed next to “Passport No.” on the photo page.

• Max 12 characters, letters and digits. Type it as printed, without spaces. The box will not take a dash.
• Do not use the MRZ. The two long lines at the bottom of the photo page include check digits. Use the short number above them.

Date of Birth

• You cannot type in this box. Tap it and pick the date in the calendar. It fills in as DD/MM/YYYY, for example 22/08/1991.
• Type it the same way, DD/MM/YYYY, in the pre-check tool above.

Nationality / Citizenship

A dropdown of countries, each shown as a three-letter code and a name: CHN - CHINA, GBR - UNITED KINGDOM.

• Pick the country that issued your passport. The three-letter code is the one in the MRZ line of your passport.
• Hong Kong SAR (HKG), Macao SAR (MAC) and Taiwan (TWN) have their own entries, and so do British passports other than GBR, such as GBN - BRITISH NATIONAL OVERSEAS.

Place of Birth

The same country list. Pick the country you were born in.

Sex

MALE or FEMALE.

Date of Passport Expiry

• Calendar again, DD/MM/YYYY. It accepts any date from today on.
• Malaysia’s Immigration Department requires a passport valid for six months or more from the date you enter Malaysia. The calendar does not check this, so check it yourself and renew first if your passport runs out sooner.

Email Address and Confirm Email Address

• Max 100 characters, typed twice. If the two differ, the form says “Your emails do not match. Please try again.”
• No + in the address. The form only takes letters, digits, dots, hyphens and underscores before the @. name+trip@gmail.com gets “Please enter a valid email address.” Use the plain address.
• Use an inbox you check. The confirmation and the PIN you need for Check Registration arrive here.

Country / Region Code and Mobile No.

Both are required.

• Country / Region Code is a list shown as ( 86 ) CHINA, ( 1 ) UNITED STATES. Pick the country your phone number belongs to.
• Mobile No. takes digits only, up to 12. No +, spaces or dashes: +86 138 1234 5678 goes in as code 86 and number 13812345678.

Section 2: Traveling Information

The form notes that your trip must be within 3 days, including the date of submission.

Date of Arrival

• Calendar only, DD/MM/YYYY. It offers today and the next two days, nothing later. If you land on 14 May, the calendar offers that date from 12 May.
• Use the date you land, in Malaysia local time. Red-eye trap: depart 11pm 13 May, land 2am 14 May, and the arrival date is 14/05/2026.

Date of Departure

• Required. Calendar, DD/MM/YYYY. It starts from your arrival date, and picking a new arrival date clears it.

Flight / Vessel / Transportation No.

• Required for every mode of travel, max 30 characters. Letters, digits and spaces are accepted, plus @ / - ( ) , '.
• By air: the flight number on your ticket, such as MH123 (Malaysia Airlines), AK456 (AirAsia), SQ102 (Singapore Airlines). On a codeshare, use the operating carrier’s flight number.
• By sea or road: the vessel, bus or vehicle number.

Mode of Travel

AIR, LAND or SEA.

Last Port of Embarkation before Malaysia

The MDAC has no port-of-entry box. This field asks where you boarded the flight, ship or vehicle that brings you into Malaysia, and it is a country list, not an airport code.

• Flying Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur: THA - THAILAND. Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur via Singapore: SGP - SINGAPORE.
• By road or ferry, pick the country you are leaving, for example SGP - SINGAPORE when you cross into Johor.

Accommodation of Stay

HOTEL/MOTEL/REST HOUSE, RESIDENCE OF FRIENDS/RELATIVES or OTHERS.

Address (In Malaysia), State, Postcode, City

The form says “Please key-in alphanumeric only” above the address.

• Two lines, up to 100 characters each. Letters, digits, spaces and @ / - ( ) , ' only; other characters disappear as you type.
• The first line needs at least three words. MANDARIN ORIENTAL KUALA LUMPUR passes; AIRBNB alone gets “Please enter Address (In Malaysia) properly.” NA, N/A, NULL and NIL are refused.
• State is a list of the 13 states and 3 federal territories (WP KUALA LUMPUR, WP LABUAN, WP PUTRAJAYA). City loads after you pick the state. Postcode takes 5 digits.
• Hotel: copy the street address from your booking. Airbnb: use the address the host confirmed. Several places: use your first night.

Under the form, drag the slider to verify, then submit.

What happens after you submit

1. The site shows a confirmation page with your MDAC reference number.
2. A confirmation email arrives. Keep it: it carries the PIN you need to look the registration up later.
3. At Malaysian immigration (KLIA, KLIA2, Penang, etc.):
   • Show your passport and your MDAC registration. The Immigration Department’s own posters tell visitors to present the MDAC registration at the counter during the passport check.
   • The officer stamps your passport and you are through. Most interactions are under 30 seconds.
4. No official page we found asks you to print it. Keep the email or a screenshot on your phone so you can show it.

After you submit: check it, lost PIN, mistakes

From the official MDAC portal and Immigration Department notices, read 2026-10-15.

Check that your MDAC went through

1. On imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/mdac/main, open CHECK REGISTRATION.
2. Enter your passport number, choose your nationality and type the PIN sent to your email.
3. Drag the puzzle piece to verify, then search.

If the puzzle will not take the piece, press RESET for a new one.

Lost the PIN

On the same page, click Forgot your PIN?. Enter your passport number and nationality, and a new PIN goes to your registered email. The portal allows one reset a day.

Made a mistake

The portal has no edit option. Its menu lists Registration, Check Registration, Check Visit Pass and Check eGate Eligibility Status. We found no official instructions for amending a submitted MDAC, or for what happens to a second registration. For a correction, ask the Immigration Department through the contact link the portal gives for MDAC questions: eapp.imi.gov.my/spo.

Filing in the app instead

Since January 2026 the department’s MyNIISe app can also file the MDAC, within the same 3 days before arrival.

Common errors and what they mean

The MDAC shows its messages as pop-ups. These are the ones the registration form can show, word for word.

“Please enter …” / “Please choose …” A required box is empty, and the message names it, for example “Please enter Mobile No.” or “Please enter Date of Departure.” Every box on the form is required.

“Please enter a valid email address.” The address has a character the form does not take, usually a + before the @, or a typo such as a missing dot. The form clears the box; type the plain address again.

“Your emails do not match. Please try again.” Confirm Email Address differs from Email Address. Retype it rather than pasting a typo twice.

“Please enter Address (In Malaysia) properly.” The first address line has fewer than three words. Write the street address, not just a hotel or Airbnb name.

“NA, N/A, NULL, NIL is not allowed for Address (In Malaysia)” Give a real address in Malaysia.

“Postcode cannot less than 5 digit!” Malaysian postcodes have 5 digits. Check the one on your booking.

“Please verify the captcha before proceeding” Drag the slider puzzle under the form before you submit.

The arrival date you need is greyed out The calendar only offers today and the next two days. Come back when your arrival is inside that window.

Site times out or hangs The MDAC site sometimes struggles during peak travel periods. Wait 10 to 15 minutes and retry. If it keeps failing, try a different browser or a different network.

No confirmation email after 1 hour Check spam. The PIN for Check Registration comes in that email; Forgot your PIN? sends a new one to the same address, once a day. If you typed the email address wrong, ask the Immigration Department at eapp.imi.gov.my/spo.