Among the steps taken are to increase the number of working days (on Saturdays and Sundays), especially at passport issuing offices which are experiencing significant congestion.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said there are 20 passport offices facing high congestion, nine of which are in the Federal Territory and Selangor, Johor (5), Perak (3), and one each in Melaka, Penang and Kedah.

He said the government has allocated RM10 million to cover the cost of overtime incurred at these offices.

“To date, we have issued nearly 2.5 million passports and from this number, 45% have been via online applications.

“However, online passport applications will take a few days to complete, while ‘walk-in’ applications will be completed within a day,” he said during a question-and-answer session at the Dewan Rakyat.

Saifuddin was replying to a question by Sh Puzi Sh Ali (BN-Pekan) who wanted to know what proactive and progressive solutions are being taken to overcome the serious case of congestion for passport matters at the immigration department, as well as a proposal to reinstate the “walk-in” passport application process.

He said after the threat of Covid-19 infection had eased, the number of passport applications is so high that it has caused serious congestion at passport issuing offices, especially in the Klang Valley.