Singapore citizens with valid electronic passports are able to use the auto-gates (or electronic gates) at Malaysia checkpoints, same as Malaysia passport holders, under the new Malaysia Automated Clearance System 2.0 (MACS 2.0) programme. This good news was announced in February 2023.
The equipments used at the auto-gates are very similar to those use in Singapore customs, except that Malaysia uses facial recognition whereas Singapore uses both facial and iris scanners. The fallback when facial scanning failed is the fingerprint scanner. It is really a breeze to use the auto-gates and took just a couple of minutes, especially during non-peak hours.
Singapore passport holders can use the auto-gates at the following checkpoints:
Sultan Iskandar CIQ (JB) - via Woodlands
Sultan Abu Bakar ICQS (Johor) - via Tuas
Kuala Lumpur International Airport Terminal 1 & 2
For Singapore passport holders, note these:
Effective from January 2024: It is not necessary to submit the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) form when entering Malaysia, except the state of Sabah — I was asked to show the MDAC confirmation email at Kota Kinabalu Airport's immigration in May 2024.
Effective from June 2024: There is no need to enrol at the manual counters of Malaysia immigration to use the auto-gates. Just use your Singapore passport, including newly-issued ones, at the auto-gates like you will do at Singapore customs.
For non-Singapore passport holders, follow these:
To use the auto-gates, a one-time enrolment is required. Follow these steps to enrol:
Within 3 days before the planned date of arrival, fill up and submit the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card (MDAC) registration form online.
On arriving at Malaysia Immigrations at any of the above checkpoints, proceed to the manual counters for clearance and enrolling for MACS 2.0 at the same time. The officer-on-duty will be able to retrieve your MDAC from their computer system and automatically enrol you.
After your trip, you will be able to use the auto-gates to depart from Malaysia.
On every subsequent trips, fill up and submit the MDAC within 3 days of arriving in Malaysia to use the auto-gates. Otherwise, you will need to queue at the manual counters. 5 minutes of filling and submitting the MDAC will save you hours of queuing, especially during peak hours.
A few things to note:
Validity period for Singapore passports to enter Malaysia is at least 3 months at land checkpoints, instead of 6 months. When arriving at any of the seaports or airports in Malaysia, passport validity requirement will still be at least 6 months.
Minimum height to use auto-gates is 120cm.
Three attempts from MAY to SEP 2023 to register fingerprints at the JB Customs failed because immigration officers said their finger registration system was down indefinitely. They didn't know when the system could be used. How to register? I don't think JB is serious about this.