Malaysia turns on eGates for Italians too, goodbye queues (and stamping) at immigration

Last year it had been Singapore To eliminate immigration queues, Now it's Malaysia's turn to take a leap into the future and simplify the lives of travelers by, in effect, eliminating the stress of background checks and unnecessary chatting with the immigration officer.

From June 1 the test phase, open to only a few countries, will be extended to holders of 36 passports, among them all European Union passports, so Italian passport included, allowing entry into the nation using the automatic doors and not those where the agent is present.

How controls work at eGates in Malaysia

Entry for Italian passport holders was already visa free, with the possibility of staying Up to 90 days without any bureaucratic formalities, from June 1 everything will be even easier since there will be the possibility to skip the queue by going directly through the automatic turnstiles.

At certain times, especially in Kuala Lumpur, the queue can be over 60 minutes, both in and out of the country.

The program requires passengers to Pre-register by obtaining your arrival card at least three days before your flight. Upon arrival it will be necessary to register fingerprints at the counter, once fingerprints are associated with document and face it will be possible to use egates without any restrictions on subsequent visits.

New countries include the European Union, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, China, Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Over the past 16 months, basically since the post-pandemic restrictions were completely lifted, were nearly 40M tourists arrived in the Asian nation, 3 out of 4 travelers land in Kuala Lumpur's two terminals, and in much smaller numbers in Johor Baru.

In conclusion

Many Asian countries are moving in this direction, Thailand is testing the eVisa system specifically to reduce queues, sometimes three to four hours, that passengers arriving at various airports are forced to do.

There is also a secondary aspect, but not to be underestimated: you will save valuable space in your passport since today Malaysia is one of the nations that still stamps passports both inbound and outbound, and since I am almost running out of pages in my document I can only be happy about this news.

Of course, for those who still want the souvenir stamp instead, it will be possible to go through the traditional controls and, after an hour or so of queuing, get a pass.