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About this tool
Work out why a Malaysia eVISA was rejected - specification, data, travel evidence or a monitoring-list record - and what to fix.
Malaysian eVISA applications are decided on the uploaded file, so most rejections come from the photograph, the passport scan, a data mismatch or missing travel evidence rather than from any judgement about the traveller. This explainer maps each cause to the provision behind it in the Immigration Act 1959/63 and the Immigration Regulations 1963, and separates the defects you can fix this week from the records - overstays, removals, monitoring-list entries - that no new paperwork can overcome. It also untangles the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card, which is a free declaration submitted before arrival and is not a visa.
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Two different requirements that travellers routinely confuse, one paid and one free.
Section 8 on prohibited immigrants and section 15 on overstaying, with the penalties they carry.
Tick off each remedy and see whether the application is genuinely different before you resubmit.
Most rejections are specification failures rather than judgements: a photograph that is not a recent colour image on a plain white background at the stated size, a passport with under six months validity, a data page scan with glare or cropping, a name typed differently from the passport, or missing evidence of a confirmed return ticket and accommodation. Fix the exact defect before reapplying - the fee is charged again and is not refunded.
No. The Malaysia Digital Arrival Card is a free online declaration that foreign travellers submit shortly before arrival, generally within three days of travel, and it has been required since 1 January 2024. It does not grant entry and it does not replace a visa. Check separately whether your nationality needs a visa, and never pay a third-party site for the arrival card, which the government provides at no cost.
It is a visa that has to be approved inside Malaysia before a mission abroad can issue it. Employment, student and dependant categories all work this way: the Malaysian employer, institution or sponsor applies to the Immigration Department first, and only after that approval does the applicant attend the mission. Applying directly at a mission for one of these categories without the prior approval is rejected.
Remaining after a pass expires is an offence under section 15 of the Immigration Act 1959/63, punishable by a fine of up to RM 10,000 or imprisonment of up to five years, or both. Beyond the penalty, an overstay normally places your details on the Immigration Department's monitoring list, which blocks later applications no matter how strong the new file is. That listing has to be taken up with the Department itself, usually through a representative in Malaysia.