MDAC for families and children

Travelling to Malaysia with children means more passports, more forms and more chances for a small slip. The good news is that the arrival card works the same way for a baby as it does for an adult. Once you know who needs one and who fills it in, a family of five takes little more effort than a single traveller.

This guide explains how the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card works for minors, how to handle a family or group, and what else is worth having ready at the border. Rules can change, so treat anything marked "at the time of writing" as something to check on the official site before you go.

Does every child need their own card?

Yes. At the time of writing, every foreign traveller who passes through Malaysian immigration needs their own MDAC, whatever their age. That includes newborn babies travelling on their own passport, toddlers and teenagers. There is no family card that covers several people, and a child is not added to a parent's card.

The same exemptions apply to children as to adults. For example, children who are Singapore citizens are exempt in the same way as adult Singapore citizens, and children who hold a valid long-term Malaysian pass may be exempt while that pass is valid. If one parent is exempt and the other is not, only the parent and children who are not exempt submit cards.

Who fills in the card for a child

A parent, guardian or another adult in the group can fill in a child's card. Younger children obviously cannot do it themselves, and even teenagers usually benefit from an adult checking the details. Whoever types it, the details on the card must be the child's own.

• Name, passport number, nationality, date of birth and sex come from the child's passport, not the parent's.
• Travel details such as the arrival date, flight number and address are normally the same as the adult they travel with.
• Email and phone can be a parent's. Children rarely have their own email, and using a parent's address means every confirmation lands in one inbox.

Using one email for the whole family is convenient, but it also means several similar-looking emails arrive at once. Open each one and check which passport number it refers to before you file it away.

Submitting for a family or group

Whether you enter each person one after another or use any group option the official site offers on the day, each traveller ends up with a separate record and a separate confirmation. A calm way to do it:

1. Lay all the passports out on the table, open at the photo page.
2. Start with an adult, so the shared travel details are typed once and can be copied carefully for the others.
3. Do one person at a time from start to finish, then close that passport and put it to one side.
4. Once everyone is done, count the confirmations and match each one to a passport.

Moving passports out of the way as you finish them sounds almost too simple, but it is the easiest way to avoid typing one sibling's passport number on another sibling's card. That is the classic family mistake, and it is very easy to miss when two children share a surname and were born a year apart.

When the family is not travelling together

Families do not always arrive on the same flight. One parent might fly in a day early, or grandparents might join from a different country. In that case each person's card needs their own travel details:

• the arrival date they actually arrive,
• the flight or service that brings them into Malaysia,
• the place they will travel from immediately before Malaysia.

Because the card can only be submitted within the three days before each person's arrival, a relative arriving a week later cannot submit at the same time as everyone else. Put a reminder in your calendar for them, or for yourself if you are submitting on their behalf.

Children at the border

The arrival card is only one part of entering Malaysia. For children, a few extra things are worth thinking about before you leave home.

Passports

Children's passports often have a shorter validity than adult ones, and they are easy to forget about. Check each child's expiry date. Malaysia generally expects a passport to be valid for at least six months from arrival, and that applies to children as well.

Travelling with one parent, or without parents

If a child is travelling with only one parent, with grandparents or with another adult, carry a signed letter of consent from the parent or parents who are not travelling, with a copy of their passport or ID and a phone number. It is not part of the MDAC and you may never be asked for it, but immigration officers anywhere can ask questions about a child travelling without both parents, and a letter makes that conversation short. If the child's surname differs from the travelling adult's, a copy of the birth certificate can help too.

Visas

Whether a child needs a visa depends on the nationality of the child's passport, not the parent's. In mixed-nationality families it is worth checking each passport separately. Our guide on the MDAC and visas explains the difference.

Small things that help on the day

• Keep all the passports together in one pouch, held by one adult, until you are through immigration.
• Save every confirmation in one folder or album on your phone, named with each person's first name.
• Charge your phone before landing. Long flights with children have a way of draining it.
• If your nationality can use the autogates, check whether the children can too before you join that queue. If they cannot, stay together at a staffed counter rather than splitting up.
• On a bus across a land border, everyone, children included, gets off and goes through the immigration counter in person.

Before you fly checklist

• Every traveller who is not exempt, including babies, has their own submitted card.
• Each card shows that person's own passport number and date of birth.
• You have one confirmation per person, matched to the right passport.
• Every child's passport is valid for at least six months from arrival.
• You have a consent letter if a child is travelling without one or both parents.
• Relatives arriving on a different day have a reminder to submit their own card in time.

You can complete every card yourself for free on the official MDAC website. If you would like help, our optional paid assistance takes one traveller per application, so a family sends one short application for each person and we review and help submit each one separately through the relevant official system.

Last reviewed on 5 October 2026. Entry rules change, so always check the official MDAC website and the Immigration Department of Malaysia before you travel.