Malaysians visiting the Immigration Department may soon be able to pay for their transactions using e-wallets. According to the director-general of the Immigration Department, Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud, the department is looking into enabling e-wallets as a payment method. If successful, the roll-out could be done as early as June.

“We are discussing and studying e-wallets as a payment option once the (cashless) system is fully implemented on June 1,” said Khairul.

This comes after the Putrajaya Immigration Department’s move to go cashless last month, implementing an e-payment system where only debit and credit cards are accepted. It was carried out as a trial before the Immigration Department decides if the cashless system can be rolled out across all of its department branches.

Although the initial feedback was mixed, with many customers being caught by surprise, Khairul said that the general public had adapted well to the cashless system. Khairul also said that some divisions have reported good progress since the cashless payments implementation.

“For passport management, we have a 100 per cent success rate. In other divisions, such as visa management or foreign worker management, we have a 60 to 70 per cent success rate,” noted Khairul, who added that this is a good sign for them to fully implement the cashless system from 1 June 2020.

That said, Khairul also stated that there will still be some cash payment counters to attend to those who are not eligible to make use of cashless payments.

“This is only for certain cases, such as foreigners and students who do not have bank accounts. They can pay with cash,” said Khairul.

The Immigration Department’s initiative to go cashless is in line with the government’s Shared Prosperity Vision 2030, which promotes the digitalisation of the economy and the growth of a digital society.

(Source: New Straits Times)

• TAGS:
• Cashless Payments
• Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud
• Director-General
• Immigration Department
• Shared Prosperity Vision 2030