Malaysian and Australian dual citizen: which passport should I use when travelling between Malaysia and Australia?
Malaysian and Australian dual citizen: which passport should I use when travelling between Malaysia and Australia?
Hi everyone, I’m hoping to get some advice from other Malaysians who have Australian or other citizenship as well.
I’m 21, was born Malaysian, and have recently become an Australian citizen. I currently live in Australia and have just received my Australian passport.
I’m a bit confused about the best way to travel between Australia and Malaysia. I’ve heard two different approaches:
**Use my Australian passport for the entire journey** — leave Australia on my Australian passport, enter Malaysia on my Australian passport, then use it again when leaving Malaysia and returning to Australia.
**Use each passport for its respective country** — leave/enter Australia using my Australian passport, and enter/leave Malaysia using my Malaysian passport.
My main concern with option 2 is the airline side of things. Before becoming an Australian citizen, my Malaysian passport had my Australian permanent residency attached to it. Now that I’m an Australian citizen, that visa/PR status has obviously changed, so I’m wondering whether an airline checking my Malaysian passport when departing Malaysia could potentially cause issues when they check whether I have the right to enter Australia.
Though with option 1 obviously is it very illegal for malaysia citizens to not arrive and leave on their Malaysian passport
At the same time, I’ve seen a lot of people online saying that the normal way to travel as a dual citizen is to use your Australian passport for Australia and your Malaysian passport for Malaysia.
I’ve also heard conflicting opinions from friends/family who say that, because Malaysia doesn’t recognise dual citizenship, it may be safer/easier to just use the Australian passport throughout the trip.
For anyone who has actually done this, what do you personally do when travelling between Australia/your other country and Malaysia, and have you ever had any issues with immigration or airlines?
Thanks so much guys!!