Teh Tarik

I understand that it is the law in Malaysia to take your passport with you everywhere. If I take my passport everywhere I run the risk of it getting lost or stolen. However, if I do not then I run the risk of not having the correct documentation when stopped by the police. I have settled on taking a photo of my passport and MM2H visa. I wonder what other people with MM2H visas do?

SushiFan

I'm now living in Penang since a couple of years and have not yet been stopped by police. So I don't have first-hand experience of what would happen. As you already mention, am I more worried about having my passport stolen, or losing it somewhere. So I don't carry it with me. What I do carry is my Malaysian driving license, which lists my nationality and passport number. I did have a few cases (non-police though) where I was asked to show ID and showing this driving license was sufficient.
I've indeed heard multiple stories of people who made a copy of their passport photo page and carry that with them. But I have not heard of cases where any of them were stopped by police, and whether the police accepted their copied passport as valid identification.

Teh Tarik

I have been here almost 5 years and never got stopped until yesterday. It just so happened I was driving to the Putrajaya MM2H office at 5am (N.B. they asked me to start queuing at 6am) to update my domestic helper's work visa. So, quite unusually, I had my passport that day. But they were relentlessly looking for something wrong with my documentation. This experience has made me think again about what to bring with me.

hnd

We each carry colour photocopies of our passports and MM2H visas with us at all times. We also have copies saved on our phones and also on a flash drive which is in the same small pouch as the passport/visa copies. Likewise, we haven’t been asked to show any ID so hopefully what we do have will be sufficient.

eCdD

I only carry my Malaysia driving licence.

Teh Tarik

I had my Malaysian driving license with me also. They still asked for the passport.

IanBlakeley

I went to the police to report an accident. Did not have passport when officer asked, it was at home, he just asked that I bring it in later when convenient. I took it back next day to show, no drama at all. I did get asked when we popped into immigration to ask some visa questions and I had forgotten, they were a bit funny said I should carry at all times but I do not for all the reasons others have stated it is a PITA if it gets lost or stolen. I do keep a photo on my mobile of my passport and my visa, most places that or a drivers licence has been sufficient. I usually make a point to take if I am going to the bank to transact business since they invariably need to see it and photocopy it yet again. I also take it if I am driving any distance beyond Penang where I live and it would be inconvenient for me to have to fetch it.

OriginalSunshine

They were looking for kopi-oh money

OriginalSunshine

Do MM2H get ID cards? I get a red ID card as I’m on RP-T and husband has a gold one as he’s on EP. We both only carry these as they are as good as passports here, in fact some locals don’t even have passports.

SushiFan

No. There have been talks that such cards would be introduced, but this never materialised.

IanBlakeley

Unfortunately not, there was a foreigner ID at one time. It would certainly make my life and I suspect many others so much easier were Malaysia to issue too long term residents.