Registering with UNHCR

How to register with UNHCR Malaysia

To request registration, please submit the New Registration form available on the Refugee Malaysia website. All requests will be processed, but due to the high number of submissions, UNHCR will not be able to respond immediately. Please wait to be contacted by UNHCR for a registration appointment. There are large numbers of individuals waiting for registration, so the waiting period is long.

If you have made a registration request through the website, do not submit repeated requests for registration. Doing so will delay processing for you and others. Please remember to print or keep your reference number if you have applied for registration through the website.

Please do not come to the UNHCR Reception Centre for new registration if you do not have an appointment. When you are scheduled for an appointment, you will receive a phone call for an appointment and then an SMS confirmation with the date and time of your appointment.

Appointment with UNHCR

Once you have been contacted by UNHCR Malaysia with an appointment date, you can prepare for your appointment. UNHCR will inform you who can accompany you to your registration appointment. Any other people, even family members, will not be allowed into the UNHCR Reception Centre.

It is important that you provide correct, truthful and complete information when registering. Incomplete or incorrect information may be detrimental to your case. You will have to give details of all your family members whether they are with you in Malaysia or elsewhere in the world. This includes spouses, parents (birth and/or adopted), brothers and sisters (full, half, step, adopted), and children (biological, adopted, stepchildren and from previous marriage or relationship).

Documents Required

Please bring all available documents relevant to your case, including passports, identity papers, marriage certificate, birth certificate, family census or national identity document, military service booklets, medical certificates, evidence of previous registration with another UNHCR office, UNRWA office or a foreign government.

Please bring any UNHCR-issued document such as an identity card, Under Consideration (UC) letter, appointment card, and referral letter on your appointment date. Any documentation received from a UNHCR Office other than Malaysia should also be presented.

Document Renewal

If you are already registered with UNHCR and have been issued a UNHCR document, you will need to renew the UNHCR document before its expiry date. Two weeks before the expiry date, you will receive an SMS with your appointment date and time. You will receive another reminder SMS three days before the appointment date. The appointment date given will usually be the same day as the date of expiry on your document.

If your UNHCR document has expired and you did not receive an SMS, it means that your telephone number recorded with UNHCR was no longer valid. Whenever you change your phone number/email/residential address, please update it through the Refugee Malaysia website using the Phone Number Update or Personal Information Update forms.

On the date of your appointment to renew your UNHCR document, only individuals with appointments and carrying their expired documents with them are allowed to enter the UNHCR Reception Centre. Please do not bring unregistered relatives or family members with you; they will not be allowed to enter the Centre.

Registering your Child

If you have just had a baby, you can register his or her birth and get a birth certificate for them at the government’s National Registration Department (NRD). There is no fee to be paid at NRD if you do this within 60 days of the baby being born. However, after 60 days, you may be charged fees for late registration. UNHCR strongly recommends that refugees and asylum-seekers obtain a birth certificate for new-born babies from the National Registration Department (NRD), but it is not a necessary step to register the baby with UNHCR.

If you are registered with UNHCR and would like to include your child into your UNHCR file, please submit the Family Composition Change form available on the Refugee Malaysia website.

Lost UNHCR Documents

If you have lost your UNHCR card or Under Consideration (UC) letter, please submit the Report on Loss of Document form on the Refugee Malaysia website. If you submit a lost document report through the website, please print or keep the reference number. You will be contacted by UNHCR within one month and given an appointment date to come to the UNHCR Reception Centre and be issued a replacement document.

UNHCR Document

Individuals registered with UNHCR will be provided a UNHCR document that will say that the bearer of the document is under the protection of or of concern to UNHCR.

UNHCR identity documentation has no formal legal value in Malaysia and is not a passport. It may reduce the risk of arrest, and allow limited access to health services, education and other essential support services from UNHCR, its partner organizations or other actors.