You Must Change IC Address If You Are Staying At A New Residence For More Than 90 Days
Changing your address is not only important when it comes to registering yourself as a voter, but authorities can verify your place of residence easier.
Does your identification card (IC) still have the address from your childhood home, or you have moved out from your parents' house but have yet to change your address?
Take note, Malaysians. You could be violating Regulation 15 of the National Registration Regulations 1990.
On the National Registration Department's (JPN) website, it is stated that those "who change their current place of residence to another place of residence for a period of 90 days or more shall change the address on the IC".
In the regulations that this SAYS writer acquired through a legal database, it is said that the IC holder must report to the nearest registration office to change their address within 14 days.
For such a change, IC holders must visit a JPN counter and bring along supporting documents
Other than needing to bring their current MyKad, IC holders must also bring documents that can prove their place of residence, such as electricity bill, water bill, property assessment tax, sale and purchase agreement, and tenancy agreement, among others.
If none of those documents are available, they can get a document from their village head, tuai rumah (longhouse head), assemblyperson, member of Parliament, or Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM).
The need for a supporting document for the change of address on MyKad was implemented on 2 May 2019 after authorities found that "50 to 100 people" had the same address and some registered an empty plot of land with no house as their permanent addresses, then deputy home minister Datuk Mohd Azis Jamman said.
With that said, IC holders are not allowed to use their workplace, organisations, and post office (PO) boxes as their addresses.
People who live in a rented residence for more than 90 days are not excused from the regulation either.
Malaysians must pay RM10 for the change of address as it requires the issuance of a new IC, while non-citizens have to pay RM40 for it
Although JPN had yesterday, 27 April, launched JPN eSERVICES — an online system to enhance services offered — the issuance of a new IC for people above the age of 12 is not available online.
Hence, IC holders who wish to change their address have to visit a JPN branch, and they have to make an appointment on MyTemuJanji before their visit.
An updated address is not only important for the Election Commission (EC) when it comes to voter registration, but also for the police and ATM to determine where you are from during the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to the travel restriction imposed between states, districts, and 10km radius from your residence.
At the beginning of MCO last year, members of the public were encouraged to bring along their utility bills at their current address to prove their place of residence, reported The Star.
Click here for the directory of JPN offices in Malaysia and here to make an appointment on MyTemuJanji.
