KUALA LUMPUR (July 7): The National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) project, which aims to replace the ageing Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs), was 29.9% complete as of June 26, 2026, according to the Home Ministry.

The project was slightly behind its scheduled progress of 31%, the ministry said in a written response to Kepong Member of Parliament Lim Lip Eng at a special chamber sitting in Parliament on Tuesday. The response was delivered on behalf of the ministry by Deputy Higher Education Minister Adam Adli.

Several key NIISe components have already been rolled out, including trial operations at the Sultan Iskandar Building (BSI) and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex (KSAB) in Johor between September 2025 and February 2026, involving the deployment of new e-Gates and e-Kiosks.

Other completed initiatives include the launch of the MyNIISe application, installation of e-Gates at major international airports, activation of the Advanced Passenger Screening System (APS) on Oct 31, 2025, establishment of the National Immigration Command Centre (NICC) in Putrajaya, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu, as well as the development of a new data centre in Putrajaya and a disaster recovery centre in Kulim, Kedah.

As of June 28, 2026, the MyNIISe application had recorded 2.41 million downloads and 100,273 registered users.

The ministry added that 19.51 million QR code transactions had been recorded at the Sultan Iskandar Building and Sultan Abu Bakar Complex, while another 5.63 million transactions were recorded at major airports nationwide.

Once all components of the project have been rolled out — targeted to be carried out in three phases, from March 2026 to March 2027 — implementation of the project will be expanded nationwide by October 2028, according to the ministry.

NIISe is designed to modernise Malaysia’s immigration operations and will cover key functions including foreign worker and expatriate management, immigration control, passport issuance and travel pass processing.

The project was initially awarded to a subsidiary of Iris Corporation Bhd (KL:IRIS) for RM1.12 billion, before the government terminated the contract in 2023, citing the company’s failure to fulfil its contractual obligations within the stipulated time frame.

The Home Ministry subsequently awarded the project to HeiTech Padu Bhd (KL:HTPADU) in October 2024 at RM892.2 million. The contract value was later revised to RM1.05 billion after the project scope was expanded to include an Automated Biometric Identification System (Abis) component.

HeiTech Padu is also the incumbent operator of MyIMMs, which has been in operation since 1993.

The legacy system suffered a nationwide outage on May 28, disrupting immigration clearance operations for about five hours and affecting around 35,000 travellers that made up 5.5% of the 685,000 travellers who entered and exited Malaysia that day.

The disruption was caused by technical issues involving the MyIMMs database and mainframe at the Immigration Department’s data centre, according to the Home Ministry.

During the incident, all immigration checkpoints activated contingency procedures, including manual clearance, to minimise disruptions and prevent severe congestion.

The ministry said the incident reinforced the need to replace the ageing MyIMMs system. However, it added that the MyIMMs cannot be discontinued abruptly and must continue operating in parallel with NIISe during the transition period to avoid unexpected disruptions.

It also reaffirmed that maintenance and technical monitoring of MyIMMs would continue to ensure uninterrupted immigration operations throughout the transition.

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