Driving license in Malaysia

AngelaLCK wrote:

Hi There,

I visited the JPJ office today in Wangsa Maju they advised me that I cannot obtain any license. I currently have a UK license for a driving period of 3 months.

The following was advised:

Need to obtain a visa to show that I am working in Malaysia, only if the company is government listed will I be able to forward any application.

Need to obtain a certification of GB driving license from the UK.

Need my passport stamped with working visa.

Need to convert to Malaysian driving license then International driving license after.

Is the above correct? I have contacted the British Embassy in KL and they advised non of the above is needed. Bit confused as the JPJ website does not mention the above as well. Can anyone clarify for me?

Many thanks

If you read my previous posts it's clear that the procedure has been changed, and from I was told by one person that they don't want to issue licenses to foreigners unless they take a driving course. When I did mine 2 years ago it was very easy, but since this new director took over the procedure has been changed and changes regularly. The website nor none of the embassies list the current procedure, actually nobody in JPJ had been able tell us what is required.

Iskandarhack - you also stated you are married to a Malaysian and on a LTSVP - I believe that makes it a different situation than for someone temporarily resident on a work permit.

Gravitas wrote:

Iskandarhack - you also stated you are married to a Malaysian and on a LTSVP - I believe that makes it a different situation than for someone temporarily resident on a work permit.

Actually at the time I got my driving license I was on a work permit, I changed to a spousal visa several months later. I started working as soon as I moved to Malaysia and took our time converting to the spousal visa.

Regardless the procedure has been changed, I've told that by several officers within JPJ and there's no real guide as for the current procedure.

What is the limitations of the P license? Can you drive internationally and rent a car on the P license?

An update to my friend's situation. He made another trip to Putrajaya with the last reject letter (the one with no reason given, and a disconnected phone number), and was told the letter was an ERROR in the system. He was given a copy of the approval, however when he was issued his license it was a 'P' instead of normal DL. I was, and believe almost all of the normal licenses converted are to normal DL's.

However we agreed to take it because it works for what he needs, and not about to reopen the issue (spent six months on it already, with three trips to Putrajaya and an equal number of trips to the local JPJ. There was never a follow up to the 'error' letter and the only way to discover the error was further pushing on the system.

I should point out that after the 'error' letter and before the last trip my wife contacted a former colleague that was working for MOT (JPJ is under MOT) with the situation to look into what was going on. We have no knowledge if the backdoor questioning had any effect on the situation, and aren't going to rattle the cages since we got what we needed - A Malaysian Driver's License (the P will go away on it's on in a couple of years, nothing IMO that makes it an issue).

Hi, our application to convert our British licence to Malaysian one was rejected. We are told that we can drive around  using our British licence until it expires.  We're double checking this.  Anyone had a similar outcome?

Yes, endorsement of authenticity of current driving licence is now sufficient.