Entering Malaysia with an Israeli Stamp

[sunshinedaydreams]

Has anyone successfully done this?  I'm reading a lot of conflicting information on the web, and even the US State Dept only says, "Israeli entry or exit stamps in your U.S. passport should not cause difficulties with Malaysian Immigration."  "Should not" doesn't sound 100% convincing to me, and that's a long way to go and a lot of money to spend to be denied at the border.

I'd like to avoid paying for a second passport if I can, as we don't expect to visit any of the other countries that ban entry within the next 10 years.  Except possibly the UAE.  I know I can also have a piece of paper stamped in Israel instead of my passport, but then my passport's missing an awesome stamp.

The Israeli stamp isn't in my passport yet.  We're planning to do both next year; one trip to Israel and another to Malaysia/Singapore/Brunei. We were planning the Israeli trip for earlier in the year, as it fits better with our schedules, but I suppose it would be possible to flip them around if it'll be a big deal.

[Cicero]

I have no idea what the official line is now, but when we were living there Israeli stamps were ok but Israeli passports were not. It's been a few years since then though.

ETA: Have you checked into Brunei's policy? They are generally stricter about things like that than the Malaysians are.

[origami]

My passport has an Israeli stamp and there was no issue when I visited KL last year.

[sunshinedaydreams]

Jul 16, 2015 21:34:34 GMT -5 Cicero said:

I have no idea what the official line is now, but when we were living there Israeli stamps were ok but Israeli passports were not. It's been a few years since then though.

ETA: Have you checked into Brunei's policy? They are generally stricter about things like that than the Malaysians are.

Yeah, I looked on the US State Dept site for them as well and there's no mention of Israel at all.  Thanks for the heads up, though!

[wise_rita]

I would forget the cool stamp in passport and just get the removable one, if that's an option.

No good can come from having it in your passport.

[rupertpenny]

I just went through immigration in KL the other day and they didn't seem to scrutinize my passport very hard at all (I don't have an Israel stamp though).

I would also be a lot more worried about Brunei.

[SJ]

I have done this (twice I believe) with no questions or issues whatsoever.

[rubytue]

"Should not" is governmentese for "we don't know of an issue, but they could change their mind at a moments notice, so can't say 'will not' and since we don't control them, we can't say 'shall not'"

[sunshinedaydreams]

Thank you all for your input. It makes me feel better to know that others have done it with no issues. We'll take that into account when we decide what to do with our passports/stamps in Israel.