KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian girl's highly anticipated holiday to South Korea took an unfortunate turn as she was denied entry and swiftly sent back on the next available flight.
Hazwani Amira, who documented her ordeal on TikTok, shared how her travel plans with a friend soured upon their arrival at Incheon Airport. She was denied entry because her newly renewed passport lacked physical stamps from Malaysian immigration, and she had omitted to bring her old passport.
In her TikTok video, Hazwani recounted the experience: "I presented my freshly renewed passport and the printed travel documents, but the immigration officer repeatedly inquired about the Korean Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA). I showed him the printed copy of the K-ETA I had applied for online."
She went on to explain that the officer raised concerns about the absence of any previous travel history in her current passport. She clarified that her passport had been recently renewed, and hadn't carried her old one.
Hazwani said she had meticulously organised all the necessary documents before boarding the flight, including her itinerary, the K-ETA, flight tickets, and hotel reservations.
However, upon arrival and her inability to provide her old passport to airport immigration officials, she was refused entry.
In her video, she revealed her attempts to contact the Malaysian embassy in the hope of assistance. Unfortunately, her efforts were in vain as the immigration officer was uncooperative, persistently instructing her to board the next available flight back home.
She said the Malaysian embassy's attempts to communicate with the airport officials fell on deaf ears as the officers insisted that she board the next flight home.
"Although I felt disheartened, I took this incident as a lesson to remember the next time I was going to travel, and I must bring along my old passport.
"Everything happens for a reason. Everything happens for a reason. No matter how hard I tried to assert my rights or how diligently I prepared, things can still go wrong," Hazwani shared via the video.
She added that the money she had saved for the holiday would now be spent on her upcoming wedding expenses.
Since being posted, Hazwani's video has gone viral, garnering more than 13,000 views and 6,500 shares across various social media platforms.
The video has received over 1,500 comments from viewers, offering insights, sharing experiences, and providing travel advice.
Among the comments were from @Nay Nay Nay Nay, who said: "Warning for others. (In) any country if (you) renew (your) passport, make sure (to) take the old one together when travelling.
Another user @NelindaLy said: "Actually, we don't need to bring (the) old passport. What they need to see is (the) current travel document, which is the new renewed passport.
User @NR shared: "I went with my sister last month. She brought (a) renewed passport, too, but it was fine. I guess it depends on the officer."
@Miriam Omar said: "At (the) immigration office in KL, the officer told me to bring my old passport because this has happened in Thailand too!
"Next time you travel, make sure to bring along the expired passport for reference too."