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Director-General Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said Wednesday that affected passport holders would receive free replacement passports with a maximum validity of 10 years, Malay Mail newspaper reported.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) confirmed that there are no international restrictions on passports valid for more than 10 years.

“However, confusion arose when several holders of passports valid for more than 10 years encountered problems during check-in with several airlines overseas,” he said, as quoted by The Star.

Zakaria said standardizing the maximum validity period at 10 years was intended to avoid confusion over the additional six-month passport validity requirement, which some airlines had interpreted differently.

He said affected passport holders would be given priority in the replacement process.

The department would also issue a notification letter to all airlines to assist affected Malaysian travelers overseas, he said.

He added that the suspension would remain in place until the matter was resolved.

The Malaysian passport retained its position as the world’s seventh most powerful in the latest Henley Passport Index last month, ahead of several economies including the U.S. and Iceland.

Within Southeast Asia, Malaysia remained the region’s second most powerful passport, behind Singapore.