KUALA LUMPUR: Around 27,000 overseas nationals in Malaysia responsible of immigration offenses have taken benefit of a authorities program that enables them to return residence solely by paying a nominal superb.
The initiative, known as the Migrant Repatriation Program, started on March 1 and is anticipated to finish on December 31.
Kuala Lumpur Immigration Department director Wan Mohammed Saupee Wan Yusoff informed native media on Monday (Dec 9) that those that utilized to return to their residence nations by way of this system paid 13.12 million of RM ($2.96 million) in fines.
“We course of greater than 350 purposes a day,” he informed Malay Mail.
According to the Immigration Department, those that want to return residence by way of the initiative should pay a superb of between RM300 and RM500, relying on the character of the crime dedicated.
This may embody staying within the nation for a very long time or violating visa situations.
Wan Mohammed, the immigration official, additionally informed native media that respective candidates should present legitimate journey paperwork and airline tickets. They may also seek the advice of their respective embassies for help.
“No agent or third celebration is allowed to deal with purposes on behalf of the Department of Immigration,” he warned.
For Nepali employee Yogendra, the repatriation program gave him the prospect to depart Malaysia after two years of working within the nation.
“I’ve a passport, however it not too long ago expired. So I got here right here early and solely needed to pay a superb of RM500. This is a protected approach for me to return residence with out worry of being arrested,” the 26-year-old informed the Malay Mail.
An Indonesian employee, Zainuddin, in the meantime traveled from Johor to Terengganu together with his pal to use for the repatriation program there and keep away from lengthy queues at immigration division workplaces in larger cities.
“We have been promised the permits, however our employer stored delaying,” mentioned the 37-year-old, who had been engaged on palm oil plantations since June 2022 with out correct work permits.
The World Bank estimates that between 2018 and 2020 there have been 1.2 to three.5 million undocumented migrants in Malaysia, primarily these from Indonesia, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the variety of migrants documented in the identical interval was between 1.4 and a pair of million.
Most migrant employees in Malaysia work in labor-intensive sectors resembling building, agriculture and manufacturing, in addition to in occupations thought-about soiled, harmful or demeaning, higher referred to as 3D jobs.
