Yesterday, after at least a dozen trips to the Immigration Dept. in Shah Alam this year, I finally got my new Malaysian visa. So what kind of visa can you get when you’re married to a Malaysian and have been here for about seven years? A six-month ‘Social Visit Pass’. Why only six months? Because this was my first time. Huh?
Early this year, with my 22-month visa ready to expire (not sure why they couldn’t just make it an even two years but it was the longest visa they ever gave me so I tried not to complain about that), Leen and I once again began the process of preparing documents so I could get a new visa. This time, however, there was all sorts of confusion thrown in — well, there’s always confusion, but this time there was plenty more. We found out the Spouse Programme had been discontinued; it took us a few visits to the Immigration Dept. to find out what type of visa I would take its place. Unfortunately it also took some time and a few pointless visits to the wrong places and a couple of phone calls just to figure out which Immigration Dept. we were supposed to go to. Previously we had gone to Putrajaya, but when I went there this time I was told only people from China could do their visas in Putrajaya now. I went to Pusat Bandar Damansara, but after taking the forms home I noticed a line at the bottom of the checklist saying that only people with Kuala Lumpur addresses would be dealt with. We made some phone calls and were told we would have to go to Shah Alam because Leen’s I/C has a Selangor address (I’m quite glad, in hindsight, that her I/C doesn’t have a Johor address on it). So finally we went to Shah Alam and were given a new checklist, which for some reason was slightly different from the one we had been given in KL. Then we set about preparing the items on the checklist, which included several items the Immigration Dept. already had multiple copies of, such as wedding photos and our marriage certificates. This time we also had to provide family photos, supposedly to prove Al is actually our son (because his birth certificate apparently isn’t proof enough). Finally we submitted exactly 100 pages of documents to the Immigration Dept. and waited for my visa to be approved. In the meantime, they gave me a one-month ‘Special Pass’. And so we waited.
When the month was up, I had to get another Special Pass because my visa still hadn’t been approved for some reason. At the end of another month I was told the same thing; since the maximum number of consecutive Special Passes someone can get is two, I was issued a generic three-month Social Visit Pass. Around that time we were also told why it was taking so long for my visa approval: the Immigration Dept. was still waiting for confirmation from the National Registration Dept. that our marriage was indeed valid. A letter from the NRD, we were told, could clear things up quickly; we were advised to go to the NRD to clear the matter up ourselves if we wanted it done before the expiry of my three-month pass.
So one day not long ago we went to the National Registration Dept. headquarters in Putrajaya and explained our situation to a couple of desk officers, who seemed as confused as we were. Finally we were able to speak to someone a bit higher up the chain of command, who shed some light on the problem, which turned out to be the result of someone at the Canadian High Commission in Ottawa not knowing what they were doing.
After Leen and I got married in 2001, we were told we would have to register our marriage with the Malaysian government within six months or face stiff penalties. We registered with the Malaysian High Commission in Ottawa, a process that involved quite a bit of paperwork; in the end we were issued a document showing that we had registered our marriage and that everything was in order. However, when we returned to Malaysia we were hauled in front of a judge for not registering our marriage in time. It was then we discovered that when the government said they wanted us to register our marriage within six months, they meant they wanted us to come to Malaysia to register with the Jabatan Agama in Muar. Who knew?
Still, when the Immigration Dept. wanted our documents for my visa, we gave them everything, including the seemingly worthless certificate from the High Commission in Ottawa. For several years, no one at the Immigration Dept. said anything about that particular certificate. Then, for some reason, just this year someone at the Immigration Dept. took notice of it and decided to contact the National Registration Dept. to verify the validity of our marriage (because the copies of our marriage certificates from Nova Scotia and Johor, plus the declaration in front of a Commissioner of Oaths that we do for every one of my visas, were apparently not sufficient).
Fast-forward to Leen and me standing there at the National Registration Dept., listening to an official there telling us that the Immigration Dept. shouldn’t have contacted them at all, because Muslim marriages are never registered with the NRD; he also told us the High Commission shouldn’t have issued that certificate to us in the first place, because they’re only issued to Malaysians who are not Muslims. He said the folks at the NRD were beginning to get tired of Muslims showing up there because a Malaysian High Commission somewhere had incorrectly issued them similar certificates. He said the Malaysian High Commission in Australia makes that screw-up even more often than the one in Canada, putting Malaysian Muslims and their Australian spouses through an annoying bureaucratic process that leaves them with a worthless document and puts them at risk of being fined or even jailed upon their return to Australia. I wonder how many other Malaysian High Commissions around the world are doing this, and, more importantly, why.
Anyway, the other day I went back to Shah Alam and was given a form for another Special Pass and was told to photocopy my passport, Leen’s I/C, and our Johor marriage certificate. When my number was called, another officer scolded me for not copying the additional pages of our marriage certificate (we’d never had to provide them before as they’re useless) and also for the fact that Leen wasn’t there with me (even though I was applying for a Special Pass, for which she wouldn’t have to be present). I gave him a letter the NRD had given us (it was sealed but I’m sure it probably said something like PLEASE STOP ASKING US TO VERIFY MUSLIM MARRIAGES); when he got my file he said, “Oh, you don’t need to apply for the Special Pass. Your visa has been approved.”
Hey, I thought, things are looking up! Sure, I’d just wasted time filling out the Special Pass form and getting photocopies of things I didn’t need. But if I could leave that day with my new visa, what the heck! “So how long is this visa for?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“Six months,” he said, “because this is your first visa. Next time you can get one year; maybe after that you can get two years.”
My first visa. They’d been telling me that throughout the process this time around, but even after hearing it several times I had to shake my head. Basically, because they scrapped the Spouse Programme and created a new one, which is pretty much the same but called something different, my previous visas no longer count. For the record, this new visa is actually my 17th in just under seven years.
Still, it was shaping up to be a pretty good day. At least my six-month “first-time” visa was ready. The officer asked if I’d like to pay that day, and I replied that I would. He asked if I’d like to pay cash and I thought, Hey, look at that…before I could only pay by bank draft. Maybe this is a good day after all! So I said yes.
“Ok,” he said, “that will be ninety ringgit for the visa…”
“Of course,” I said, reaching for my wallet.
“…and two thousand ringgit for the security bond.”
Cue the sound of a needle scratching across a record.
“Wait,” I said. “We’ve never actually had to pay a security bond. Why do we suddenly have to pay it now?”
“Because this is your first visa,” he said. “You can get the money back when you get PR.”
Great, I thought. Whenever that is.
Needless to say, I didn’t have two grand in my wallet and would have to go back later (after much hand-wringing and some frantic calls and messages). After I’d walked out I decided to go back. I had another question.
“Can I just apply for PR now?” I asked another officer, one who has dealt with us several times and is moderately friendly.
“No,” he said. “You don’t qualify.”
“Well when can someone like me qualify for PR?”
He looked at the ceiling like he was really searching the air for the right answers. “Six years,” he said.
Well that’s better than ten, I thought. After all, I’ve already been here for…
“Starting today,” he said.
“But why? I’ve been…”
“Because,” he said, “this is your first visa.”
And so it goes. Yesterday I went back and paid, a simple act which took most of the day. Now I can breathe easy, for a while anyway. This visa is good until 12 February 2010; since renewals are supposed to be set in motion three months before a visa expires, I’ll be back at the Immigration Dept. sometime in November. Hopefully I can get a year on my next visa, my 18th…or, as they will call it, my second.
Tagged: immigration, Malaysia, migration
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20 Comments
i feel embarrased and sorry for your Jordan. what a friggin’ joke!
Oh My Giddy Aunt! But Jordan, you are a public figure in Malaysia, hob-nobbing with the great and good in the course of your assignments. Surely, the great and good can pull some strings, no? When in Malaysia do what Malaysians do- Lah!
this is the exact reason why I refuse to live in malaysia… total confusion everywhere, poor systems…
thank you for your patience in narrating your story jordan
Jord, I get hives just reading that. If the Spouse Visa has been discontinued, what do they call the visa you they gave you? It’s still your wife sponsoring you right? Can’t the magazine you work for give you a letter so you can get a work permit? I won’t say it’s trouble-free, but the process is a heck of a lot easier, not least b/c your wife (and your marriage cert, haha) is not involved. Are you doing it this way so you can get in the PR queue?
Oh dear Jordan… you have so much more patience than I would have in dealing with those bs. Isn’t there someone, somebody you cold relate to in higher places who can give a straight answer as to what it takes to “do it right” to get a PR? I am sure there is a short cut somewhere….
Do you have copies of your previous paperwork to prove that you have had other visas in the past and that was not your first? Keep copies for everything!
I would second bingregory’s suggestion. A work visa will be at least for 2 years.
Aida: Yes, the joke’s on me!
Ida: If only it were that easy! Knowing important people is unfortunately not sufficient. I happen to know that the Indonesian husband of a certain ex-PM’s daughter has yet to get PR as well. If HE can’t get it, I’m really screwed. Those who get it were either here for many, many years, or were lucky enough to get their applications seen by the right people, or paid a lot of money for their PR. My case looks set to be of the first type, although there is a chance that a friend of mine who knows someone in the Home Ministry might be able to get an appeal letter (which I’ve yet to write because I haven’t applied and been rejected yet) onto the desk of the Home Minister. But even then, there’s no guarantee. I’ve read that there’s a backlog of something like 5,000 PR applications right now; mine would just go onto the bottom of that pile.
Ayda (wow, my commenters sure do have similar names eh?): Yeah, it kind of sucks sometimes…but because we have way more opportunity here, we’re actually better off sweating it out than going back to Canada.
Bin Gregory: OK, first of all, what the heck happened to your blog? Don’t tell me you’ve packed it in!
As for the visa…well, unfortunately once you’ve had the Spouse Visa, you can’t go back to getting a regular employment visa. So I’m stuck with this new spouse visa, which is basically now two separate visas: one for foreign husbands, one for foreign wives. I’m not even sure what the new program is called, since the actual name doesn’t appear on any of the documents. All that goes into my passport is a plain old Visit Pass (Social).
Mrs. Miller: Hopefully if I write a good enough appeal letter it will somehow be put in front of the Home Minister and will bring a tear to his eye and he’ll tell someone to give me PR, haha. But like I said above, my letter may just end up in a file at the bottom of that pile of 5,000 applications. That would suck.
I agree, a work visa would be easier. But they wouldn’t let me get one, so I’m pretty much stuck with the ‘Social Visit Pass’ that I’ve been getting.
goodness gracious! how am i going to drag my foreign husband back to malaysia then? btw, i was issued that blue marriage cert as well by the msian high comm. got married in south africa. a couple of moths after they issued that blue cert, the officer told me i must register with jabatan agama. went back to kl, went to JAIS and JAIS didnt know what to do. i wasnt going back to msia for good. JAIS said ppl only do that if they decide to settle in msia. so my application to register my marriage in msia is still with JAIS and it has been approx 3 yrs now. it’s a bit silly right? i’m in SA and i cant show up at their office whnever they request to see me.
after reading this post, i’ll have to scrap the idea of going back to msia for good. i don think i have the patience to go thru this and the husband doesnt take crap from anyone. also i so sakit hati after reading this. the govt here is worse that msian govt but at least i got my PR in 6 mths! all the best for your next application.
Any luck via http://www.mm2h.gov.my/?
Please let me know as we are thinking of coming back to Malaysia in a few years time. Now living in the UK.
Mel & Martin
I feel exhausted just reading about it! :) Seriously they need to streamline the process. This is just ridiculous
A Malaysian Happy Ending.
You pay money,
They jerk you off.
But you still feel that you’re not getting your money’s worth.
Jordan, better u apply citizenship for my newly created country : MalaysiaBolehland. Free citizenship.
p/s really sorry for the trouble you face in Malaysia
Eddycute: PR in 6 months! I’m so envious. Not so envious of the problem you’ve had registering your marriage here though! I suspect there are a lot of people out there with this problem, because of all the Malaysian high commissions that are screwing them over by making them ‘register’ while overseas.
Mel: Unfortunately, I can’t afford the MM2H programme.
Frankensteina: I agree!
Ben: Yeah, doesn’t sound very pleasant.
Kamarul: Awesome. I’ll be the first to sign up hehe.
I recently went thru the same bullcrap in New York, though yours I think topped it all. I live in Ohio. My passport was going to expire in October and since I live in Ohio, Washington DC has the jurisdiction. I called DC and was told that it would take at least 3 months to get my new passport because they would need to send it to KL. I was also given the option to appear in person in New York and will be able to get a new passport in a day. They told me it would cost $80 for the passport and $10 for picture (need to have blue background)
Anyway, I downloaded all the necessary forms and copied all the documents. Of course even though we were in NY the same procedure applied. Take a number and wait. My turn came and was told the form I downloaded from the website was no good. Fill out a new one. Then time to pay. Ooops the fee went up $4 dollars and I had to announce to the room if anybody had change for $10 bill in ones.
I had to constantly remind myself that I was on Malaysia Boleh Land
I have a theory. Even if you approach one of the innumerable fixers to get PR. Fake or otherwise. Nobody would be the wiser. It beyond belief that they could ever check that. As a public service perhaps you could do a malaysianspouse.com so that people in the same boat would be able exchange tips on how to beat the system!
Oh! I am reading this with SO MUCH pain. Well, at least you got 6 months Social Pass, which is more than I can say for my husband. Besides, before I got married, I was “politely advised” by the immigration to leave Malaysia, since my husband is from one of the “forbidden” countries. Hence, “..in Stockholm”.
Hi Jordan, I lived in Malaysia for 4 years between 1996 until 2000 and my passport of 48 pages finished completely, so now you can count how many stamps I had from immigration dept in 4 years. And, of course, everytime I gave the same documents and filled up th same form. I felt like a criminal eveytime I needed to sign thos paper, as if I was in parole.. Sorry to say this.. Though, I must say that embassy officials in Stockholm seem to be quite nice guys.
Last time, when we visited Malaysia, I was asked in the KLIA entry desk that, how comes I am married to a Malaysian and I only have one month entry visa? Because, the lady at the desk could not fathom that I am married to a Malaysian, but I do not live in Malaysia.
I feel bad about it, but very little do. My memories of Malaysia are generally very good, I liked the people and the life style there, but, the burocracy is really killing… But, hey, I have 4 marriage certificates from one marriage, thats an achievement in itself. Good luck.. Enjoy Malaysia..
You must start a forum of foreign spouses of Malaysian, at least you will get me there..
I feel you Jordan. I had to go because It was just too much of a hassle. We didn’t have the time nor money to wait forever. Then baby came along , by this time we were overseas, tried to get the kid registered for a M’sian. citizenship at the embassy but of course, no can do because hubby is not M’sian. Someone mentioned about feeling like a criminal in the process. It is true when it should be a basic human right. It’s like M’sian women are being punished for marrying foreigners huh. Happy to say that this kid (whom M’sia refused to count as her own) is now a gorgeous Physicists cum polyglot, working with a top-notched research program, lived in this haven where *rojak* parentage rules :)) Why bother trying to beat a system that has chosen to lose? :))
Hey Jordan, I feel your pain, my wife is Malaysian and I was working there for a year or so, and I got fed up with the different stories I was getting from immigration every time I asked them a question about some sort of permanency for myself. In the end I figured they really didn’t care and ended up coming back to Australia. Really, the Malaysians attitude towards foreign husbands is nothing less than a disgrace, and I don’t plan on going back there any time soon in any capacity other than holidays and visiting relatives unless they can sort that mess out.
hey jordan, look im studying in Melbourne and heaps of overseas students have been flooding this place mostly in the hope to get a PR ofr Oz someday and i’d say they’ll have a billion times more chance than what’s going on back “home”.
seriously, I just had a skim over what you wrote and I cant even bear to really get into it. But i get the jist of what you’re trying to say. Well that might just be useful to me sometime in the future. (I currently have a Chinese gf here…so maybe …)
Nonetheless, you have all my respect for your patience and I believe you wont put in all that effort if it’s not worth your while!
and another tip… the only way to get things done back there as far as I’m concern, is to get in touch with some aristocrats maybe at the level of Datuk seri, Tan sri or something like that… might as well spend some moeny on them and save yourself time. BRIBERY is the way to go!
I AM MORTIFIED, sad and freakin’ scared!