07 May 2007
Immigration Dept Seeks Review Of Issuance Of Visa-On-Arrival After VMY' 07
PUTRAJAYA, May 7 (Bernama) -- The Immigration Department, Monday called on the government to review the issuance of the visa-on-arrival once the Visit Malaysia Year (VMY'07) programme ends to prevent tourists from overstaying.
Its Enforcement Director Datuk Ishak Mohamed said more than half of the 36,701 holders of this type of visa had been found to have overstayed.
A total of 20,481 tourists, mostly from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China and Bangladesh had misused the visa from Sept last year till April 30, he told reporters here.
The visa-on-arrival was introduced for the convenience of tourists from 24 countries including India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nigeria, Congo and Nepal who had only to pay RM100 for a one-month stay.
He also said that his unit had uncovered a one-stop agency which offered services to "legalise" illegal workers with the arrest of a 28-year-old Bangladeshi man and a 22-year-old Indonesian woman at an apartment in Puchong on Friday.
Among the items confiscated from the agency were 15 Bangladeshi passports, 21 Nepal passports, 72 Immigration Department stickers and letterheads and immigration stamps.
Ishak said the agency offered foreigners who entered this country using legitimate passports on social visit passes to falsify their documents so that they could "work legally" here.
The two are to be charged for keeping other people's passports without permission, an offence under the Immigration Act 1963, which carries maximum fine of RM10,000 for each passport or jail not more than five years or both, upon conviction.
