ooops make that “father-in-law” thanks

“I have no idea how to even get the 5 year visa for my wife as the last renewal is still up to 1 year only.” shaxx

Your wife is married to a Malaysian citizen and by virtue of her marriage to you, she should be a Malaysian permanent resident after a few short years. No one can take that away from your wife. How is it that you need to apply for a visa for her??

If she’s leaving Malaysia for a short visit elsewhere, make sure she applies for a re-entry permit before she leaves or else she would lose her status as a PR. When she returns from an overseas visit without the re-entry permit, immigration would give her several days to report herself to immigration or lose her status completely – a courtesy extended only to Malays! Others would have their passport stamped as a visitor.

Legal Permanent Resident (LPR) status is not a legal right but a revocable privilege.

Why the racial discrimination you may ask.

“Upon completion of two years marriage and stay in the country, the Immigration authorities should verify details of marriage and stay in the country and offer PR status to the Spouses.”

For comparison, in the U.S. if you marry a U.S. citizen, you are immediately granted conditional PR status and your passport is stamped, which allows you to work immediately. Before the end of two years, your spouse files a petition on your behalf. You are then served with a notice to attend an interview with Immigration – a waiting period of not longer than six months. Because of the prevalence of sham marriages and the difficulty in detecting them (a third of all immigrants each year fall into this category), immigration officials are very strict. Believe me they can detect sham marriages or marriages of convenience.

They interview you together. They then separate the both of you and put you into different rooms to face more questions. You should be able not just to show marriage photographs depicting marital bliss, and certificates but also photographs of you climbing mountains and jungle tracking and climbing trees and canoeing down river and up river, and in short, time spent together on holidays, a joint tax return, a joint bank account, a jointly owned property like a house. That is not enough. You should be able to tell your spouse’s favorite color, whether pink is your favorite color or the color of choice for your underwear, color of your tooth brush.

After a grueling two and half hours during which you would have revealed everything about your spouse, from her favorite pink panties to her cup size to whether she snores in her sleep, you are then informed that a decision will be made in due course and you will be informed by mail. You should receive that decision via mail in two weeks.

The next two months you will be walking the streets starry eyed and with a wide grin, and ears so red that others may think you’ve struck a lottery. That’s what the status of LPR does to you, until you’re ready to take the next step which is naturalization which will not come until three years later.

So from marriage to citizenship is a short three years.

So how does that compare with what you got in Malaysia today??

MGR,

I guess you are an Indian married to a non-Muslim Indonesian.

Haven’t you thought of using a lawyer? You need legal representation in matters like this. The backlog of civil cases waiting to be heard is astronomical by any standard and one could understand why advice like “Seek legal representation” is a source of little comfort to people with similar problem like yourself.

How do you do battle with a bureaucracy burdened by red tape, numbed and insensitive to the needs of people who choose to build families with alien spouses? Even Malays who find themselves in similar situations have had to put up with caustic remarks from Immigration officials: “Kalau awak tak mahu masaalah seperti ini, kenapa tak kahwin dengan bangsa sendiri?” – especially the women.

It is time politicians do something. It is time our legislators look at the law and see how it could be improved. Often it is not the law but its execution. This is a nonpartisan issue and it should be able to attract non-partisan support.

It is time structural reforms be made to its administrative machinery. It is time administrative courts and boards and tribunals are set up within the appropriate Ministry or department to handle immigration matters. These are the immigration courts presided over by judges. Such immigration courts are no different than civil courts except procedures are less formal and no strict rules of evidence need be followed. Decisions could be appealed to a board presided over by a panel of say three judges. The civil courts could act as the final court of appeal.

I believe our immigration law is full of loopholes.

In the U.S. if you file a petition for your spouse for an immigrant visa, the start of a process which will end in your spouse getting PR status, it should take no more than six months which is the maximum time period allowed to the government to reply and schedule an appointment for an interview. It is stated in the instructions given in the form and the form is sent by mail. Once you are given a date for the interview, you are required to attend or else without more it is regarded as application having been abandoned. The decision is made at the close of the interview or you will be informed your application is under review which means a delay of two weeks before you get the decision by mail.

If you apply for work authorization, the government is allowed 120 days (maximum) to respond i.e. application approved or denied. If it exceeds the 120-day time period, the government is required by law to issue the applicant with the authorization to work. You get a credit card size plastic to carry with you which also doubles up as ID. If the applicant’s case is later rejected, the authorization is deemed cancelled. How would the employer know that? It has a magnetic tape at the back and when your employer swipes the card, it links to an immigration data base and your employer will know.

It is all about the rule of law. The government has to abide by the same law as its citizens. The rules of the game are the same whether played by an Indian, Chinese or Malay or a Kadazan etc.

Isn’t it too much to expect our legislators to do a comprehensive review of our immigration law and procedures?

chanwk28 Says:

Yesterday at 23: 37.06
Dear YB,

For foreign spouse getting PR status, I have more than 10 books stories to tell. Maybe Steven Spielbergs …”

Your story is hilarious! But you don’t need to send your script so far away as Hollywood. A local producer would do just as well, and the title of the movie should be “Green Card – the Malaysian Way” with LKS as the lead actor, and RPK as the supporting actor. That would be sensational!

Well, shaxx perhaps I should have mentioned to you that that was my personal experience and the law then could be different from the law today.

I can only say that the procedures now in place and perhaps also the law in Malaysia today appears not to be in accord with international standards. In my case I just had to convert her status to that of a PR and within two years after an interview with Special Branch she was granted PR status. She didn’t want to apply for Malaysian citizenship choosing instead to remain a foreign national with rights to permanent residence in Malaysia. She has since abandoned that right.

make that KL instead of “Malaysia”