Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Are foreign spouses now being discriminated based on their nationality?

The plight of foreign spouses have been raised many time.

I have stated that rightfully, when the marriage is registered in Malaysia should be given a PR Status, as of right.

There really is no justification for the present practice of now giving until they have had their 1-year visas for 5 years, and this means that only after 6 years will they get their PR status.

Concern should be for children of the marriage and the parents/dependents of the Malaysian spouse, if the Malaysian spouse prematurely dies. At present, with a visa applied for by the Malaysian husband, it will mean that the foreign spouse will have to leave Malaysia and go back to her home country. What happens to the children? What happens to the other obligations and responsibilities of the surviving spouse? It certainly will cause injustice and unacceptable problems...

Now, we hear of the possibility that there may be discrimination practiced by the Immigration authorities and the government of Malaysia depending on nationality of the foreign spouse..

Remember, our constitution guarantees equality ...

Chinese women who have settled down in Malaysia with their Malaysian spouses face a host of problems, chief among them the difficulty in applying for permanent resident status.

According to reports in the Chinese press today, 10 of them voiced what they claimed was unfair treatment by the immigration department, at a press conference called by Federal Territory MCA Public Service and Complaint Bureau chief Dr Jeffrey Goh Sim Ik in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

Most of them have their marriage registered in Malaysia and their marriages are also recognised by the Chinese embassy.

But despite having stayed for more than five years in the country, these Chinese spouses are unable to get permanent resident status, hence being denied of the opportunity to work.

They claimed they had problem even getting the application form from the less-than-friendly officers at the department.

"When the immigration officers learnt that we are Chinese nationals they refuse to sell us the application form, telling us that there are no rules that say Chinese nationals can apply for permanent resident status.

"Those who managed to get the form and submitted their applications do not get any reply from the department," some of the Chinese spouses lamented.

They also complained of discrimination by the immigration as they have to pay RM600 annually to get their visas renewed while their counterparts from other countries need only pay RM90.

"Furthermore, we have to renew our visas every year while those from other countries need only do it every two or three years or even five years; It is unfair."

Goh said he will check with the immigration to see if there are unwritten rules against granting PR to Chinese nationals.

He said as far as he knew, Chinese wives of Malaysians who have ed in the country for five years can apply for the "permit masuk" (entry permit) which will allows them to apply for PR status.

"There are no written rules to say Chinese wives cannot apply to become permanent residents".

Meanwhile, Immigration director-general Datuk Wahid Md Don denied the department has been rejecting the PR applications by Chinese wives.

He also said there are no rules to bar any national from applying to become a permanent resident in Malaysia.

Asked by Oriental Daily to comment on the complaints by the Chinese spouses, Wahid said there must have been some misunderstanding. He welcomed complainants to see him. - Sun, 10/5/2009, Immigration woes of Chinese wives

See also earlier posts:-Maybe 100,000 foreign spouses - but only 8,600 given Entry Permits in last 7 years,

Foreign spouses should get PR status on registration of marriage

3 comments:

MYblog said...

Let me correct you. After 6 years they are only eligible to apply, when the application is approved is anybody's guess including GOD.

Do your research, I will be surprised if anyone except the illegal Indonesians, get a PR in less than 10 years

aavaz said...

Consider this,
Every year irrespective of nationality, foreign spouses have to be accompanied by their malaysian spouses, some of us are here for 2 decades, placing women in a very vulnerable position, totally dependent on the husband.

Consider this, we are kept hanging, our applications for PR are left pending for years as we are told the queue is very long. Our applications are either unattended or lost.

"Sabar" is the key word used by the immigration officers, well to us Sabar means for 25 years or more!!

Consider this the husband passes on, how are the foreign spouses to remain in the country?

Ever considered this, what about cases of divorce, the children are Malaysians and the foreign spouse has to leave the country.

Yet again, consider, Children of Malaysian women, born out of the country are not given malaysian citizenship or PR and upon return to Malaysia they have difficulty getting admitted into national schools.

Consider this again, what about the access to healthcare - we cannot admit our children into hospital because we are not Malaysians.

Ask the banks if foreign spouse housewives can open an account?? Afraid not, it has to be a join account.

Yet the privileges are given to Malaysia My Second Home.

And the list goes on.....

Well ask foreign spouses, we believe in Malaysia, We can only receive Permenant Resident Status when we get buried here.

I swear said...

now only you know? ai yo, only 1 country easy to get PR i.e. Indonesia. Others, mostly rejection. Lagi teruk if China doll, no thanks to so many fake marriages among China dolls and local poor men.

However, our govt should recognise that genuine cases of Chinese women/local men marriages are getting more common. So many local bizmen have biz in China and having them loving (real one) the Chinese women is not surprising at all.