No more easy way out for Pakistanis
Published on: Tuesday, January 22, 2019
By: Bernama
TANAH MERAH:
The Immigration Department in Kelantan has tracked down Pakistani nationals who married local women so they could operate businesses and remain in the country for a longer period of time.
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Its Director Azhar Abdul Hamid said these marriages of convenience had irked local traders who claim their businesses had been affected.
“So far, we have found 400 Pakistani men who have married local women in the state and about 10 to 15 travel permits were cancelled after we found that the foreigners were not living with their wives. “It does not seem normal for men aged between 20 and 30 to marry women who are more than 50 years old just to stay on in Malaysia and to operate businesses,” he told reporters after the monthly assembly at the Immigration Detention Depot in Tanah Merah here.
Azhar said most of the Pakistani nationals operated small retail stores and sold carpets, and there seemed to be more of them now.
“We are often conducting visits to residential and business premises to identify whether they are married and legally living with their spouses or if the objective of getting married was to stay longer in the country,” he added.
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“The fact is that this group wants to make a profit the easy way,” he said.
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“We also monitor the three entry points in Kelantan, namely Rantau Panjang, Tumpat and Jeli, in a bid to curb activities in the smuggling of foreigners into the state.” – Bernama
