Pregnant Filipina caught in ‘spouse visa’ quandary
A Filipina married to a Malaysian has been instructed by the Immigration Department to return to her home country before she can come back here to apply for a long-term social visit pass (LTSVP) or ‘spouse visa’.
Kampar MCA Youth chief Daniel Wa, who is assisting the woman and her 52-year-old contractor husband on the application, said it was illogical to have her fly back to the Philippines with so much uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic and the conditional movement control order.
“We were told that it is the new standard operating procedure (SOP) during the conditional MCO. A foreigner needs to leave Malaysia and wait for the MCO to be lifted before being allowed to return.
“Even with the MCO lifted, do we know when they can be allowed to fly back here?” he said.
“The woman is a first-time applicant for the LTSVP and does not have one yet. There is no way she will be allowed to fly back here if she returns to the Philippines,” he added.
Wa said they visited the state Immigration Department yesterday and the duty officer could not provide further clarity on the matter.
“Apart from the flight tickets, the husband would also need to bear the cost for her accommodation and quarantine-related costs,” he said, adding that the couple had registered their marriage on March 12.
“She is seven months pregnant and her husband is unable to accompany her back to her home country because of the travel restriction,” he said.
Wa said he hoped the Immigration Department would allow the woman to follow the previous SOP.
“The normal process would be to offer a 30-day special visa to the woman for officers to conduct a check on the legitimacy of their marriage,” he said, adding that he had two similar cases in hand.
“Her visa has expired in April and she is unable to renew it because of the MCO, not because she does not want to do so,” he said.
When contacted, Perak Immigration Department director Kamalludin Ismail said he would get his officers to check on the matter.