TANAH MERAH: The Malaysian Immigration Department (JIM) in Kelantan, has tracked down Pakistani nationals who are married to local women so that they can operate businesses and remain in the country for a longer period of time.
Its director Azhar Abdul Hamid said the long presence after their marriages of convenience had irked local traders who claim that 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 were more than 50 years old just to get licences easily to stay on in Malaysia and to operate businesses,“ he told reporters after the Setia Berjasa Monthly Assembly at the Immigration Detention Depot in Tanah Merah here, today.
Azhar said most of the Pakistan 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 said.
“The fact is that this group want to make profits the easy way,“ he said.
Meanwhile, Azhar said his department would carry out continuous operations in tracking down illegal immigrants in the state.
“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 in the state. — Bernama
