PUTRAJAYA: The Back For Good Programme is expected to be implemented from Aug 1 for foreigners who committed offences under the Immigration Act 1959/63 to return home voluntarily.
Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said immigrants who committed offences such as overstaying and not having valid travel documents were allowed to return to their countries through the programme that would end on Dec 31.
“A compound of RM700 will be imposed on foreigners who participate in this programme,” he said here yesterday.
Muhyiddin said illegals who took part in the programme were required to bring valid travel documents such as passports and emergency travel certificates as well as tickets to return to their home country within seven days.
“The programme is only for Peninsular Malaysia and it is fully implemented by the Immigration Department without the involvement of a third-party vendor or agent,” he said.
Muhyiddin said the Immigration Department would provide 80 counters with 200 officers in its offices throughout the country to ensure the success of the initiative.
He said briefing sessions for foreign embassies and high commissions were held on July 12 to ensure that they could issue travel documents to their respective citizens to participate in the programme.
Muhyiddin said action would be taken against illegal immigrants and defaulting employers through enforcement operations after Dec 31.
“We are not sure of the number of illegal immigrants in the country but we hope 300,000 to 400,000 of them will take advantage of this opportunity,” he said.
Asked whether the government would blacklist foreigners who joined the programme from re-entering the country, Muhyiddin said it was one of the measures adopted in the programme.
“Some say they should be banned for only five years, but if they have committed offences for a long time, they cannot be allowed in the country,” he said.
Muhyiddin said the Immigration Department had lodged a police report on the manipulation and fraud committed in the Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs) as highlighted by the Auditor General’s Report 2018 recently.
He said an open tender to develop a more comprehensive system to replace MyIMMs had been carried out.
Meanwhile, Muhyiddin asked independent Muslim preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin, 37, to lodge a police report over his claims of being assaulted by a prison warden. - BERNAMA