The Immigration Department reported an increase application for either entering or leaving the country since the Government’s decision to ease business travel activity.
According to its director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud the department received 111,722 applications compared to 85,715 applications in the same period last year through its MyTravelpass system. This increase is also attributed with the recent allowance for students continuing their studies and foreign workers entering, however the department has been strongly enforcing SOP’s guidelines throughout the process.
Datuk Khairul claimed the increase was also mainly due to the government’s decision to provide exemptions to businesses and investors, in addition to government affairs, joint military training and emergencies.
With regards to query on rejecting some applications, there were various factors including applicants having no pressing needs to enter or leave the country and those who were coming from these 5 countries Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh which was decided by the National Security Council following the high number of COVID-19 cases in their country.
This was not the only reason, the department did detect several cases where applicants were found to have used cloned MyTravelpass approvals, which were not obtained from the department. There were travelers who entered the country where by upon checking on the system they were issued a Not To Land notice, these people were subsequently sent back on the following flight.
In their eagerness to come to Malaysia, there were even parties who submitted invalid applications, for example, providing excuses like visiting a project factory site, but they were exposed upon checks on their validity.
