SHAH ALAM, Aug 20 — The Home Ministry will soon introduce special criteria to ease permanent residency (PR) applications for foreign mothers or fathers who are the sole guardians of Malaysian children.
In a written Parliamentary reply to Sungai Petani MP Mohammed Taufiq Johari, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the measure is meant to ensure that non-citizen parents are not separated from their Malaysian children due to rigid immigration rules.
“To address this difficulty, the ministry is preparing special criteria to allow consideration of entry permits for non-citizen wives or husbands who are separated from their Malaysian spouses but have children with Malaysian citizenship.
“This is to support the family institution and ensure parents are not separated from their Malaysian children,” he said in the reply yesterday.
Saifuddin noted that PR applications are currently governed by the National Registration Act 1959 and the Immigration Act 1959/63, which require foreigners to first obtain an entry permit before applying for PR status.
However, he acknowledged that foreign spouses often lose their eligibility once marriages end through divorce or the death of their Malaysian partners.
This automatically cancels their long-term social visit passes and the right to apply for an entry permit through the spousal channel.
The minister added that the government has already moved to clear past application backlogs, streamline entry permit requirements for foreign spouses, and set a six-month decision timeline for complete applications under a new standard operating procedure, beginning September 1.
