Fines instead of court action for those who overstay for up to 90 days

PETALING JAYA: The immigration department has started issuing compound notices to foreigners who are found to have overstayed in Malaysia for less than 90 days, instead of hauling them to court.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said this is expected to speed up case resolution to one day compared to the current 14 days and will also ease overcrowding at detention depots.

He said foreigners who overstay in the country between one and 30 days will face a RM30 per day compound up to a maximum of RM900.

“If they overstay between 31 and 60 days, an automatic compound of RM1,000 will be issued. If they overstay between 61 and 90 days, they will incur a RM2,000 compound,” Utusan Malaysia quoted him as saying at an immigration department programme in Baling, Kedah, today.

“An investigation paper will be opened for those who overstay for more than 90 days.”

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Saifuddin said this option only applies to cases in which foreigners are found to have “reasonable grounds” preventing them returning to their home country.

“These reasons include cases where the individual cannot return due to illness, accidents, or other valid circumstances such as natural disasters like floods – situations beyond their control,” he said.

He also said 35,225 undocumented migrants were arrested nationwide between Jan 1 and Aug 30 for violating various immigration laws.

The arrests were made through 9,500 operations involving checks on 152,000 foreigners, with Indonesians, Myanmar nationals and Bangladeshis accounting for the highest number of arrests.

“These include individuals entering the country without documents, overstaying, or misusing valid passes, particularly work permits,” he said.