PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians who overstay abroad risk non-renewal of their passports for between three and five years, Immigration Department director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said yesterday.
He said, there were many cases where applicants were denied their passports after a host country reported them overstaying.
He said that in cases where Malaysians were deported for overstaying, the department was set to penalise them with non-renewal of their passports for a minimum of three years, depending on the case.
“If they have committed a crime and imprisoned, we might deny them passport renewal for a period of 10 years, depending on the severity of the case,” Abdul Rahman told Bernama when asked about those whose passports had expired.
He then advised those who overstayed to turn themselves in, as the respective countries would be slightly more lenient as against those that they detain.
He also reminded Malaysians who overstayed abroad that these countries might deny them entry and have their names blacklisted. — Bernama