chaos at the airport due to new immigration rules

In recent days there have been massive arrivals, especially from Bangladesh and Nepal; Thousands of people are camping inside the airport. The quota system has been cancelled. The provision refers to immigrants from 15 countries with which there are specific agreements, intended to cover 15% of the active population between now and 2025.

Kuala Lumpur () – Today in Malaysia a chapter on immigration rules closes and tomorrow a new stage begins in which – according to the competent authorities – an attempt will be made to ensure that income is more in line with the development and employment needs of the country , limiting part of the powers of employment agencies and the powers of labor applicants. In practice, this imposes a temporary block on new entries from June 1. From tomorrow, no migrant workers will be accepted under the old quota system, and this explains the congestion at the capital’s airport due to the mass of arrivals before today’s deadline.

At Kuala Lumpur airport there has been an exponential increase in arrivals in recent days, with numerous extraordinary flights organized in the migrants’ countries of origin, particularly Bangladesh and Nepal, and thousands of them camped inside.

The new rules effective from tomorrow, according to Interior Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, will allow the Government to precisely determine manpower needs before deciding whether to extend the quotas in force so far. The provision refers to immigrants from 15 countries with which specific agreements have been stipulated, intended to cover a maximum of 15% of the total active population between now and 2025.

The measure has been criticized by businessmen but also by organizations that deal with the protection of immigrants, who fear that overly restrictive measures will prevent it from being possible to complete all the procedures within the established deadlines. A problem that was already evident with the old rules, when thousands of workers could not obtain a visa when they arrived in Malaysia due to lack of documentation, or discovered at that time that the quota that should have included them had already been exceeded.

In March, when the authorities decided to change course, according to official data there were 2.17 million immigrants in the country for work reasons.

The new measures include an immediate commitment to improve immigration facilities at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, with more desks dedicated to completing paperwork. Food and water will also be available to alleviate long waiting times as well as the obligation to subject foreign workers to a medical examination at the airport.

The authorities of Bangladesh, a country from which 400,000 workers have left since a new agreement was launched with the Malaysian authorities in 2022, have expressed their concern, considering that Malaysia is the second recipient country of the migratory flow from that country.

(Photo by Human Rights Watch)