Passports within an hour at new
Setapak branch office now
The Star, Tuesday, 16 January 2007
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians can receive the new chip-based
international passports within an hour of applying at all Immigration
Department offices throughout the country by June.
Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Radzi Sheikh Ahmad said the service,
which is now being provided at the ministry's branch office in Taman
Seri Rampai, Setapak, would be expanded to all 60 immigration offices
nationwide.
"The passport can be issued within less than two hours if the
particulars in the supporting documents of the applicants are in
order," he told reporters after opening the ministry's new branch
office in Taman Seri Rampai.
On another matter, Radzi said the ministry would meet maid recruitment
agencies over their reluctance to comply with the RM2,415 fee cap for
Indonesian domestic workers.
He warned that the licences of defiant agencies would not be renewed.
The ministry might even allow new maid agencies, which were willing to
comply with the new fee structure, to be set up, he added.
"I will call for a meeting with the maid agencies soon and we will come
out with a directive on this," he said.
The fee cap became effective from last August. Malaysian Association of
Foreign Housemaids Agencies vice-president Jeffrey Foo was reported to
have said that the new price cap would put local maid agencies out of
business.
On MyKad, Radzi said holders could now enter new applications on their
cards at all National Registration Department offices.
He said the ministry was aware that the lack of interest was due to
fears that others would use the stored information in case the cards
were lost or stolen.
?We will organise campaigns to get more people to use the MyKad
facilities and also create awareness of its high security features,? he
said.
On another matter, Radzi said foreign workers and students would be
given new biometric identity cards by next month.