Immigration D-G: No more e-card extension
Mustafar (right) watching his officers processing the e-card at Putrajaya late Thursday
PUTRAJAYA: There will be no more extension of the July 1 deadline for those who fail to register themselves or their foreign employees for the e-card (enforcement card).
Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said there will be no more extensions despite calls for it by various parties.
"They have had plenty of time since Feb 15. Due to their stubbornness and negligence, they have left it until the last minute and that is not our fault.
"Enforcement will begin on Saturday," he told a press conference at the department's headquarters here late Thursday.
Mustafar said about 140,000 foreigners had registered for the e-card as of 7.50pm on Thursday. There are an estimated 600,000 undocumented foreign workers who had to register with the programme.
In the last two days, thousands of employers and their foreign workers had gathered at the headquarters here to apply for the e-card.
"Just today, we registered 1,059 people. If they had not left it until the very last minute, we would not be facing such serious cramming like this," he said.
Mustafar said his officers had to stay until 3am to accommodate the crowd.
"The counters are suppose to close by midnight but we are doing as much as we can to help them.
"However, all this ends at midnight Friday," he said.
He added the large crowd and long queues had caused some of the crowd to be rude to the officers on duty.
"I will not tolerate any provocation. My officers are working very hard to help them," he said.
Read more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2017/06/29/immigration-dg-no-more-e-card-extensions/#7VxiY5q55dpqu8V6.99
