THOUSANDS of illegal immigrants are turning to touts to apply for the Back for Good (B4G) amnesty programme.

As the Immigration Department can only process between 200 and 250 applications a day at each state office, touts are taking advantage of the situation and charging between RM200 and RM300 per person to “cut the queue”.

The amnesty programme, announced in July, runs from August 1 to December 31 and allows migrants without documentation to surrender and pay a RM700 fine without facing legal action.

Hundreds of immigrants begin queuing outside many state immigration offices as early as 4am, with priority given to those with air tickets home.

Enter middlemen or touts, one of whom approached The Malaysian Insight outside an immigration office in Kuala Lumpur.

The man, who introduced himself as “Vella”, asked if he could “help” make the process faster. He apologised for his abrupt manner, saying that discretion is necessary as there are anti-corruption and police officers around.

“It was easier during the previous government’s time. We did not have to be so discreet then,” he said.

He later said he was a former servicemen, having retired from the air force.

When the reporter told him that he wanted help repatriating 10 illegal workers, Vella said: “No problem. Give it to me and the process will be completed within the next two to three hours”.

The applicants should wait in the cafeteria while the applications are taken directly to the immigration officials, he said.

The process will be completed once the RM700 fine is paid and fingerprints are scanned, he said.

When asked if he is “working” with immigration officials, Vella did not answer directly, and just gave assurance that everything would be settled.

“Please be assured that I am an ex-serviceman. There is absolutely no problem. Some things are too detailed, it is not easy to talk about here. We can go to my office to discuss this.”

There appeared to be nearly 300 applicants – including Bangladeshis, Indonesians, Myanmar, Filipinos and Africans – that day.

A People’s Volunteer Corp (Rela) member on duty said that it’s normal to see hundreds of applicants queue outside the Immigration office daily. The more than 200 application numbers available daily are usually finished in about two hours after doors open at 7.30am.

When approached, an Immigration officer, manning the counter handing out numbers, said the numbers are only given to actual applicants, not middlemen.

While the department gives priority to those with air tickets, those who are ready to travel within the next two days are bumped up faster.

By 5.30pm, there were still a sizeable crowd of applicants waiting outside the department.

Mohamed Ibrahim, from Bangladesh, told The Malaysian Insight he couldn’t wait for a number and paid RM200 to a tout.

Another Bangladeshi told The Malaysian Insight he was luckier as he managed to get a number on his second try.

The Malaysian Insight has contacted director-general of Immigration Khairul Dzaimee Daud for comments on touts but has yet to receive a reply.

B4G comes after the “3+1” amnesty programme that began in 2014 until August last year, which managed to repatriate 840,000 undocumented migrants and collect RM400 million in compounds.

Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, when announcing the B4G programme in July, said the number of illegal immigrants in the country remained high despite previous amnesty programmes. He said the government hoped between 300,000 and 400,000 would take up the amnesty offer.

Come 2020, he said the government will not offer any extension and will crack down on those without documents and against employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Those repatriated will also be blacklisted, Muhyiddin said.

Applicants only need to obtain an identification document from their home country’s embassy or consulate, pay a RM700 fine and present a flight ticket home. – September 24, 2019.