The Immigration Department is to begin confiscating and freezing assets of employers found to be harbouring or hiring illegal immigrants in October, said its director-general Mustafar Ali.

He said the enforcement of the law in accordance with Section 56(1) of the Immigration Act 1956 was aimed at creating awareness on the importance of complying with the rules pertaining to the possession and validity period of the passport, visa and work permit of individuals employed.

“The matter has been discussed with legal advisers and enforcement will be implemented from October,” he told reporters after attending an Aidiladha ‘korban’ (sacrificial) event at the KL International Airport detention depot in Sepang today.

Mustafar said the matter had to be publicised so that employers were informed in advance and would be ready once the rule was enforced.

“Actually, the provisions (laws) are already there but if they are not made known and fully enforced, the process of employing foreign workers in our country will be disorganised,” he said.

Mustafar also said that suppliers and vendors of the passport new chip had been instructed to place their officers at entry and exit counters at the airport to help overcome the problem of unreadable passport chips at the automatic gates.

He said such a help desk was necessary because, since the introduction of the new chip in May, chip or server problems had been the main reason for passengers having to endure long queues when entering or leaving the airport.

On the online passport renewal introduced earlier this month, Mustafar said 462 applications had been processed as of last Friday.

He also said that discussions would be held with the Inland Revenue Board, the National Higher Education Fund Corporation and the Insolvency Department soon to resolve the issue of citizens who get blocked at the airport when travelling abroad.

Mustafar said one of the recommendations was to strengthen the communication system as the other departments and agencies did not have officers working round the clock like the Immigration Department to handle this matter.

- Bernama