In a departure from my normal lame travel and food reviews, in an attempt to provide a service to the community today’s offering is a bit different.
This post is to inform people about my experience of applying for a Long Term Social Visit Pass (Pas Lawatan Sosial) in Malaysia – that’s the long name of what I would call a spouse or spousal visa. We went through the process in July 2018 at the WPKL office in Hartamas, also known as Jalan Duta; this post should be considered as only being relevant to my application at this time, and is definitely not any sort of legal advice.
As such, the following is to be treated as informatory (is that a real word?) in nature only. If it helps, I am happy and you are welcome, but you’ll want to make sure you ask people at the immigration office to be certain you are doing the right thing. Enough disclaimers for now and on with the post.
UPDATE: Mohammed has provided a useful comment on his experience at the Shah Alam office, including having to use the Islamic Affairs Department to help with the application. I recommend searching for ‘Mohammed’ to find and read it. Also, if you are interested in how to get a work permit after you get your spouse visa, please go here.
UPDATE 2: Jessica informs me that Richard, the Commissioner of Oaths we used has definitely retired, sorting her documents as the last set he will do! I have therefore included a link to the registry for Commissioners of Oaths. Jessica also sent me the most up to date forms – thanks!
I am a British citizen and my wife is Malaysian; we registered our marriage in Singapore (I will probably do a post on this later including how to register it in Malaysia).
We had the assistance of a Commissioner of Oaths who we paid to help us with the paperwork. With hindsight, that might not have been necessary. While it was helpful to have the forms completed for us, and certainly saved us time, we felt we could have done them on our own. I don’t know whether they generally offer this service, but here is the link to the national registry website.
Whether you opt for help or not, make sure you have the latest forms from the Immigration Office, which will also include a handy checklist. I do have PDF versions of the forms applicable at the time which I can supply again on request (and for information purposes only!).
You’ll hear or see the abbreviation CTC repeatedly both in this post and in real life. This stands for certified true copy and may well be the bane of your life. Other abbreviations are JPN (Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara – the registration office), UTC (Pusat Transformasi Bandar, known by the initials in English for Urban Transformation Centre), and I/C (Malaysian identity card, also known as MyKad).
You have to go to the Immigration Office for the place where you live (unless you are Nigerian or Chinese – citizens of these nationalities have to go to Putrajaya; I am unsure why), along with your spouse. Make sure you have all of the documents ready, as your application will not be accepted without them.
The forms and supporting documentation that I needed were as follows:
Borang (Malay for form) IMM 12. This is a blue and white form which you need two copies of, complete with passport photos (at first I wrote it has to be stamped by a Commissioner of Oaths, but commenter Jeff points out this is incorrect – thanks!). It asks which type of visa you want, for your details, and for your sponsor’s details (see below).
Borang IMM 38. This is a white form, which asks for a few more details about the applicant. You need two copies.
Borang IMM 55. This is a form for extension of visit pass. You need one copy, and I assume it is needed to capture more details about your passport and current visa.
My passport and photocopies of every page which wasn’t blank.
Spouse’s Malaysian passport and photocopies of every page which wasn’t blank.
Spouse’s I/C and CTC by JPN or UTC. You might think the immigration officer could check the card and then make sure the copy is the same. You would be wrong. Fortunately there was a JPN branch in the building when we had to get the CTC.
Overseas marriage certificate and CTC by embassy. You might think the immigration could check the details on the original and make sure the copy is the same. You would be wrong again. Cue a frantic taxi ride to the Singapore high commission by my lovely wife to get our photocopy stamped (total time in vehicle 80 mins, time in high commission 5 mins).
Certificate of registration of marriage in Malaysia and CTC by JPN. You might think…ah, you probably get it by now. Anyway, we were lucky in that there was a JPN wedding branch (different from I/C section) where I queued for an hour to get a stamp, while wife went to the high commission.
A form which makes a declaration under oath about your marital status (including any previous marriages, divorces and children, if applicable). This also needs to be stamped by a Commissioner of Oaths.
Sponsor’s information form. You need a sponsor for the visa who earns more than RM2000 per month (no matter what you earn). They must also attend when you submit the application. This can be your spouse, however.
Security bond form. This details the personal information of the applicant and the spouse, plus makes a legal commitment to pay a penalty in the event the applicant breaks the terms of the visa. The form must be signed by the spouse and witnessed by a third party. The witness must either be present at the immigration office or must supply a photocopy of their I/C. This photocopy must be certified. So you need CTC of their I/C by JPN or UTC… (we didn’t have this and had to ask a kind gentleman to re-witness for us, so be warned).
The bond form has to show stamp duty has been paid. To do this, you have to go to a branch of Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negara (Inland Revenue Board). I did this in advance at one near my flat. The stamp duty is RM10 (so is questionable in efficiency but you have to do it).
Effectively the bond is enforced by taking the money from you when you pick up your visa! It is then returned in the event of divorce, death or attaining permanent residence. The amount depends on which country you come from. For a Brit like me, it is RM1500. Latest details were at http://www.imi.gov.my/index.php/en/visa/security-bond-bank-guarantee-rates.html at time of writing.
A photo of the wedding ceremony. This should be in at least size 4R. We chose one which had us holding the certificate. We were told it should only have the bride and groom in shot, so no group photos.
Sales and Purchase Agreement for your property (sometimes known as SNP), or tenancy agreement if applicable. We were told in advance we only needed to have copies of the front page, stamp duty page, signatures and property details like official address. On the day I had to run out to get copies of EVERY page.
House photos. You need photographs which indicate the place where you are living. We were told to take photos of: the street sign (for us impossible due to the signs all being removed for roadworks); the condo sign; the whole condo; the block in the condo; the front door of the unit; the door plate with the number of the unit; and the living room. We had printed copies of the six we had, and the immigration officer attached these to the application forms. More on why later.
CTC of spouse’s employment offer letter, stamped by employer.
CTC of spouse’s last three months’ payslips, stamped by employer. Actually, they accepted two months’ worth as wife was working in Singapore before then. We also supplied a copy of her by-now surrendered Singapore Employment Pass.
Last three bank statements for spouse, plus CTC by bank. Again, they accepted two from us. The bank charged RM2 per sheet. The bank statements should show a monthly income of at least RM2000.
We also took our original birth certificates and photocopies, Singapore tax filing and statement, and original EPF (Malaysian Employees Provident Fund) statements, just in case. These weren’t needed in the end.
We had a bit of a nightmare with our attempt to submit the application. When we turned up at KL office, the system was down, and the queue was 100 people long according to the number-giver. She therefore refused to give us a number. She said we might be able to be seen at Putrajaya, so we rang to explain our situation, checked the system was working, and drove the 40 minutes over there.
That’s when we found out it was only for Chinese and Nigerian applicants, and the few people (90,000) who live in the federal territory. Next step, call back to the KL office to check the system was working again. They said it was, so back in the car.
When we got back, the system was down again (possibly intermittent) so we sat and waited. At 12.55, we, and everyone, were kicked out so the staff could have lunch.
We came back 30 minutes before the end of the lunch break so we could be first in the queue. This ended up being a good decision, as quite a long queue developed.
We handed over our documents and most were acceptable, with the exceptions as noted. Originally they said we would have to bring them back the next day, but we decided to try that day as we still had 2.5 hours until closing.
Or so we thought. While my wife was away getting the marriage certificate copy stamped and after I had picked up the last available document there, I was waiting for her when – an hour earlier than expected/advertised – all of the officers began leaving.
We were really grateful when the immigration officer who had looked at our file earlier was happy to come back and finish dealing with us (we are really grateful to Umeirah for this). After going through everything again, she had us wait while she entered it in a different room.
When she was done, she gave us a piece of paper which had a return date three weeks later. That was it for visit one. We had been informed that we might have a formal interview during which the officer could test us on our knowledge of each other (luckily, a year ago I trained my occasionally forgetful wife to know my birthday by setting it as her luggage code!), but that didn’t happen.
I went back on my own on the given date and was first in the queue for new files. After waiting a little more than 90 minutes I was called to the cashier and paid. She printed me a receipt and made me get it photocopied around the corner. I then took that copy to another counter after another 20 minutes to swap it for my passport, complete with visa.
When looking into how to apply, I saw on a couple of sites that people were paying additional fees of RM500 or so. That might be due to paying an agent. All we had to pay was the security bond (variable on nationality as above), visa fee (for me RM90, for 6 months) and stamp duty (RM10).
I mentioned the house photos earlier; I was told there was a chance that the Immigration Office might do a home visit to check we were actually living there. Apparently they look for photos of the couple, look in wardrobes to check there are clothes for both of you, and they might even check your saucepans to see if they are being used! It’s all to check you are actually living as a couple.
Anyway, sorry for the long read. I hope you find it useful. All comments welcome. If you are a regular reader, normal service resumed very soon; if you have come just for this, please do stick around to see if you like my reviews, and good luck with your application!
Hi Jackson,
Not sure if my previous comment got through, I am a Malaysian with French partner, we are planning to get marry and with the covid situation will be really helpful to be able to obtain the spouse visa for my partner looking at the fluidity for the situation. Really appreciate your patience reply on each comment, will be really grateful if you can send me the documents required for preparation as well, this is my email address: kyunnt@gmail.com
Again, thank you so much for the helpful information 🙂
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Hi – I’ve now sent the things through. Apologies for the delay.
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Your blog is amazing and very well written. Hope you and your wife are safe!
Can you share with me the forms that you have? This will save us a lot of time to look for them everywhere. My email is karenmaefacebook@gmail.com.
Thank you!
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Hi Jackson, is work visa is a separate for spousal visa?
To get a work visa one requires an employer? Even if the person has a spousal visa?? Thanks!
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Hi Mary Ann, I hope you and your brother are well.
If you have a spouse visa, you have to get it endorsed before you can work, and that means you need to have an employer lined up. There isn’t a general work visa you can get with a spouse visa, sadly.
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Hi Jackson !
Thank you for the article, it’s really helpful.
Thanks to you, the steps are bit clearer to get my spouse visa !
Could I kindly ask you where did you find the documents needed for the application ?
My email is : chloe.tavel@hotmail.fr
Thank you so much !
Chloe
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Hi Chloe,
I got the documents from the Jalan Duta office. In non-Covid times you can just go in and ask the desk Sergeant, but I’m not sure what the process would be at the moment.
I’ll send you the documents I have later.
Good luck!
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Hello Jackson, what a great writeup, very informative. I’m also British and married to a Malaysian. I’ll be applying for a spouse visa soon and I’d appreciate if you could send me a copy of the documents needed.
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Hi Lachlan, will do.
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Hi Jackson, I left a comment here yesterday but it seemed it did not work. Anyway your experience is very helpful. I am also British and after being apart from my family for over 8 months will be going back to Malaysia soon. Then I will apply for the long term spouse visa.
Could you please send me the documents needed.
Lachlan
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Apologies, I have to approve first comments from posters otherwise there is a lot of spam. I don’t check the site every day, so I didn’t see yours on here. Now I have approved it, any more from you should be approved automatically.
I’ll send through the documents I have shortly, but please do note you’ll need to get a fresh set of everything from the immigration office. Will you come to live in KL?
Sorry to hear you’ve been separated from your family for so long. I hope things work out soon – right now Malaysia is generally refusing entry to all British citizens unless they fall under a very limited exception list.
Good luck with the application when you get here to do it. Feel free to get back in touch if you’d like any more advice.
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Hi can you email me regarding processing fee & visa fee. Thanks.
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Will do. For others’ reference, the visa processing fee is set by the Government and both 6 month and 12 month visas have cost me RM90. The security bond is not a fee, as it’s returned under certain conditions.
Agents can charge what they like, I assume, if you’re prepared to pay!
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Hi Jackson, that was a great explanation on the spouse visa, do you mind to share with me the forms that you have ? My email address is lowjiunhorng@gmail.com
It seems very complicated to get those documents ready and CTC at a short period of time, get worse during this Covid period where all Malaysian government office is in partially open basis.
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Hi Leslie, I’ll send the docs through later.
Yes, it’s going to be more difficult than normal; hopefully all the documents needed will count as essential services. The one saving grace, perhaps, is that the queues at Jalan Duta were a lot more manageable than normal when I renewed earlier this year, so if you are KL based – once you have all the docs – it might be quicker than normal.
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Hello Jackson
Many thanks for the very helpful information
Please could you send me the relevant forms to smpgrah@aol.com
Many thanks
Graham
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You’re welcome. Will try to send through the forms this evening.
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Thank you gypsyjackson for your sharing!! Really helpful for my application journey too. Lots of things to get busy with now!!
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Thank you gypsyjackson for your sharing!! Really helpful for my application journey too. Lots of things to get busy with now!! I would like to get your contact for the commissioner of oaths please -thank you!
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Sorry this is late. I need to update the post, as unfortunately the Commissioner of Oaths I used has fully retired now. I will try to find more details of another, or a site with a list. Good luck with the application!
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Hi Jackson !
Your blog is really helpful.
Could I request the documents needed for the application ?
My email is : rencynatalia@icloud.com
Many thanks!
Rency
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Hi Rency, sorry this is late, and thanks for the kind words. I will send you the documents tomorrow.
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Hello Jackson, i have countlessly make reference to your article in my preparation to submit the spouse visa application with my my Brit husband. Currently the JIM KL appointments are fully booked till Feb 2021! We are wondering if we can actually do this application in JIM Putrajaya instead as there are more slots available to book for JIM Putrajaya. Looking forward to hear from you soon! Take care.
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Hi Adriena, I’m glad it was helpful. It’s crazy how long ahead the booking system is occupied for now! However, do keep checking in case another slot comes up.
We were told we definitely couldn’t do it at Putrajaya. It’s a long way to go to be turned away! So probably not worth the risk. By coincidence, this evening I just saw a couple of numbers for JIM which you could try to ask on: 0388882010 and 0380000000. But I have no idea if they work or if the information you get will help you.
Let me know how you get on.
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Hello Jackson, thank you so much for your information. I’m also British and married to a Malaysian. I’ll be applying for a spouse visa next week and I’d appreciate if you could send me a copy of the documents needed.
Email: kellywang2003@hotmail.com
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Hi Kelly, I will send you the documents soon. I’ve been sent a scanned version of the latest set. Let me know how you get on!
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Hi Jackson,
You mentioned that you been sent the latest version of documents? It would be greatly appreciated if you could share it with me. Looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
My email: themidgleys6582@gmail.com
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Just sent. Good luck!
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Hello Jackson, thank you so much for your information. what are the documents needed for the spouse visa?
Email: erwinde@hotmail.com
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So sorry I missed this – haven’t been on recently. Will send this to you now.
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Hi Jackson,
Great article! I’m in the mist of registering my marriage in Malaysia and it is indeed a pain. My husband is a Muslim Malaysian so the process for us is one of the most complicated, add on covid factor, I’ve had so many frustrations since. I’m writing a blog too on my case so I hopefully can help someone out there.
Knowing that obtaining spouse visa after that is even a bigger pain, im so glad I found your article in advance. Would you mind send me one set of forms you have too? My email is ginny.tructo@gmail.com
Thank you so much! Stay safe!
Ginny.
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Thanks, Ginny. Just sent the docs through to you. Good luck with everything!
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Hi Jackson,
I’ve already obtained my LTSVP last year and have renewed it twice. I’m planning to move to Europe for work along with my Malaysian spouse. So every year I would have to come to Malaysia to renew the visa ? Also do you have any idea whether I can renew my LTSVP in the country I work? Btw, I’m still eligible to hold the LTSVP irrespective of whether I live in Malaysia or not – Am I right?
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Hi Jesho, sorry I didn’t see this before now. As a regular commenter, you get automatically approved!
I’m pretty sure you won’t be able to renew your LTSVP in your new country, and that you’ll have to come back to Malaysia. I also fear it will be up to the discretion of the renewing officer as to whether they let you renew. I would be worried that they might notice that you spend a lot of time out of the country.
On the other hand, if they don’t renew, I suppose the worst consequence is that you get the clock reset, and you have to reapply from the start when you return to Malaysia on a more permanent basis. Certainly a pain, but not the end of the world. They might even give you your security bond money back too!
Let me know how you get on, thanks.
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I see. Thanks Jackson for your info. So if my LTSVP has been cancelled and if I want to visit Malaysia, I have to get a multiple entry tourist visa then.
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I don’t know what the rules are for different nationalities, but people from some countries can just get a normal single entry 90 day visa on arrival – but I suppose if you do plan to come in and out, a multiple entry visa (preferably longer than 3 months!) would be better if you can get it.
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Hi Jackson, thank you for the detailed explanation on the spouse visa, do you mind to share with me the documents required for preparation? My email address is pekfeei@gmail.com
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Hi Vivian, sorry this is late. I will share the documents later. Good luck with your application!
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Hi there,
just a few words about my experience in Johor Bahru.
My Malaysian wife and I (German) just got married in Putrajaya, and now we have applied for the LTSVP in JB. Great thanks for the information here, btw!
A few weeks ahead, I went to the Jabatan Imigresen (JIM) in Setia Tropica to get the checklist. Even with the current restrictions, it was no problem to get access and aquire the stapled document stack from the info desk at the JIM foyer.
All the documents were straight forwars, as mentioned in the post – so I’ll not waste too much time talking about it. Only a few words about the Security Bond form:
1.1) My wife convinced me to be smart and get the MYR10 HASIL stamp for the stamp duty from any post office. This actually worked fine, and I had the stamp within seconds. However, we did not know that the form MUST be signed by LHDN. Hence when we showed up on the application day with the stamp only, we first were send away to LHDN for stamping of the form (luckily the building is only 20min driving away and we didn’t have to get another number for buying the stamp). So remember: Paying for the stamp is not enough, you also need the actual chop on the from before going to the JIM.
1.2) The form needs to be signed in front of a witness and Jackson had trouble with not bringing him/her along. My father-in-law was friendly enough to be our eye witness, however since he’s living in KL he only provided us an IC copy (certified by UTC/JPN). It turned out, nobody was actually interested in our witness – neither LHDN nor the JIM officer.
After the LHDN trouble, we went back to the JIM to hand-in the documents. The next troubles that occured:
2.) The wedding photo needs to be printed in glossy photopaper. I home-printed copy was rejected in our case. However, just in front of the JIM there a ample of shops to reprint for picture for a about RM8.
3.) In order to proof where we are staying, they accepted a copy of our rental agreement. But since my wifes IC still has a KL address on it, we had to go back to the Commissioner of Oath to issue a document about the residence (RM15).
4.) CTC of our marriage certificate: Back in the JPN Putrajaya, the officer at the counter was not able to certify our marriage registration certificate. Instead, after waiting for about an hour, they issued a transcript of the marriage register for RM50. It turned out, our JIM officer didn’t like that JPN document, instead he only took a plain photocopy of the marriage certificate (after checking the original).
5.) CTC of wifes IC: This copy was rejected. Instead, the officer wanted a plain copy WITHOUT the certification chop. While the sense of this may be debatetable, it was rather easy to solve be copying the document again while covering the UTC chop.
6.) They required a copy of ALL pages of my passport, not just the not-empty ones.
7.) My wife forgot to bring along a copy of her employment letter. Despite they happily accepted the chopped payslips, we still had to get this letter in copy for the JIM.
They did not want any bank statements (altough we had them stamped with us), Photos of our house, birth certificates etc. However, the only real surprising documents he wanted to see were:
8.1) My entry approval letter (MTP), that allowed me to enter Malaysia during the MCO on my Professional Visit Pass back in September 2020. Luckily, I still had the pdf document somewhere in my e-mail postbox and could reprint it.
8.2) The release letter from Quarantine. Again, I was lucky enough to at least know that I didn’t throw away the letter. But it was still a short, but intense search at home.
At the end, at it was no problem to return to the JIM for a couple of times that day, the exact time slot seemed to be for information purposes only. Eventually, everything was accepted right before the lunch break and we received a confirmation slip. We were also told that at least here there is no probational period to apply for the work endorsement – even the first 6-month LTSVP can be extend to allow you to work. The officer in charge told us that the LTSVP application process will now take between 4-5 months, but I should return within 2 weeks before my current Visa expires. I’ll keep you posted!
I hope those information are helpful to others, as they provide another perpective of the practices in different states of Malaysia and during the R/C/_MCO….
Cheers!
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Hi Max, sorry I have been slow getting to read this. Thanks so much. I think I will do a mini overhaul of of my post at some point this week. I hope you don’t mind me including your detail, along with Mohammed’s on Shah Alam. I will of course credit you. Thanks!
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Hi! Id truly appreciate if you could link me to Mohammed’s post or his emails if possible. I’m not able to find it.
Trying to apply for a Long Term Visa for my German spouse who is also a Muslim convert (just in case if we need to go to the Islamic Dept) and gosh the paperwork is overwhelming.
Truly appreciate any help I can get. Thank you so much in advance.
Warm regards,
Farah
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Hi Farah – Mohammed’s post is on the first page of comments, which I now see are over 400. I’ve therefore copied it to paste here. I don’t envy you the extra paperwork! Good luck to you and your husband – feel free to ask follow ups:
*Please note that we have done our process in Selangor (Shah Alam PKNS office) which as it turns out actually does matter as you will see later in the post.
I started my process 22nd of Oct 2018, i had almost all the required official papers except for my original marriage certificate which was lost somehow before it was sent to me and I only had copies of it.
to make matters more interesting my lovely wife have the tendency to confess before even being interrogated so the first thing she have told the officer on the front disk is ” good morning I would like to apply for the social visit pass and I lost my marriage certificate” so naturally the officer outright refused to even check our papers however she gave us all the necessary forms and asked us to go to agama islam first (the muslims affairs) to check if we can do something in regards to the marriage certificate.
we went there and applied for a replacement copy however it turns out that they will need 1 month to issue a new one due to the very high number of applications in process. Since we did not have the luxury of time we requested to get our photocopies stamped and also requested for a letter that says we have applied for a new copy and it will take a month to issue which they said can be ready by thursday.
comes thursday after briefing my beloved wife on how we should submit the papers and forms to the officer and let him decide if it was sufficient or not before we point out what we don’t have we went to the muslim affairs and got our letter before going to the immigration office, when we reached there the officer checked our papers and informed us that we needed to get the security bond form stamped by the internal revenue department beforehand (we thought we would do that when we pay for the security bond ) so we took a short walk to the internal revenue office just behind PKNS and qued to enter our information on a computer in the office before we had to que again to pay and get the stamp (it was not a straightforward matter).
Finally we went to the immigration office again and we were able to get a number and submit our papers on thursday 25th of Oct 2018 and were given an appointment on 29th of Nov 2018 to get the visa stamped on my passport.
now I would like to mention few points where it actually differs from a state to another,
– I asked if I or my spouse were free to leave the country in the period from the date of our application submission to the appointment date, we were assured that we are free to travel as we please and that would not affect our application, however one of my friends who applied in KL was told that his application would be revoked and he would have to apply again .
they have not asked anything about where we stay other than the address nor mentioned coming to check the place which again is different from some other states
i asked if it was possible for me to come alone on the day of the stamp and was informed that there is no need for my wife to be present that day and i can come alone, in my friend’s case in KL they requested them to be both present for an interview before the stamp,
I hope this clears some things up and hope every one can benefit of the experience.
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Thank you for this share. May I know how long is the process because my brother who needs to apply for spousal sponsorship ( he already has the LTSVP ) said it takes forever and he might not live long to get it? I just need some thoughts from people who submitted the spousal sponsorship so that one can get his Permanent status.
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Hi Mary,
I do not hold my LTSVP yet – but I surely keep you posted.
Only as I mentionend before, the officer told me to expect to wait for 4-5 months until the Visa is processed. First Visa is a 6-month Visa (without special restrictions), after that Visas will have a 1-year duration as long as there are no kids involved.
If I’m not mistaken, in order to become a PR you need to have a LTSVP and live continously in Malaysia for more than 5 years. And I guess the application process is another long way to go….
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Thanks, Mary Ann and Max,
My understanding is that as Max says, you need to have the LTSVP for 5 years before you can apply for PR. That application for PR apparently takes 3 years plus, and at the end of the process more than 50% of applicants are rejected without giving a reason (according to people on the FB group for foreign spouses). You are allowed to reapply, but without any indication of what you ‘got wrong’ it’s hard to change what you put. Some people have horror stories, including one I read the other day of someone who has been in Malaysia since the 70s but hasn’t been able to get PR; on the other hand some do report getting through the process successfully first time.
I offer one caveat to that (and a glimpse of hope), in that a friend of mine was recently invited to apply for PR after just 3 years of LTSVP.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed…
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Hey Max, thanks for your updated post on the requirements. So in summary, now they DON’T WANT CTC of our documents? They just want copies and they will compare it with the originals?
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Hi Jackson,
Amazing how your blog on Malaysian Spouse Visa is still coming up top in searches after a few years. The info you gave is very helpful as I’m on my way to apply one for myself…
Just curious though, for the CTC of JPN documents, do we need any application forms? Or will the original + copies of the documents suffice? I just called the JPN branch nearest to me and forgot to ask this (ha!) – but I mainly called to ask if they required prior appointments due to the current situation.
Thanks in advance!
Jasmine
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Hi there,
Thanks for the kind words. I guess no-one has written as dull, dry and technical a post since my one!
For the CTC, we just needed to take the originals and copies – they just checked them over and stamped them. It took seconds if you discount the queuing… was very easy.
Good luck with your application!
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Got it! Thanks for the reply. I will post some comments should there be anything “new” when my appointment is up in a couple of weeks. Managed to get one in Putrajaya as it’s closest to where we stay.
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Hello there! My name is Minxi, was preparing for my husband’s LTSVP appointment when I came across this webpage… what a godsend! The government website has so little information in comparison to your post. I was wondering if you would be able to send over the list of documents to me as you have with other commenters here? My email address is minxichua@gmail.com.
Thank you so much for all that you’ve shared already. My husband and I are grateful!
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Hi Minxi,
Thanks very much for your kind words. I have just sent the pack through to you. I hope the application goes well!
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Hi, can u share your experience how long it take for approval, And if they visit your home immediately after u submit all application?
We just submitted all the documents and they provide the acknowledgement slip which stated the process will take 30 working days. Thanks for ur blog really help us.
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Glad the blog helped!
My first time, approval took a few weeks. Three weeks exactly, if I recall correctly. 30 working days doesn’t seem too bad given the backlog they must be working through – I know some people have been told 5 months.
We still haven’t had a house visit, actually. Maybe it will come soon!
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We just received ours and took 1 month due to the backlog. Its easy and given 6 months for 1st approval. Will submit for renewal 1 month before expiry date.
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Thanks very much for the up to date info!
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will they contact you to pick up or u make a call to imigresen. now we also need to rush due to work permit. if it will take longer than expected will impact my husband work. 😦 @evelyn, did u encountered any interview prior receiving your visa? thank you.
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We were given a piece of paper on the day we applied with a return appointment – only I had to go back to pick up my passport, not my wife.
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They will not call, just bring the paper with appointment date with you on that day. My husband waited outside while the Malaysian wife will enter the waiting hall. Some payment you need to pay with credit card so you need to go to the counter when they called your name (Malaysian’s spouse name) and you need to use their computer to make online transfer for “Cash”. As for the credit card payment, you will pay at diff counter when they called your name again. Then, you will get back the passport… done. We did it at Shah Alam, we need to wait for about 2 hours after we made the payment to be called for passport collection at diff hall. Overall hours we spent at Immigration on that day from 830am until 3pm.
We didnt go for any interview prior receiving my husband’s visa.
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Hi gypsyjackson,
Thank you for the detailed post. Was wondering do they give you back all your documents when you are waiting for the pass approval/rejection?
Thanks
Ginger
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Hi there. I was given all of my original documents back at that point – except my passport. They will keep all of the copies on file, but don’t hold onto any originals.
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So if they take 4-5 months to make a decision they hold on to your passport for that period?
Thanks!
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I believe they would, unless you need it for a emergency. Best to keep the receipt on you!
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They will not returned your documents.
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They keep the copies – but they return your original marriage certificate, birth certificate, SPA etc. on the day you apply. Or at least they did when I got mine; the only original they kept was my passport, which I then got back in 3 weeks.
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they will take the copies only. Original u will keep.
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Hi gypsyjackson,
Thank you for writing these detailed posts – they are extremely helpful!
I’m in the process of applying the LTVSP and the work endorsement, and was wondering if you’re able to send me the set of required documents for these applications?
Email: joewanderer7@gmail.com
Thanks!
Joe
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Hi Joe – just sent these through to you! Good luck.
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Hi Jackson,
I am really glad reading your blog! it such an informative and really help me to be clear on what to do. My husband and I is looking to change his visa into spouse visa right now. Currently he is in study visa. However, I want to ask you, when you first time applied for spouse visa, what was your current visa that time? did it require you to travel out off Malaysia for a while? Thank in advance!
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Hi Sue,
Thanks for the kind words!
When I first applied, I was on a tourist visa, so I didn’t have to leave Malaysia at the time. I gather from people’s comments and feedback to the Foreign Spouses’ Support Group that other visas can be different, and that sometimes people are asked to leave the country for a while, or are prevented from working for 6 months, for instance; this seems to be inconsistent. It doesn’t really make sense to me.
Hopefully you don’t have too much trouble.
Gyp.
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Our experience was:
1. Working visa – once its has been cancelled then you have to leave the country and prevented to work for 6 months.
2. Tourist Visa – you can renew it by going out the country few days and return with new visa.
3. Spouse Visa – can can submit your application after 3 or 6 months (after marriage). However, some mentioned that they do not need to wait. Its so inconsistent. However, as for our case, we need to wait.
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Thanks, Evelyn.
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