For the album: Saifuddin (centre) with Bong (fourth from right) and Tho (third from left) as Dr Wee (fourth from left) looks on.
KUALA LUMPUR: After decades of despair, heartache and anxiety, a vast number of Malaysians living in the United States can look forward to getting their identity cards which will enable them to apply for passports and other official documents.
The Malaysian Consulate-General in New York has issued a notice stating that the Malaysian Government has consented to in-person services for Malaysians needing to renew their Mykid/Mykad, without the need to travel home to do this.
The notice stated that the Malaysian Embassy in Washington, together with the consulates-general in New York and Los Angeles, was planning to conduct in-person services for Mykad and MyKid for the affected group of Malaysians based in the US.
“As part of the ongoing exercise, the embassy and the consulates-general offices are compiling and gathering more information from Malaysians residing there on the prospect of having the services in the US for a selected period of time,” stated the notice issued by the Malaysian consulate-general in New York.
It is learnt that there are thousands of Malaysians in the US who have not been able to renew their identity cards, with one source in the Malaysia Association of America (MAA) estimating the figure at about 30,000.
The MAA had, over the years, raised the matter with the Malaysian authorities to no avail.
They were previously told that the only way for them to renew their long-expired passports was to get back to Kuala Lumpur and renew their identity cards first.
However, their main concern was that they would not be able to gain re-entry into the US, as their names would be blacklisted.
MAA executive director Katherina Tho, who said the association had been grappling with the issue for over 35 years, said the notice had come as a welcome relief.
“We hope we will be able to get the exact numbers affected through the official survey,” Tho, who is based in New York, told The Star.
Tho said many Malaysians had moved to the US with their young children from back in the 1970s and had already established their businesses there.
“When they overstay, there is a possibility of not being able to re-enter the US,” she added.
Citing another example, she said there were Malaysian families who had brought their young children to the US with their Mykid identification.
However, once they reached the age of 12, they need the Mykad to renew their passports.
“I believe that there are many out who are facing such issues.
“We hope we can help them by sharing with them the survey so we will know the exact numbers of those in this dilemma,” he said.MAA founder Kim Bong, who is also based in New York, said he managed to meet Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail in January with the help of MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong to raise various issues faced by Malaysians based in the US.
He said in that meeting, he told the minister of the hardship faced by the Malaysians to apply for passport renewals.
Saifuddin, when contacted, said there were two options to make it easier for the affected group of Malaysians to renew their passports.
“First, we can do it online as practiced in Malaysia now. If there are no issues, the passports can be printed at the Immigration attache’s office that has such facilities to issue passports such as in Australia, the United Kingdom and US,” he said.
Another option was to physically attend or have in-person appointments at any of the Immigration attache’s offices abroad, he added.
