Foreign students in a dilemma

Foreign students are being burdened by high visa fees and delay in renewal as well as being arrested by police if they leave the campus.

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PETALING JAYA: Malaysia is fast becoming an education hub attracting students from Asia, Africa and the Middle East but recently many of them are finding it difficult to obtain visas or renew existing ones.

Foreign students from private universities in Petaling Jaya said the visa renewal process took a long time, sometimes as long as five months.

A student from Oman, who is here on a scholarship, said foreigners were forced to stay on campus until their visas were renewed because they feared getting arrested if they went out of the college compound.

“Five months is a long time to wait for visa renewal and we are cooped up in the campus.

“We can’t even go out if we have bank matters to settle.

“My friends have been arrested just because they did not have passports with them. The temporary letters from the universities are not good enough,” he said.

Another student from Yemen, said the police only released him after the embassy had come to his aid the following day.

“The police refused to speak to me any further even after I showed the letter from my university which stated that my visa is being renewed. I was taken straight to the police station.

“They only let me out after embassy officials came to my rescue. I even have friends who have been beaten up at the police station,” he claimed.

He added that the police did not understand English and spoke in Bahasa Malaysia and this resulted in a communication breakdown.

There has also been a lot of dissatisfaction among foreign students who now have pay an exorbitant fee to obtain student visas.

An accounting student from Iran said she was surprised by the huge jump the visa fee.

“What was previously RM100 for a visa is now almost RM1,800.

“It is a big burden and the whole process has become more tedious. I have to go back to my country and wait for the visa to be approved first,” she said.

24-hour welfare hotline

A business management major from Kazakhstan said some of his friends did not have the money to pay for the visas.

“I have a lot of explaining to do to my father, but will continue and finish my degree.

“I cannot say the same for some of my friends though. They are finding it hard to pay for their visas.

Effective Feb 1, the Education Malaysia Global Services (EMGS) is the sole agency issuing student visas.

A student will only be allowed to come into Malaysia once the visa application is approved.

Sunway University international office manager Lum Pey Wah said the visa fee used to be between RM75 and RM125, depending on the student’s country of origin.

“Now the fee has jumped many folds because they have delegated it to one company now.

Lum said they had not received complaints of international students being detained due to the lack of travel documents.

“But we have a 24-hour welfare hotline just for international students and they can contact us in case of emergencies at any time,” she added.

Taylor’s University corporate communications manager Azura Abdullah also denied that international students often got into trouble with the authorities.

“We have not received any official complaint from international students but will help them if they came forward,” he said.