{"id":176116,"date":"2018-08-10T22:55:42","date_gmt":"2018-08-11T02:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=176116"},"modified":"2018-08-10T22:55:42","modified_gmt":"2018-08-11T02:55:42","slug":"avail-voluntary-deportation-undocumented-pinoys-malaysia-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/08\/10\/avail-voluntary-deportation-undocumented-pinoys-malaysia-told\/","title":{"rendered":"Avail of voluntary deportation, undocumented Pinoys in Malaysia told"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_152432\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-152432\" style=\"width: 720px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/OFWs-from-Kuwait.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-152432\" src=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/OFWs-from-Kuwait.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"720\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/OFWs-from-Kuwait.jpg 720w, https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/OFWs-from-Kuwait-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-152432\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In a statement, Ambassador to Kuala Lumpur Charles Jose warned that undocumented Filipinos caught after the deadline will have to serve jail time or settle compounded penalties (PNA file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>MANILA&#8211; The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday urged thousands of undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia to avail the Malaysian government&#8217;s voluntary deportation program which will lapse by the end of August 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The DFA estimates around 400,000 Filipinos have no legal immigration status in Malaysia.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, Ambassador to Kuala Lumpur Charles Jose warned that undocumented Filipinos caught after the deadline will have to serve jail time or settle compounded penalties.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We appeal to our undocumented kababayan in Malaysia to take this opportunity to be able to return to their loved ones in the Philippines without jail time or fines,\u201d Jose said.<\/p>\n<p>The envoy said undocumented Filipinos availing the program will only pay a fixed discounted penalty of 300 Malaysian ringgit regardless of length of overstay and a 100 ringgit exit fee.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe assure you that the embassy will assist you in your return home through the voluntary deportation program of the Malaysian Government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The ongoing crackdown by the Malaysian government against undocumented foreigners follows the end of its two-year rehiring program for foreign workers in June 2018.<\/p>\n<p>The rehiring program allowed qualified undocumented foreign workers to apply for valid working permits and regularize their status under Malaysian law.<\/p>\n<p>But despite their information campaign to register, Jose said only 8,000 Filipinos\u2014or two percent of the estimated number of undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia\u2014applied for the rehiring program.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, the Philippine embassy is working closely with the Malaysian Immigration Department to address the concerns of undocumented Filipinos, Jose said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur assistance to those in need has been there and is continuing so I appeal to our kababayan to take the voluntary deportation offer before August 30,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Filipinos who will avail the ongoing program but have no valid passports are advised to proceed to the embassy for processing of travel documents.<\/p>\n<p>Amid Malaysia&#8217;s intensified campaign against undocumented immigrants, the Philippne embassy reminds Filipinos to always carry their identification and legal documents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>MANILA&#8211; The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Friday urged thousands of undocumented Filipinos in Malaysia to avail the Malaysian &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":152432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-joyce-ann-l-rocamora","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}