IMMIGRATION ACT 1959/63

LAWS OF MALAYSIA REPRINT Act 155 IMMIGRATION ACT 1959/63 Incorporating all amendments up to 1 January 2006 PUBLISHED BY THE COMMISSIONER OF LAW REVISION, MALAYSIA UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE REVISION OF LAWS ACT 1968 IN COLLABORATION WITH PERCETAKAN NASIONAL MALAYSIA BHD 2006 2 Laws of Malaysia ACT 155 IMMIGRATION ACT 1959/63 First enacted Revised ... ... … ... … … 1959 (Ordinance No. 12 of 1959, Act No. 27 of 1963 and F.L.N. 226 of 1963) ... ... ... … ... … … 1975 (Act 155 w.e.f. 1 May 1975) PREVIOUS REPRINTS First Reprint … … … … … 1997 Second Reprint … … … … … 2001 Immigration 3 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 155 IMMIGRATION ACT 1959/63 ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS PART I PRELIMINARY Section 1. Short title and application 2. Interpretation 3. Appointment and powers of Director General and others 4. Power of Minister to issue directions PART II ADMISSION INTO AND DEPARTURE FROM MALAYSIA 5. Entry into or departure from Malaysia 6. Control of entry into Malaysia 7. Right of entry 8. Prohibited immigrants 9. Director General’s power to prohibit entry, or cancel any Pass or Permit 9A . Director General’s power to limit entry into Malaysia PART III ENTRY PERMITS 10. Entry Permits 11. (Deleted) 12. Endorsement of name of wife and children on Permits, Passes and Certificates 4 Laws of Malaysia ACT 155 Section 13. Power to make inquiries 14. Cancellation of, and declarations regarding Permits and Certificates 15. Unlawful entry or presence in Malaysia PART IV PROCEDURE ON ARRIVAL IN MALAYSIA 16. Immigration signal 17. Vessel to proceed to Immigration Anchorage or other place ordered by immigration officer 18. Aircraft arriving in Malaysia 19. Persons not to board or leave vessel until examination completed 20. Prohibition on disembarking from or boarding ships without permission of immigration officer 21. Prohibition of removal of articles before examination 22. Production of certain lists and persons by masters of vessels and captains of aircraft 23. (Omitted) 23A. (Omitted) 24. Examination of persons arriving by sea or at authorized airport 25. (Omitted) 26. Examination of persons entering Malaysia by land or at a place other than an authorized airport 27. Power to send person to depot for further examination 28. Interrogation of travellers 29. (Deleted) 30. Immigration officer may give instructions to prevent evasion of examination PART V REMOVAL FROM MALAYSIA 31. Removal of prohibited immigrants from Malaysia 32. Removal of illegal immigrants 33. Removal of persons unlawfully remaining in Malaysia 34. Detention of persons ordered to be removed 35. Power to arrest person liable to removal Immigration 5 Section 36. Unlawful return after removal 37. (Deleted) PART VI MISCELLANEOUS 38. Performance of duties of immigration officers 39. Authority of immigration officer to arrest and prosecute 39A. Immigration officer’s powers to make inquiries, etc. 40. Power to summon witnesses, etc. 40A. Admissibility of deposition of person who cannot be found 41. Duty of police officers to execute orders 42. Restriction of discharge of member of crew 43. Signing on or bringing as one of the crew any person with intent to land contrary to this Act 44. Security to prevent unlawful landing 45. Reports as to persons failing to continue their journey 46. Repatriation 47. Masters, captains, owners, etc., liable for expenses 48. Obligation to afford free passage 48A. Liability for removal 49. Power to detain vessel 49A. Power to seize, detain and forfeit vessels, vehicles or aircraft 50. Powers of interrogation 51. Powers of search and arrest 51A. Immigration depot 51B. Custody deemed lawful 52. Registration of particulars for purposes of identification 53. Counterfoils, etc., to be prima facie evidence 54. Regulations 55. Power to exempt 55A. Conveying a person to Malaysia contrary to this Act 55B. Employing a person who is not in possession of a valid Pass 55C. Defence 55D. Forgery or alteration of endorsement or document 6 Laws of Malaysia ACT 155 Section 55E. Occupier not to permit illegal immigrant to enter or remain at premises 56. Offences 57. General penalty 58. Trial of offences 58A. Power to compound 59. Exclusion of right to be heard 59A. Exclusion of judicial review 59B. Definitions of “Director General” and “order” in sections 59 and 59A 59C. Reward 60. Repeal and saving 61. (Deleted) PART VII SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR EAST MALAYSIA Chapter 1—General 62. Interpretation 63. Delegation of powers Chapter 2—Special Provisions 64. Application of immigration law to each East Malaysian State as separate unit 65. General powers of State authority 66. Restriction on citizen’s right of entry into an East Malaysian State 67. Right to enter East Malaysian State for exercise of political rights 68. Right to enter East Malaysian State for purposes of Federal Government 69. Entry from outside East Malaysia for State purposes 70. Temporary protection for potential citizens in an East Malaysian State 71. Persons to be treated as belonging to East Malaysian State Chapter 3—Supplementary 72. Travel documents required 73. Provision for internal travel documents 74. Continuation of State subsidiary legislation Immigration 7 LAWS OF MALAYSIA Act 155 IMMIGRATION ACT 1959/63 An Act relating to immigration. [Peninsular Malaysia—1 May 1959; Sabah and Sarawak—16 September 1963] PART I PRELIMINARY Short title and application 1. (1) This Act may be cited as the Immigration Act 1959/63. (2) This Act applies throughout Malaysia subject to Part VII. Interpretation 2. (1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires— “authorized airport”, “authorized landing place” and “authorized point of entry” mean respectively an airport, a landing place or a point of entry declared as such under subsection 5(1); “captain” means any person having for the time being control or charge of an aircraft; “Certificate” means any Certificate of Status issued under any regulations made under this Act; “crew” includes every seaman on a vessel, and every person employed in the operation of an aircraft or in any service rendered to the crew or passengers of the aircraft while in flight; “Director General” means the Director General of Immigration appointed under section 3; 8 Laws of Malaysia ACT 155 “entry” means— (a) in the case of a person arriving by sea, disembarking in Malaysia from the vessel in which he arrives; (b) in the case of a person arriving by air at an authorized airport, leaving the precincts of the airport; (c) in the case of a person entering by land and proceeding to an immigration control post in accordance with section 26, leaving the precincts of the post for any purpose other than that of departing from Malaysia by an approved route; and (d) in any other case, any entry into Malaysia by land, sea or air: Provided that it shall not include in any case an entry made for the purpose of complying with this Act or an entry expressly or impliedly sanctioned by an immigration officer for the purpose of any enquiry or detention under this Act; “Entry Permit” means a Permit to enter and remain in Malaysia issued under section 10; “immigration control post” means a post established as such by the Director General at a place declared to be an immigration control post under subsection 5(1); “immigration depot” means any place designated by the Director General under section 51A; “immigration officer” means any person appointed under section 3; “immigration signal” means such signal as may be prescribed for vessels which arrive in Malaysia; “master” means any person (except a pilot or Harbour Master) having for the time being control or charge of a vessel; “Pass” means any Pass issued under any regulations made under this Act entitling the holder thereof to enter and remain temporarily in Malaysia; “passenger” means any person carried in a vessel or aircraft, other than the members of the crew; Immigration 9 “Permit” includes an Entry Permit; “Port Officer” includes a Harbour Master appointed under the Merchant Shipping Ordinance [F.M. Ord. 70 of 1952, Sabah Ord. 11 of 1960, Sarawak Ord. 2 of 1960] and any person lawfully acting for him; “prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act; “prohibited immigrant” means a person declared to be a prohibited immigrant under section 8; “seaman” includes the master and any person carried in a vessel as a bona fide member of the staff employed in the operation or service of the vessel and, if the vessel has articles, entered on those articles; “senior immigration officer” means any person appointed under subsections 3(1) and (1A); “senior police officer” has the meaning assigned thereto in the Police Act 1967 [Act 344]; “stowaway” means a person who goes to sea secreted in a vessel without the consent of the master or other person in charge of the vessel or of a person entitled to give the consent and includes a person arriving in Malaysia on board any aircraft who is on board without the consent of the captain or of a person entitled to give the consent; “through passenger” means any passenger who arrives in Malaysia by a vessel or aircraft and who is continuing his journey in the same vessel or aircraft to a place outside Malaysia; “transportation company” means any government, municipality, body corporate, or organisation, firm or person carrying or providing for the transit of passengers, whether by vessel, aircraft, railway, highway or otherwise, and includes any two or more such transportation companies co-operating in the business of carrying passengers; “vehicle” means a structure capable of moving or being moved or used for the conveyance of any person or thing and which maintains contact with the ground when in motion; “vessel” includes any ship or boat or other description of floating craft used in navigation, and includes any tackle, equipment, book, document, goods, cargo or things carried therein or thereon. 10 Laws of Malaysia ACT 155 (2) For the purposes of this Act a person travelling between two places in Malaysia without entering any territory outside Malaysia shall not be treated as leaving, entering or arriving in Malaysia because in so doing he passes out of and returns into Malaysia. (3) Any reference in this Act to a person unlawfully entering or re-entering Malaysia or unlawfully remaining in Malaysia shall include any act of entering or re-entering or remaining in Malaysia which is in contravention of any provision of this Act or any subsidiary legislation made under this Act. Appointment and powers of Director General and others 3. (1) The Yang di-Pertuan Agong may appoint a Director General of Immigration and one or more Deputy Directors General of Immigration for the purpose of this Act. (1A) The Minister may appoint so many Directors of Immigration and other senior immigration officers, of or above the rank of Deputy Assistant Director of Immigration, as he may consider necessary for the proper carrying out of this Act. (1B) The Director General may appoint so many immigration officers as he may consider necessary for the proper carrying out of this Act. (2) The Director General shall have the general supervision and direction of all matters relating to immigration throughout Malaysia. (3) The powers and discretions vested in the Director General by this Act, and the duties required to be discharged by him may, subject to section 4 and to such limitations as may be prescribed, be exercised and discharged by— (a) a Deputy Director General of Immigration or Director of Immigration; and (b) any senior immigration officer authorized in writing in that behalf by the Director General. Power of Minister to issue directions 4. The Minister may from time to time give the Director General directions of a general character not inconsistent with this Act as to the exe