Immigration to investigate marriages of locals and foreigners with big age gaps

New Straits Times

2 days ago

KOTA BARU: The Immigration Department will investigate all marriages between locals and foreigners, particularly those with significant age gaps.
This is to determine if there were ulterior motives behind the marriages and if they were orchestrated by syndicates.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Zakaria Shaaban said that there have been cases of Malaysian women aged 65 marrying foreign men in their 20s, raising suspicions.
"If they marry legally and follow proper laws and procedures, it's not an offence. But what we are concerned about is if the marriage is being used for other purposes, what we call a 'marriage of convenience'.
"When you have a 25-year-old foreign man marrying a 60- or 70-year-old woman, there's a significant age gap.
"We will conduct thorough investigations to verify whether the marriage is genuine or if it was done for specific benefits," he told reporters at the 2025 Immigration Director-General's Cup Shooting Championship at the Kelantan Shooting Association's range.
Zakaria said the department would not approve immigration facilities, such as a spouse visa for foreigners, if investigations revealed the marriage was not legitimate.
He added that such marriages were not a new issue but had long existed, and while not illegal if done properly, they posed a social problem.
"We need to raise public awareness. If you have elderly family members without anyone to care for them, pay attention so they don't fall victim to syndicates," he said.
Recently, the Immigration Department busted a syndicate believed to be offering immigration-related services, including applications under the "foreign spouse of Malaysian citizen" category and marriage registration services via the National Registration Department (NRD) for marriages between Malaysians and foreigners.
Zakaria had said the syndicate appeared to target elderly individuals who were often neglected or received no financial support from their families.
In most cases, he said, these senior citizens were not required to do anything except agree to the marriage.
"In return, they receive monthly allowances amounting to thousands of ringgit, as these foreigners are only interested in securing legal status," he said.