I'd just like to rant a little here about how I've been facing visa frustrations for being Malaysian, which I believe applies to many Malaysian professionals intending to work overseas too. I intend to work in the US when I graduate, but I recently discovered the "joys" of the US's H1B visa system, where we have to compete with droves of people from hundreds of countries for the 59,000 allocations simply for being Malaysian. My Singaporean and Aussie friends have a significant number pre-allocated (reserved) for them, so they technically only have to compete among themselves. Above that, we're not eligible for any visa waivers and are subjected to home country restrictions for J1 visas again because Malaysians are seen to be one of the most likely people to abuse their visas. No thanks to the thousands of Malaysians living and working illegally in the US, Australia and Britain.

In addition, I discovered that Malaysia is now being reviewed by Britain for this exact problem. I can only expect Australia to begin placing restrictions on us anytime soon due to the stupidity of my own countrymen. Trying to obtain permanent residency in order to freely work in Australia isn't as straightforward either as they subject Malaysians to the IELTS test for English proficiency. Having spoken and used English all my life, I find this insulting having to be tested as it's not considered my main language simply because of my citizenship. What happened to our government's efforts to improve English language education to first world standards?

The main issue here is of course I'd like to be proud to be Malaysian when I meet these immigration officials when applying for visas and not having to prove to them that I do not intend to be an illegal migrant, hence avoiding being stereotyped (typical FOB nonsense yada yada). I also find it unfair when the actions of irresponsible Malaysians working illegally overseas have hurt those trying to gain legitimate entry for education, business, skilled jobs or training. Malaysia is a well-respected nation, but this positive view wouldn't last long if people start to associate us with illegal migration. There is no reason for Malaysians to be so desperate that they have to illegally migrate. I don't feel proud when I hear accounts of Malaysians working illegally washing plates at dodgy restaurants, washing clothes, picking fruits, etc overseas (these are the jobs that we're hiring migrant workers to do in our own country). They simply feed the stereotype machine. Of course, this whole issue wouldn't be of much concern if Malaysia has adequate support and opportunities for my field that are as good as those offered overseas, but unfortunately it does not, but that's opening another can of worms.

This post has been edited by chris_c28: Nov 9 2008, 01:03 AM

That's life, bro.

Get on with it; rambling wouldn't help

Immigration laws are getting tougher in Australia. The matter of taking IELTS should not be an issue as it is the requirement for Visa in Australia. Even european countries that does not use English as the main language are subjected to english proficiency exams. (You be suprised how many Malaysian are poor in English) Since Australian immigration law are points based, taking the exam will add towards the points for Visa. The change of policy was implemented during the final term of Howard era. The previous immigration minister was tough and as a result the policies has tighten. Rudd government has a more friendly approach towards Asean countries and this was evident in granting a working holiday visa to tourist to Australia. However, there is a catch. I enquired the Australian embassy after the annoucement to find out the working visa was only granted to a selected group of people.

Since i do not want to get into trouble with the moderator, i suggest you contact the Australian embassy for more details. The sad thing is, this requirement was requested by the Malaysian government. This information was given to me by the good people in the Australian embassy. So either its a political move or our foreign ministry are not as good as the previous.

USA immigration law are tougher after 9-11. Since our vicinity and lack of "enforcement" (which is subjected to impretation by the US policies), Malaysia is classified as Rank 3(if im not mistaken), after subsequent reduction from Rank 2 (2 years ago) due to the lack of cooperation in anti-terrorism enforcement. The participation of Malaysian in the Bali bombings, the lack of enforcement (the terrorist from Bali and the escapee from Singapore all fled to Malaysia) didnt help our cause. Plus our current foreign minister and ambassador are not as strong as the previous so Malaysia is currently out of touch and out of favour with the Us government.

Our main concern will be the British visa. I agree with you on this point as due to the selfishness of some of our citizen in the UK, we may have to be bear the consequences. Even with the free ticket and only 5 year no-entry didnt spurr the illegals to come home to Malaysia. Not all the "Malaysian" illegals in UK are Malaysian citizen. Malaysia is known as an entry point for other nationals to travel to UK on a fake Malaysian passport. Our complacent in immgration issues has come back to haunt us. Entry to UK may be more strigent, maybe like the entry to countries like Japan.

what can we do to change this? nothing much. much of it is beyond our control as it is dictated by Malaysian and the countries foreign policies, but we can do our part by being good resident in countries such as Australia, UK and US.

I can only talk about what happened in Australia as i am more aware of the policies there. The main complaints with Asean residents (students esp.) is that they do not integrate with the communities, are involved in activities which may be tolerated in Malaysia but not in Australia, do not respect laws (i.e. Quarantine laws), overstay our visa (even for 1 day) etc.

We may think that our stay is only short term, its just one person and it doesnt make a difference but imagine if every other person thinks the same way, thats the root of the problem.

Students studying in the UK, US and Australia have paid a lot for their tuition fees. Most of them would want to earn back the money they (their parents) spent. Of course, they can never earn that amount of money in a short period of time if they return to Malaysia and work. So they stay on and try to seek job, legally or otherwise.