Marrying Malaysian Woman In Malaysia

I know the Malaysians wanted a certificate of no impediment when I got married there.
I'm guessing your local marriage people can issue such a certificate.

I also understand there are different rules for Muslims and non Muslims, so check that out for potential issues.

yes i checked the non impediment of marriage issue. Malaysian office says it needs to be chopped by Jamaican Embassy for Malaysia. The problem is that our honorary consular resigned and we don't have a embassy at the moment. I guess I will make some more calls about this matter. I hope Malaysian office will understand my position.

We are both Non Muslims btw.

how long after marriage will I be able to get Long term visitor pass and can I get a job with that?

It is always better and easier to apply spouse visa outside the destination country. If you enter msia with tourist visa but request change to spouse visa while you remain in the country, it may give an impression to immigration officers that you are taking advantage of the situation. The worst consequence is they may reject your application or at best they will delay the decision for a long time.

Another thing is msia is a Muslim country, women tend to hv lower status here, which means marrying to a msian wife is different from marrying to a msian husband. If you plan to have children in future then I suggest you check the law carefully, make sure your kids are entitled for msian citizenship. Last but not least, I wish you luck and success in your application.

Thank you for you reply but how would i apply for a spouse visa when we are not yet married? We plan to marry in Malaysia while holding a tourist visa then I will be able to apply for spouse visa.

You can get married in Malaysia and apply visa outside the country. Anyway, it is only my personal opinion. Make sure you contact the relevant authority in msia for more information when you arrive.

You people have this all mixed up.

At the beginning of this, the govt will deny your application for the long term social visit pass if they detect you are marrying to stay or get a job. From the govts point of view you marry for love, not for work. This is not my opinion, its how immigration works.

Anyway, some points. Go ahead and marry here. And yes, before that you MUST get a certificate from your embassy that you are free to marry. If there is no embassy in Malaysia, where is there one? Singapore? Where? Is there an authority in Jamaica for this, a marriage registration office to confirm you are not married already? This isnt an immigration matter but a marriage matter. If you two marry in Jamaica, will your govt let her in for the purpose of marrying? The problem is that all countries want you to marry in their country so that they know the wedding was real but this is not possible.  If you marry in Jamaica, how will the Malaysian govt know a legal marriage was real and actually happened?

Next, as far as I know you can apply for the LTSVP anytime after marrying but the sooner you do it, the worse it looks. Go ahead and marry and wait a while, wait 6 months or a year before applying. If you go from a wedding and then straight to the immigration office still in your wedding clothes and wedding cake on your lips, I can promise you your application will be denied. Then again, this is Malaysia, who knows?

On the LTSVP, its a sponsor pass and the paperwork is extensive. She has to prove she has the money to take care of you--not you. The minimum is RM2000/mo income but she might show RM4000 and they could say its not enough. Nobody knows because they make rules as they go. The application includes 2 (or 3) months of her salary and bank statements, and a variety of things they will tell you to do. It takes about 30 days to get an answer if the application was complete and during that time you cant leave. They will sell you an extension of 30-60 days if its needed. If you leave, you have to start all over. When you get the LTSVP it will be for a short trial term, like 6 months. After that, you apply all over again and they will then give 1 year. After that you apply again and maybe get 2 years. After you have been married lets say 10 years, you can apply again and possibly be given 5 years visa. You have to post a RM2000 bond, and the visa costs RM90 per year.

Work. At the time of your application you can apply for an endorsement to the LTSVP to allow work, but that is not a work permit. You still must be given a work visa through a specific employer. The endorsement is simply permission to do that.

SO...if she isnt working, you have a problem you cant solve because they rely on her income for your support. You cannot use yours. If she has a good job and verified salary, thats one huge headache solved. Second problem is your embassy. Whoever is going to marry you, go discuss it with them. The Immigration dept is only interested in your marriage certificate which is part of the application. If your marriage authority, like a church, was satisfied and married you, Immigration wont undo that.

And by the way, at all times in the Immigration part, she must accompany you to the office because its always going to be her paperwork, her application and her sponsorship of you.

Also, the LTSVP is a multi-entry visa, you can come and go. But while thats true, if your passport shows you married and spent most of your time outside Malaysia, especially without your wife, it looks very bad when you apply again for another LTSVP because they will properly wonder why they gave you a pass in the first place. You might say you had to leave for your job/income and they will then believe you dont need a LTSVP. What they want to see is you planted here--with her in one address. If you cannot gain a job that is not anyones problem. If you go back to Jamaica for income they will say, good, fine, go ahead but may give you trouble next time, or perhaps give you a very short term pass. There is no firm answer for anything in Malaysia. What works for one person doesnt mean it works the same for the next person.

If you are in Malaysia now, both of you go to Immigration and discuss the whole thing and come back here and explain what they said. If you are in Jamaica, then let her go discuss. Good luck.

Hello Everyone here, I am new here in forum
I was invited by friend to visit Malaysia, and I was not excited in first time due to the distance and travel arrangement, usually I travel to close neighbor countries in Europe. I want to chill out there visiting nature. Now, I've planned my trip and very excited to be there. As muslim, religion matters for me, I heard a lot that Malaysians are respectful people who practice and observe quality of good muslims, so marrying Malaysian girl is now part of my considerations (which was not before), and I hope she wants come live with me in my country. I hope it will be easy for foreigner to get married there!!

naturelover, since you are Muslim and she is (assumed to be)  Malay-Muslim, I dont see any problem about marrying--as to the government. But will her family accept you? Will her father be wali? If all that is OK, then I think you will be fine to marry.

About Muslim here, there are many degrees of belief. There are good Muslim and bad Muslim, just like any other people. Hopefully you will find a nice, good one. One thing, most Malaysians love their country very much and dont wish to be far from their families. I cannot assure you that after marrying your wife will love to leave here. More likely, she will want you to stay here where she will continue to enjoy the protections of the government and her family.

I agree with CVCO, many Malay women would want to stay here and not move away. The downside is if you had to live here, you may find it difficult to find work depending on factors including not speaking local languages,  and may be expected to support her (and half her family possibly). The problem with her moving outside Malaysia is the same in terms of languages and employment potential. The easy option is to remain.

Thanks for your prompt reply,
Actually I am someone who believe in love Love is blind and who knows she or I will be sacrificing :-). I know everywhere in the world, finding job overseas is difficult. What are chances that I will found job there. I did high school study and have experience in Oil and Gas industry. Can I settle by easy way in Malaysia?.

Lower chances at the moment as the O&G industry crashed a couple of years ago here.  High school would probably be difficult to get work in major industries and companies in most cases here, as you would be up against local graduates and also foreign talent with good qualifications and experience. But your experience could be useful if its in a specialist area. It's still sometimes the case of who you know, not what you know - so never say never. Take a look at online databases to refresh your mind on what the employment market is like in Malaysia. You don't say which part of Malaysia you are visiting. The main O&G jobs are around KL and in Terengganu as well as Sandakan and Miri in Borneo

Naturelover13, are you planning to find a msian girlfriend and marry her in order to obtain the local residential status? I am dubious about your way of finding "true" love. Anyway, I think you have underestimated the visa difficulty. As explained by others, you will need a sponsor - your future wife or company - to support your visa application. It would be easier for a multinational company in your own country to sponsor you to work in msia (if they have a branch there) than finding a msian company to sponsor your stay. Put it this way, if you find job hunting challenging in your home country, it will be much difficult in foreign country (due to your legal status and qualification), unless you are willing to lower your expectation and do labour intensive but peanut pay work. If your sponsor is a msian wife then she will likely need to meet minimum income requirement set by immigration. Another option is to pursue further education in Malaysia, you can start your own small business like selling stuff to earn money while you are there.

Samsam123 - I agree that one of the hardest situations is for foreigners to marry a local Malaysian, thinking that their life will just continue in the same way as before they arrived. I also agree that coming to Malaysia as a professional and holding one's own immigration status in the country is by far the better solution. People need 6 basic things: certainty, variety, significance, growth, contribution and love/connection.

Basically by marrying the foreign spouse gives up all control over their life and is governed by local rules and customs. Even trips to immigration to get extensions to social visit passes means both partners have to attend every single appointment. A foreign man cannot control much because of the regulations and lack of language skills. So thoughts of having a professional and independent status will quickly disappear.  This FB Group may give some insight - https://www.facebook.com/FSSGMY/?hc_ref … mp;fref=nf

Getting more education is one route, but of course, to officially earn your keep and fees, it would be necessary to set up a sole proprietorship company owned by the Malaysian wife or a joint venture with other Malaysians (which requires RM350k as latest figure). So coming into the country without a professional visa will make maintaining personal independence difficult and mean potentially living in a grey zone for a few years.

Thanks for all your worthy clarifications. Actually, I am not planning to stay in Malaysia but it's good to know some details. Therefore, I am not attempting as some people do to use social status to obtain local residential status. As I said, I may look seriously to stay with msian girlfriend in Malaysia after marrying her of course, and so I am interested for more information.

Haye there iam at malaysia since 6 year with my working visa. Now i want to marry with here and stay here in malaysia. So i want to know with my working visa passport can i go to resister mariedge or what i need to do. Plase any one suggest me thank u.

Hello im in malaysia since 6 years. Then i have a girlfriend and i love her so much. I want to marry with her. But my passport is with my boss and my work permit is under his company.  Please suggest me that how can i get married here and what will be my process.

Prabhatbhan - which type of work permit do you have? Is it under the Foreign Worker system or the Professional Pass system? If it is under the Foreign Worker system immigration does not permit marriage while on that visa.

However, I did read that the Islamic authorities in some parts of Malaysia are now allowing Muslim Foreign Workers to marry local Muslim women. I think it is in Selangor and Pahang.

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malay … BL97luw.97

A general requirement is to get a certificate from the foreigners embassy to prove the ability to marry (i.e. single civil status).

Well, THIS time anyway, I agree with Gravitas . And, Samsam's post is perfect, too. Naturelover should take all these posts to heart because they accurately reflect the situation.

I'll say this as an umbrella over all of the posts because Naturelover is referring to a track that needs to end--or has ended without any help from me. There are two tracks that bring people here, one is non-specific, general curiosity and hanging-out to see what happens, and the other is something hard and specific like a job transfer from a similar position in another country. (There is a third track on the road less traveled and thats the opening of a good sized company for the purpose of creating a product or service but thats not for this discussion, as are all the other reasons to come, like medical or family).

I keep saying this over and over but in the OLD DAYS, yes you could come for any reason and it was easy--easy to stay, easy to renew visas, easy to find a job, easy to come and go as you like. Nobody seemed to ask many questions. Those days are GONE. Oh, man, are they gone.

The thing that is almost the last thing possible to work is like this--you transferred here against your will by Shell in Europe. You hate Malaysia and cant wait for the two years to end so you can get back to your real life. Somehow you meet the girl of your dreams and for some odd reason you cant explain, suddenly the weather isnt so hot, the food isnt that spicy after all, even the government seems nice enough <cough>. You look around you and think, wow, this could be my home! Your g/f agrees. You explore options for staying, eventually figure it out and wow, again, Shell wants to extend you! You marry, buy a house, raise babies and thats your life. You only go back home during your annual leave or fly to Bali or some such place. This works, at least for 10 years or so. Since fundamentally the government wants foreigners out, anything you do to circumvent their intention will constantly work against you, not to mention the stress it puts on the relationship you have with a local. And since whatever story an expat is thinking has been tried a thousand million times already in the Immigration Dept, the premise of the original post  isnt workable anymore.

Generally and fundamentally, a woman in any ASEAN country loves her country and wants to stay. Sometimes, yes, some want to leave but thats not so common, and even then she expects close ties to her family and will return often. (I knew a man who married a Thai woman and moved to USA. Eventually they divorced because of the stress and expense of her returning to Thailand every eight weeks for a visit. Over the course of the year they only saw each other about half the time). Since then its extremely difficult for a foreigner to stay, it nearly leaves everyone outside, looking in through the glass. The whole premise of "i'll come, check it out, maybe grab a girl, maybe stay, maybe go, I dont know, whatever, we'll see" is nowadays complete, unworkable nonsense. What does work is a strong reason that the government is interested in pursuing. Given the advancements Malaysia is always making, there arent many of those left that would benefit a new expat.

Hey CVCO - we are neighbours these days..... Times are a-changing in Malaysia...... still.

Thank u gravitas for your reply. My permit is forigen work system permit so from this permit imigiration not allow for mariege. So what can i do for marry here and what will be the pricess do u have any idea please help me.

I think you have to leave the country for 6 months and then return on a social visit pass and start marriage procedure. Why don't you and your girlfriend join the FB group Foreign Spouses Support Group https://www.facebook.com/FSSGMY/ and ask there for some information.

Gravitas by the way im not muslim and my girl friend also no muslim.

Yes, I worked that out - would have been easier if you were......

Gravitas wrote:

I think you have to leave the country for 6 months and then return on a social visit pass and start marriage procedure. Why don't you and your girlfriend join the FB group Foreign Spouses Support Group https://www.facebook.com/FSSGMY/ and ask there for some information.

They will know the latest rules and any ways to get married more conveniently.

hi
I am work permit holder in malaysia
my girlfriend  malaysian muslim, I am also muslim
can I married, I don't knew work permit holder can or not

You can marry if you hold a Professional Pass.

hi, im also getting married to a foreigner. but was informed that the social visit pass is only valid for 30 days.how possible to arrange everything within 30daya unless we can extend. anyone experienced this situation?

This FB group may be helpful https://www.facebook.com/FSSGMY/?ref=br_rs There are guides under the NOTES section and forum and admin help answer questions.

Hello I'm Anil...
I'm under labor Visa..... and I love a girl from Malaysia non Muslim.....can I marry her ..?

Anil Paul wrote:

Hello I'm Anil...
I'm under labor Visa..... and I love a girl from Malaysia non Muslim.....can I marry her ..?

Yes but need to quit your job and leave Malaysia before it is possible

Get her to join FB group Foreign Spouses Support Group for details

Can u please tell me in clear way?

She's  already following that group....I wanna marry her and stay in Malaysia  so give me full clarity about it.?

She can tell you or you can also join and  check or ask on the FSSG

Anil Paul,

Go back and read from the start of the thread. There is no reason for any of us to keep repeating the same answers to the same questions.

Because I got notice that someone liked my post, I went back and re-read the entire thread. I can more or less confirm that the information remains intact and if it isnt correct its based on brand new changes in the laws. I will know soon enough as my own LTSVP expires end of July and lets see what happens when I attempt re-newal.

As for marriage, there is the info in this AND OTHER threads in which i have extensively written about processes and procedures. Go find them. Search keywords like "marriage in malaysia" and etc.

Gravitas said something two years ago that I just saw today and it sticks with me. Its about the fact that when you marry a Malaysian your life is going to change in what i can only call a bad way. Im not talking about love but more the legal aspects. You lose control of your life, you are subject to whatever your spouse and the govt want to do. From a legal and process point of view, I felt better or more secure without marriage but as a tourist, difficult as that can be. Others may feel differently but myself, I feel very unsteady because you make plans, you act on the plans, you carry forward and if ONE TINY little thing changes with the govt or your spouse, thats all suddenly gone.

Its the "whinging pom" part of me, but had this been in USA, by now I would have a Green Card, permanency and rights irrespective of what happened to my spouse or the govt. Here, you got NOTHING. Marriage, legally speaking, means you are a tourist who gets to stay a bit longer than usual, THATS IT. As Gravitas has mentioned FSSG on Facebook, as I recall it was started by a woman who married and raised a family here. Then one day her malaysian husband died and the govt told her to get out. So she rallied other similar people to protest and petition the govt for change. To my understanding, nothing has changed in the positive.

The problem for a foreigner is that after marriage, you have to mind yourself, your life, your health, and now worry that your spouse's status doesnt change at all. He/she has to remain perfect, happy, in the relationship, in good health, everything. You worry day and night that he/she wont have a car accident or heart attack or something. You worry day and night the govt wont change something like refuse to renew a short-term pass.  This triple worry about everything is extremely taxing.

If I could turn back the clock:
1) Do not marry
2) Buy a house, rent it out to others
3) Leave
4) Come back at times for short holidays

GRAVITAS, yes we are neighbors, could meet up sometime if you like.

Hey guys!

I was having a read through this conversation and found it very interesting. My girlfriend is from Malaysia & I am from Ireland. She moved from Malaysia to Ireland when she was very young and lived here most of her life.

We're still quite young, but after reading this conversation, I just wanted a little insight to how the marriage works. I do understand she would like to get married here in Ireland but also in Malaysia.

I'd just like to know how that works, etc?

Thanks!