Applying for a Long Term Social Visit Pass (LTSVP) for Foreign Spouses in Malaysia

*Disclaimer:

This blog is solely written for the purpose of experience sharing. It is not deemed to be any form of legal advice.

6-month Cooling Period

Before we could apply for a LTSVP, the condition of the cooling period of 6 months starting from the marriage date must be fulfilled. In our case, our ROM is in March, thus we applied the visa in September (few days after the cooling period).

Obtaining the latest checklist and forms

A few days after our ROM, we made a trip to the Immigration Office, Jalan Duta (since it is near to our house, it would be better to have our file opened there) to re-confirm the requirement of 6-month cooling period (The answer was YES!), and obtain the latest checklist and forms (forms printed from the Internet may not be accepted). Bear in mind, different immigration offices may have different requirements. It all depends on which office you are applying from.

According to the checklist (see screenshot below), there are plenty of documents to prepare, which looks rather overwhelming at first glance. Don’t worry and take a deep breath. These documents can be sorted out one by one, step by step. I would say the process is not difficult but tedious and time-consuming.

The checklist - all the items will be explained below

Preparing the required documents thereafter submitting them on 12 September 2019

I am writing this based on our experience (Malaysian Chinese marrying a Polish in Malaysia), hence the preparation of the documents may be different from yours if you are in Muslim marriage, get married overseas and other special cases.

From our experience, to get all the documents ready, we made few trips here and there, requested documents from several parties, photocopied some documents, developed some photos and filled the forms to get every single item in the checklist ticked. They are (1) to (10) listed below which would be further explained thereafter.

(1) Certifying photocopies in JPN offices, Jalan Duta (Item 4 to Item 7 based on the checklist)

(2) Getting Security Bond (Item 11) stamped for RM10 at LHDN (about 5-minute driving from the Immigration office, Jalan Duta)

(3) Engaging a Commission of Oath to certify Marriage Statutory Declaration (Item 12: Surat Akuan Sumpah Perkahwinan)

(4) Obtaining certified bank statements (Item 18) from the sponsor’s bank

(5) Photocopying passports (Item 8 and Item 9)

(6) Preparing and developing marriage photos (Item 10) and the photos of your residential house and its surroundings (Item 16)

(7) Photocopying a set of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (S&P) / Tenancy Agreement of your residential house (Item 15)

(8) Obtaining the latest utility bill showing your residential address (Item 14)

(9) Obtaining the sponsor’s salary slips (latest 3 months) certified by the employer (Item 18)

(10) Filling in the forms (Item 1 to Item 3 and Item 13)

(1) Certifying photocopies in JPN offices, Jalan Duta (Item 4 to Item 7)

1. Malaysian’s Spouse MyKad (Item 4) – original and photocopy certified by JPN (I.C. Dept.)

2. Sponsor’s MyKad (For Item 15 or Item 17 and Item 18) – original and photocopy certified by JPN (I.C. Dept.)

3. Security Bond Witness’ MyKad (For Item 11) – original and photocopy certified by JPN (I.C. Dept.              

4. Malaysian’s Spouse Birth Certificate (Not requested in the checklist, but they took mine upon submission) – original and photocopy certified by JPN (Birth Cert. Dept.)

5. Marriage Certificate (if you get married in Malaysia) (Item 6) – original and photocopy certified by JPN (Marriage Dept.)

I would advise spending half a day to get the above done. The queues in JPN Marriage and Birth Cert. Departments at Jalan Duta were relatively short and it took us merely 15 to 30 minutes each department to get the photocopies certified. 

However, the queue in the I.C. department was crazy, perhaps it was a school holiday when we were there. We spent at least an hour to get the certified copies of mine and my father’s I.C. done (my father is the co-owner of our house and the witness of the security bond). I took my father's I.C. there and my father was not present. The officer asked about my father and I frankly told him that I had my father original I.C. with me but my father was not there. He said nothing and certified the photocopies.

Certifying photocopies by these offices did not cost us anything, assuming it is for free.

(2) Getting Security Bond (Item 11) stamped for RM10 at LHDN (about 5-minute driving from the Immigration office, Jalan Duta)

Please read How to Fill in a Security Bond for Foreign Spouse, if you need some guidance.

Basically, (2) and (3) were done on the other day (another half a day). After filling in the form, we made a trip to Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN), Jalan Duta which is 5-minute driving from the Immigration Office, Jalan Duta and got the security bond stamped with stamp duty of RM10. It was easy and fast, done in 5 minutes.

(3) Engaging a Commission for Oaths to certify Marriage Statutory Declaration (Item 12: Surat Akuan Sumpah Perkahwinan)

Please read How to Fill in a Statutory Declaration for Foreign Spouses, if you need some guidance.

After LHDN, we went straight to the Immigration Office (first floor) at Jalan Duta as there is an office (ground floor) with the service of Commission for Oaths. There was quite a long queue when we reached there, surprised to have seen many couples queuing there. For about 10 minutes, it was our turn, and the Commission of Oaths checked and certified the declaration form. We paid RM8 for the signature.

(4) Obtaining certified bank statements (Item 18) from the sponsor’s bank

As my salary account is with OCBC, I went to the nearest branch to obtain the latest 3 months of bank statements for my salary account. I also requested bank statements of my savings account to prove my financial status as my husband’s sponsor. I then got them certified by the Bank, charged RM40 all in (pricey!). Upon submission of documents, the officer took both of my bank statements (salary and savings account) with no issue arisen.

(5) Photocopying passports (Item 8 and Item 9)

Foreign spouse’s passport must be photocopied, the main page together with other pages with stamps. However, they do not require Malaysian spouse’s passport to be photocopied, unless you get married overseas.

(6) Preparing and developing marriage photos (Item 10) and the photos of your residential house and its surroundings (Item 16)

We prepared more than 6 photos for each. The office ended up choosing two of our marriage photos (one with only two of us and another one taken with my parents) and five photos of our house and its surroundings (the sign of our Taman, the junction with a road name towards our house, the outlook of our condominium, the main entrance with a security guardhouse of the condominium and our front door with the unit no.). We brought the photos there and were not aware of the need to paste them on blank A4 papers for easy filing. Fortunately, the officer was helpful enough to paste the photos on papers with our assistance.

(7) Photocopying a set of the Sale and Purchase Agreement (S&P) / Tenancy Agreement of your residential house (Item 15)

I had read some post mentioning that the photocopy of these documents has to be certified by the lawyer. To double confirm this, I had asked the officer before we went to submit the documents. The answer was that a photocopy will do without being certified by the lawyer, however the full copy of the contract is required besides the main pages.

As the current house that we live in is owned by my father and me, thus our I.C. certified copies are required (one copy each is enough). If you are the Malaysian spouse but not the sponsor / house owner / landlord (if renting), you will need to provide their I.C. copies certified by JPN.

(8) Obtaining the latest utility bill showing your residential address (Item 14)

Since we applied for the visa few days after we moved into our new house, it makes sense that our utility bill for a new house would be much cheaper. We submitted an electricity bill of about RM8. After our documents being checked by another officer, she came to ask us about the amount and wondered whether we did stay there. We explained to her that we had just moved in, that was why it was merely RM8. She accepted our explanation and explained that they just wanted to make sure we did stay there (perhaps, to re-confirm our residential address for further site visit, I guess).

(9) Obtaining the sponsor’s salary slips (latest 3 months) certified by the employer (Item 18)

This part is easy if the sponsor has monthly income of RM3000 and above working in a legally registered company in Malaysia. Since I am working in a private high school, I had kept the latest 3 months of salary slips and got my school principal and HR manger to certify the documents.

Other than salary slips, I had also requested my school to provide me an employment letter to prove that I am currently one of their employees. The letter prepared by my school was rather simple, confirming my position at school since when in Malay. Upon submission, they took the employment letter without any questions.

(10) Filling in the forms (Item 1 to Item 3 and Item 13)

Borang IMM. 55 / Borang IMM. 12 – 2 copies / Borang IMM. 38 / Borang Maklumat Tambahan

Fill in the borang (forms) accordingly. For me, I made photocopies of these forms to ensure that I knew what I needed to fill, what information I needed, how to fill, in short, practising to fill in order to minimise my mistakes. I found some of the columns or information required rather confusing. However, I managed to fill in 99% of the forms and left a little blank. The blank parts were then filled while the officer was attending us. 

For Borang Imm. 55, we were asked to fill in 6 months for No. 14 Period of Extension and told that we would only get a 6-month visa for the first time (as expected). For Borang Maklumat Tambahan (Form of Additional Information), Part C is to be filled in front of the officer.

Other than these forms, I found filling in forms like Security Bond and Marriage Statutory Declaration tricky, thus I will also share my version of filling in these forms (it might not be 100% accurate, but it got through anyway), which eventually got my husband his first spouse visa.

Unexpected question(s) encountered while submitting documents for LTSVP application

After checking all the documents, we thought that it was final and we had everything submitted. Out of our expectation, the officer asked us whether we obtained my father’s statutory declaration as a sponsor. Instantly, I explained that I was the sole sponsor of my husband though the current house we live in is owed by my father and me. The officer further asked that who is paying for the utility bills and any other living expenses. I explained that I am paying it as my father is a retiree. Fortunately, he accepted my explanation and let go of the need of my father’s statutory declaration as a sponsor (whereby my father is not the sponsor!)

Hence, the preparation of documents related to any sponsor could be tricky. My advice is to make sure you have a clear picture of who the sponsor is and get his I.C. certified copy, salary slips and bank statements ready.

Last step after submitting the documents

After submitting the documents with his passport and my I.C., we were asked to wait and the documents were brought to the back office for checking. It took about 45 minutes, then we were called by the same officer together with the lady officer mentioned earlier who asked about our utility bill. Once confusion was cleared, the officer returned us our passport and I.C. and issued us a memo / confirmation slip regarding our application, asking us to return after 30 working days.

As my husband’s tourist visa was expiring on 18 October, the officer informed us to come back on that day (only about 20 working days) to check the status. He also further added that during these working days, they might call me if there was any issue with the documents which would put our case under KIV. Because of this reminder, I had been quite alert to incoming calls in hopes that everything would be fine and we could successfully obtain my husband’s visa when we returned for collection. No payment was made for the application submission.

Last but not least, our pieces of advice:

1. Most importantly, it is rather unnecessary to engage an agent to help the documentation. As I have mentioned, the process is not difficult but just tedious and time-consuming.
2. Planning required on how and when to get these documents done beforehand 

3. Double check the documents before submissions

4. Reach the immigration office at least 30 minutes before it opens so that you can get things soon ASAPs

5. Be PATIENT~

Please click the related links below for more information:
1. Filling in a Statutory Declaration for Foreign Spouses
2. Filling in a Security Bond for Foreign Spouses
3. Collection of LTSVP