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
Laws of Malaysia
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ACT 155
IMMIGRATION ACT 1959/63
First enacted
... ... ... ... ... ... 1959 (Ordinance No. 12
of 1959, Act No. 27 of
1963 and F.L.N. 226 of
1963)
Revised
... ... ... ... ... ... ...
1975 (Act 155 w.e.f.
1 May 1975)
PREVIOUS REPRINTS
First Reprint
... ... ... ... ...
1997
Second Reprint
... ... ... ... ...
2001
Immigration
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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
(Deleted)
11.
12.
Endorsement of name of wife and children on Permits, Passes and
Certificates
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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
(Omitted)
23.
23A. (Omitted)
24.
Examination of persons arriving by sea or at authorized airport
(Omitted)
25.
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
(Deleted)
29.
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
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Section
36.
Unlawful return after removal
(Deleted)
37.
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.
Power to summon witnesses, etc.
40.
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
Masters, captains, owners, etc., liable for expenses
47.
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
Counterfoils, etc., to be prima facie evidence
53.
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
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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
(Deleted)
61.
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
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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;
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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;
" i m m i g r a t i o n 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;
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"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;
" p r e s c r i b e d " 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,
h i g h w a y 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.
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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 Direc