Steven ChenThey say if you want to stay permanently here in Malaysia, the easiest way is to marry a local girl to qualify for permanent resident (PR) status.
A Pakistani national, who is a trader and wants only to be known as Khan, 37, agrees.
He has been staying in the country for 15 years, starting off as a small-time carpet-seller. He now runs two carpets 
shops, one here and another in Batu Pahat.
Khan says Malaysia is a gold mine for those in search of their fortune and he is enjoying his stay here more than back home, in Pakistan.
That’s what prompted him to marry a local girl. He has been married for over seven years now, and he and his wife have been blessed with a child.
He tells Komunitikini that he hopes to be given Malaysian citizenship rather than just being granted PR status.
Khan says that his two brothers also live here. His elder brother is a Malaysian citizen; he has been married to a local girl for many years.
Life here has been rewarding for Khan, as he has managed to accumulate some assets after 15 years in Malaysia.
“It was only two years ago that I operated my carpet business from a shop here and my average income was about RM2,000 a month. With that I managed to start another shop in Batu Pahat,” he recalls.
His customers are mainly foreign workers who stay in the hostels around the vicinity of his shop.
When asked to show his business registration licence, Khan says that even though the business belongs to him, the business licence is registered under his elder brother’s name as he is still a PR only.
” I am still using my passport to apply for extension of stay in Malaysia under the “dependent pass category” and each extension is valid for five years,” he explains.
Meanwhile, Komunitikini gathers from Johor Bahru Immigration department sources that there is a special approval for foreign spouses of Malaysian ciitizens under the “dependent pass category” but its validity is for six or 12 months for each extension and not five years as claimed by Khan.
CJMY
C. Khor
