This came after the home’s four foreign nuns were not permitted to renew their yearly work visas in July due to a new policy by the Immigration Department.

Little Sisters of the Poor honorary adviser Paul Arokiasamy said since July, the nuns had been subjected to monthly renewal passes and this had proven to be cumbersome.

He said the monthly visas issued to the nuns also varied. They were issued 15-day or 30-day passes at RM100 each.

He said the cost of renewing the visas for all four foreign nuns could easily cover the cost of running the whole home.

Paul said previously, since 2016, they were forced by the Immigration Department to go under the yearly expatriate visa category, despite they being just volunteers and receiving “not a single sen” for their work. The visa cost RM385 a year.

He said the nuns received 10-year visas in the 1990s. This was slowly reduced to five years and then three years.

“Our attempts to get long-term visas under the ‘religious’ category have been denied many times by immigration, citing many reasons.

“One of the reasons is the immigration policy that only one person is allowed for each religious house,” he told a press conference at their home on Batu Lanchang Lane here today.

The home has 65 residents in Penang and 100 at the 5th mile Jalan Cheras, Kuala Lumpur. It is run by a French mission which relies on donations and alms from churchgoers to carry out its activities.

Currently, it has four nuns from Singapore, Sri Lanka and South Korea. The chief caretaker of the Penang home, a Samoan-Australian, was forced to retire as there were issues with her visa.

At the same press conference, Penang executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo said he had brought up the matter to the home ministry and was confident the mission will get good news soon.

“A policy decision will be made soon by the ministry. I’m made to understand that home ministry officials will visit them in KL soon,” he said.

Paul said while the announcement was welcome, it would be ideal for the home ministry and immigration officials to be more flexible with the visas for the nuns.

“We need at least 10 nuns, five in Penang and another five in KL to run the homes. Ideally, it would be good if we are given three-year or five-year visas again.

“These nuns only go back to their home countries once a year, stay for two weeks and return here,” he said.

When asked if there were any local nuns, Sister Margaret Anne Tan, acting head of the home in Penang, said: “It is a calling from God.

“If you add the working hours and no pay, no annual leave, which local would join? That is why I say this job is a calling from God.”