Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said it was a single-window method to facilitate entry for these groups, and that the passes would be issued electronically.

“We will issue new passes only for investors, to enable easier entry and ease doing business.

“The faster we process their applications, which is the role of the immigration department, the easier it is for them to accept the business climate in our country,” he said during minister’s question time in the Dewan Rakyat today.

He was responding to a supplementary question by Lee Chean Chung (PH-Petaling Jaya) on whether the immigration department was prepared to provide the facilities to reduce dependence on agents, especially for foreign investors, in the acquisition of certain passes.

Responding to Lee’s original question on service improvements, he said the home ministry was committed to addressing the remaining 11,700 applications for entry passes and permits by June.

Saifuddin said 80% of every 100 entry permit applications were from foreign women married to locals.

Overall, he said the immigration department issued nearly three million passes a year with the most popular passes being the temporary work visit pass, student pass, and spouse pass.

He said several popular types of passes could be managed online through digitalisation, which would save the government RM13 million in printing pass stickers for passports.

“Now, there is no need for stickers because pass holders only need to carry a device that displays the status of their pass,” he said.

Saifuddin added that employers no longer need to come to the counter to renew temporary work visit passes for their workers.

He said this had resulted in a 70% reduction in counter congestion.