So here it is again.
I don’t know if anybody is still reading this. I feel like a traveller in the outer reaches of the solar system, entering the Oort Cloud, writing this for my posterity that if I should die one day, someone would realize how much torture I had to endure year in year out dealing with this f-ing mess called the Malaysian Immigration. I swear if there was a sport called Inefficiency and Absolutely Hopelessness for Civil Service and Humanity – we win the Gold Medal. The silver belongs to a group of rabid racoons nibbling cocaine in the middle of the amazon jungle.
So, now I am left with two choices. Remember the bloody MyEG? Apparently they have gotten their act together, according to my father in law and the maid renewal is back online. However, I feel like it’s a toxic relationship. As in an abusive one you know. Everytime we think MyEG is going to change and become the caring service it was meant to be, we get betrayed by some shitty experience. I don’t know.
The e-PLKS didn’t fare much better, but I thought, hell, let’s just give this new gal a try right. First year relationships generally ain’t easy.
So this year should in theory be easier because there is no renewal of the contract, as well as no renewal of passport, as well as no return to phillipines for my maid.
So Fomema, fomema.
Largely the same. Head to https://portal.fomema.my/, register, and get the clinic selected and then just go to the clinic. My maid and I are so good at this already that I just drop her off, and then organize the travel to the nearby x-ray through Grab and to get home with Grab. No more wasting my time waiting. She and I are like Simon and Garfunkel of Fomema.
Fomema is good now – after about a week, the status turns to “SUITABLE” and now I am all go.
So go to https://imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/.
Click on Permohonan Lanjutan PRA (after login, and thank God I have the login already from last year)
Click on The link for your maid
Click on the tab Muat Naik Dokumen
The problem is the drop down list only has “Pas Khas (Jika Perlu)” and nothing else. It was supposed to have option for two : the passport detail page and your permit page. Both missing.
So don’t panic, I just selected Pas Khas for both documents and uploaded. The stupid system only allows 250kb to be uploaded (no doubt due to the stinginess of storage). So unfortunately, their original pass document is around 350KB so ironically, this system CANNOT ACCEPT THEIR OWN DOCUMENT.
Clap hands. Malaysian inefficiency gold medal.
I had to take screenshot and paste it on another word document, convert it into PDF and make it smaller than 250kb. What if it was my mother who knows nothing about PDF conversion? Will she be forever stuck in this loop where the damn system disallows the very document they gave to be submitted back again. It’s like a mother, after being given her new born baby, only to toss it into the garbage bin. Yes. This is e-plks.
So now I just cetak the slip Akuan penerimaan and wait for the next step. To be updated soon!
Update 26 August: So after a few days, recheck the eplks website and under status permohonan, you should be able to see “Permohonan Telah Diluluskan.
Sila Teruskan Pembayaran”.
Checkbox the selection and in the tiny box in the right hand top of the table, click “Bayar”. The price is RM631, which I suppose is similar to MyEG. Easy enough to pay, online banking and we’re done.
The status will change to “Bayaran telah dibuat”. So far so good.
Update 28 August: Wow.
Impressed.
In 2 days after payment, I checked the site again and guess what, unbelievably, the status has changed to: “Muat Turun ePass”
In 2 days.
This is beyond what I can imagine and I must say, if you can get past the initial nightmare of getting the access to E-PLKS, the entire process of maid renewal is absolutely painless. No more souless interaction with MyEG that adds zero value and takes weeks to do shit that can be done in 2 days. 2. Days.
Now next year might be different because its the renewal of the contract and then she is flying back home, but for this year, amazingly, from fomema visit to clinic to getting the VISA: less than a week.
Well Done, Malaysia. Syabas indeed.