THE Penang government is assisting the Little Sisters of the Poor to liaise with the authorities to help secure long-term visas for the nuns.
The greatest challenge facing the home for senior citizens in Batu Lanchang is the difficulty in obtaining visa approval for nuns.
Presently, the home is registered under the Immigration Department’s Expatriate Services Division (ESD). The expatriates are usually given a 12-month visa.
On this matter, state Local Government, Housing, Country and Town Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said he has communicated with the Deputy Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) Minister Hannah Yeoh.
“I have been informed that the KPWKM Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Hannah are currently working to resolve this issue.
“Both of them are working on it and liaising with the Home Ministry and Immigration Department,” he told a press conference at the Little Sisters of the Poor today.
The home’s honorary adviser Paul Arokiasamy expressed his gratitude to the state for its assistance.
He said there was a need of urgency to obtain long-term visas for foreign nuns as they play an important role in taking care of the elderly.
“We normally keep the nuns in between three and five years as the yearly approval of visas is costly,” he added.
Air Itam assemblyman Joseph Ng Soon Siang, who was present, also said he was committed to assisting the home.
“They are free to come to us if they need any assistance. We definitely will help them,” Ng said as the home located at his constituency.
Sister Margaret Anne Tan, who serves as an acting head in the home in Penang, said the home needs the services of the foreign nuns to do voluntary work.
There are four nuns – two from Sri Lanka and one each from Singapore and South Korea – affected by visa matter.
Two nuns from Sri Lanka and another from Singapore are currently based in the home in Kuala Lumpur.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan