According to new updates from the Home Office, the number of Malaysians illegally overstaying in the UK has remained at the same levels, or even increased, from the year before. It is estimated that there are about 20,000 Malaysians every year who enter the UK under the visa waiver agreement between the two countries, but then fail to exit the country after 60 days or engage in illegal activities such as work.

Earlier this year, the British Home Office conducted a review of countries that have a visa-free status with the UK. While they considered ending Malaysia’s visa-free status, they decided to maintain the status quo and monitor the situation of illegal immigrants from Malaysia over the year of 2009.

However, the new reports show that the tide of overstayers from Malaysia has reached a critical level and has not improved over the year. The Malaysian Deputy High Commissioner Datuk Rustam Yahaya was quoted as saying that “we are likely to be hit this time” when talking about the UK’s latest review of visa waivers. He estimated that Malaysia will very likely lose its visa-free status to enter the UK in about 2011. It remains to be seen if the Schengen countries, who currently have visa-free arrangements with Malaysia, will follow suit shortly.

The Deputy High Commissioner also said that there is nothing the Malaysian government can do, as they are unable to prevent Malaysians from travelling abroad and overstaying or working illegally. While the Malaysian government could increase cross-border cooperation to help reduce the number of overstayers, the effect of additional measures and efforts will have a minimal effect.

If the new visa rules are implemented in 2011, it will mean much higher costs for Malaysians planning to travel to Britain for work, leisure, or tourism. Visa processing fees will be around RM1,200, in additional to long waits for an appointment as well as the hassle of having to fulfil the document requirements.