145,830 illegal immigrants registered under recalibration programmes - Hamzah

He said of the total, 72,324 illegal immigrants have registered to return and another 73,506 individuals have registered to be legally re-employed.

Under the return recalibration programme, he said the government had collected RM35.1 million from compounds and special pass payments issued to illegal immigrants who wished to head back home.

"Many (among the public) have the perception that there are many undocumented individuals in our country, but when we implemented these new programmes, we realised that it was merely a perception.

"This shows that all this while, the Immigration Department (JIM) has been doing its work through deportations, operations, and all the work put in by officers and members is something we can be proud of," he said while addressing the 2020 Outstanding Service Awards (APC) ceremony for the department here today.

Also present were Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ismail Mohamed Said and Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud.

The recalibration programmes were launched by the government last November to regularise the foreign workforce in the country and to allow those who had overstayed to return to their countries, without the involvement of third parties or agents.

Hamzah said the government's purpose in implementing the programmes was to ensure that only foreigners with valid documents were employed in the country.

The effort by the Immigration Department, he said, would also facilitate the implementation of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme.

"If they (foreigners) have no documents and are not vaccinated, (the country) will not be able to achieve herd immunity," he said, while urging the department to ensure all foreigners in the country cooperated with the government on the matter.

At the ceremony tonight, a total of 250 Immigration officers and members from Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and the Malaysian Immigration Academy received the APC.