PUTRAJAYA, June 1 — With less than a month to go, over 744,912 illegal immigrants have signed up for the Immigration Department’s rehiring programme.

Department director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the programme, which began in Feb 15, 2016, will end on June 30.

"Following this, Ops Mega 3.0 will commence, and we will conduct continuous raids in tandem with other government agencies on illegal immigrants who have not yet returned to their respective countries.

"Ops Mega 3.0 will be carried out until we are satisfied that there are no more illegal immigrants in the country,” he said during a press conference at the department’s headquarters here today.

As of Monday (May 28) 83,919 employers have also signed up for the rehiring programme.

"I urge all illegal immigrants and employers to register with the programme, as it will not be extended once it has concluded,” Mustafar said.

Of the 744,942 illegal immigrants, some 307,557 are qualified to be rehired. 108,234 were disqualified on various grounds, and will be deported back to their countries of origin under the 3+1 programme.

"The remainder (329,151) are those illegals who have registered with the rehiring programme but have yet to step forward to conduct their medical examinations, something which I suggest they do as fast as possible,” he said.

Mustafar said that for illegal immigrants who were disqualified and are currently under the 3+1 programme, they will be given a grace period of up until Aug 30 to leave Malaysia.

"Additionally those employers who applied with the rehiring programme but did not qualify, they can obtain refunds from their respective vendors,” he said.

From 2014 until yesterday, the department has nabbed 213,709 illegal immigrants and 4,540 employers.

Since the start of the year until yesterday, 8,424 illegal immigrants and 349 employers have been prosecuted in court.

Mustafar said heavy penalties await recalcitrant employers who continued to hire illegal workers.

"An employer could be fined up to RM50,000 per illegal worker, be imprisoned for five years, or face six strokes of the rotan,” he said.