Couples with one foreign partner finding it next to impossible to reunite due to ‘gender discriminatory’ regulations Pix for representational purpose only. PETALING JAYA: Life over the past two years has been a rollercoaster ride for Noor. Her husband, who is from China but now stranded in Singapore, is unable to return to Malaysia to join her and their 21-month-old son. Sara is in the same predicament. She was looking forward to her wedding but the lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19 in March last year prevented her from joining her fiancé in the United States. Noor and her husband, and Sara and her fiancé, are just two among 21,000 couples, known as “bi-national” couples, who have been separated by national borders because of the pandemic.