Migrant Post, Kuala Lumpur/ Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, Minister of Home Affairs of Malaysia, said this at a press conference on Friday (March 8). He said that eVisa can now be applied for directly through the Immigration Department’s MyVisa portal. The government has provided active IDs and user manuals to employers regarding the recruitment of Bangladeshi migrant workers. The government has decided to cancel the quota of unused migrant workers after March 31. The respective ministries are also considering the current and expected manpower requirements in each sector. This decision requires the government to assess the effectiveness of the initiatives implemented and accurately gauge the foreign manpower needs and capabilities in the country before considering the need to open new quotas for foreign workers.Last week, Saifuddin said the active foreign worker quota would be canceled if calling visas, known as visas with reference, were not completed by March 31.
He also said that from June 1, Putrajaya will not allow foreign workers to enter the country under this active quota. Employers who have paid the levy for canceled quotas will be refunded. The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) and the Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) criticized the decision, saying it was sudden and left businesses stranded.The FMM said it would affect some companies that had planned to phase in their migrant workers according to their project schedules, while the MICCI warned that employers would struggle to fulfill contractual obligations and meet deadlines, leading to financial losses and operational setbacks.Saifuddin said employers paid the levy for 412,011 migrant worker quotas, of which only 58.1 percent (239,305 quota) of calling visas were issued.Saifuddin said employers need genuine foreign workers to be able to expedite the process of bringing in the workers they need for their operations.
The short deadline for bringing in these workers (before June 1) is in line with the government’s expediting process of hiring migrant workers to meet the industry’s labor needs. The decision will prevent the cheating of migrant workers, as has been widely reported recently, he said, citing incidents of migrant workers being tricked into coming to Malaysia because there are no jobs for them. The move to allow direct eVisa applications for Bangladeshi workers will help employers utilize the quota and applications will be processed within one to two working days.
