KUALA LUMPUR – The Home Ministry is working to facilitate the process of employers hiring migrant workers through the Immigration Department’s workforce recalibration programme, said its minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin tonight.
He said the matter was brought to the cabinet to request that the Immigration Department be given the authority to approve 70% of an application by employers, with full approval only given after receiving confirmation from the Human Resources Ministry.
“Previously, employers needed to obtain approval from the Human Resources Ministry, which caused delays due to many applications,” he said during an interview on the Ruang Bicara programme on Bernama TV last night.
In the meantime, Hamzah said the improvement of the e-visa programme’s scope to 35 countries from 10 countries previously had received good feedback from foreign chambers of commerce.
He added that with the system, expatriates from the countries involved could get immigration stickers upon landing, compared to the previous period of within 30 days.
Meanwhile, when met after the talk show, Hamzah said the Home Ministry would focus more on improving border control using high-tech assets after the key performance indicators set for the first 100 days of the Home Ministry were achieved.
He said this was to address issues such as the entry of illegal immigrants, human trafficking, and trafficking drugs or goods to evade taxes.
“This is a long-term and comprehensive plan by the ministry,” he said. – Bernama, December 3, 2021
