Lack of foreign workers issue to be sorted within three months

KUALA LUMPUR - The government is expecting for the shortage of foreign workers issue to be resolved within three months by implementing the Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan.

Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said the plan was made to speed up the process of approving the foreign worker quota applications as well as employment approval starting Jan 17 to March 31.

He said it involved several critical sectors such as manufacturing, construction, plantation, agriculture and services for restaurant sectors and sub-sectors.

"Realising the urgency towards the need for foreign workers, the government is keen to solve this issue immediately.

"Employers under the five sectors and sub-sectors can submit their applications to hire foreign workers through the Foreign Worker Centralised Managment System (FWCMS) platform under the FWe Approval Module.

"Under the plan, employers will be allowed to hire foreign workers from 15 source countries, without going through the preconditions of employment and quota eligibility which was previously imposed, including the exemption from the interview process by the Regulatory Agency (AKS)," he said at the Dewan Rakyat, today.

He said this when answering to Lim Guan Eng's (PH-Bagan) question on the efforts to speed up the entry process of foreign workers and flexibility given to employers.

Sivakumar said the advertisement of vacancies on the MyFuture Jobs portal has been excluded with immediate effect.

"The ministry will process and approve the foreign workers employment applications within three working days from the date the application is received," he said.