However, Saifuddin sought to assure employers, industry players and migrant workers that they need not fret over this change in policy, which he expects to be implemented from Jan 15.
He said the human resources ministry’s role in labour policy, determining migrant worker quotas and finalising agreements with source countries will be “strengthened”.
“This realignment in functions will not affect the existing procedures and flow of applying to hire foreign workers, since the focus of this move is more on governance,” he said at a press conference joined by human resources minister V Sivakumar.
Saifuddin also said both ministries have agreed to loosen the conditions and procedure of applications for foreign worker quotas to an “optimum” level.
He said this would include easing the evaluation of employers’ qualifications to hire foreign labour, the immigration process and security checks.
“Stakeholders will be informed on the details of this matter from time to time.”
He also said Putrajaya wanted to reduce the time it took to bring in migrant workers to less than a month, by simplifying the processes involved.
“We have identified areas where the process can be simplified further,” he added.
Saifuddin said that the two ministries had also taken note of the economic affairs ministry’s projections on the extent of foreign labour needed in Malaysia.
He maintained that it was important to better manage migrant workers in Malaysia as they played a significant role in the nation’s economic development.
He pointed out that expediting the intake of foreign labour could help the nation’s gross domestic product increase by up to 1% in the first quarter of the year.
“The government will ensure that the management of foreign workers in Malaysia is always based on the rule of law while protecting the rights of each migrant worker.”
He added that there were more than 1.4 million foreign workers on temporary work passes in the country as at Dec 31, with most of them in the manufacturing sector, followed by construction and services.
In 2022, Putrajaya had approved 676,070 out of a total of 1,606,724 foreign worker quota applications.
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