He said the decision was made in order to allow employers to sort out the arrival of the 995,396 approved workers first.

He added that the temporary suspension, which takes immediate effect, also covered those applying for workers under the recalibration scheme to employ undocumented workers.

According to Sivakumar, the suspension will be reviewed only after employers have ensured the arrival of the approved workers, and urged them to do it as soon as possible.

“We have approved 995,396 workers as of March 14 in all sectors, namely construction, services, manufacturing, agriculture, quarrying and mining, and plantation.

“These involve normal approving processes and also relaxed procedures for five critical sectors which are manufacturing, construction, plantations, agriculture, as well as food and beverage,” he said in a statement.

Sivakumar said this number was sufficient to meet the demands of the workforce needed in all sectors, including the critical areas.

He urged employers who have been given approvals for their respective quotas to speed up the process of bringing them into the country within the stipulated period, adding that the number of those entering is low compared with the total approved.