According to Utusan Borneo, Kitingan said 14,855 migrants were registered under the pilot registration drive in estates owned by Sawit Kinabalu.

He said the registration process covered all migrants, including those holding the IMM13 card and Surat Burung-Burung, or census certificate.

“Half of (the 14,855 migrants) are legal migrant workers but the other half were illegally working here and had dependents, too,” he said.

Kitingan said the findings of the pilot project will be presented to the Cabinet when it meets on June 14, before the state begins the next registration drive.

He expected the next data collection project to be completed by the end of the year.

He said a separate data collection process will be held for the Bajau Laut community, who are stateless.

A subgroup of the Sama-Bajau people, the Bajau Laut traditionally hail from the many islands of the Sulu archipelago in the Philippines.

Kitingan said the pilot project went smoothly with employers and employees offering their cooperation. He said the data collection process did not involve enforcement agencies.

The goal of the registration drive was to determine the actual number of migrant workers in Sabah, including those without proper documentation or who are overstaying, he said.