PUTRAJAYA, Oct 6 — The Immigration Department (JIM) will grant flexibility to employers who are late in receiving foreign workers, at a maximum of 10 hours, provided the employer can be contacted within this period.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said employers could also be represented by appointed agents or private employment agents by issuing a power of attorney.

He said the rule requiring employers to receive foreign workers at the entry point has been in effect since 2014. The time limit for receiving foreign workers was originally set at 72 hours and then reduced to 48 hours and finally to 24 hours.

Since 2015, the time limit for receiving foreign workers has been six hours, he said.

"The rationale for this implementation is to ensure that all new foreign workers have legitimate employers and are not victims of human trafficking or living as illegal immigrants (PATI) in Malaysia,” he said in a statement today.

Khairul Dzaimee said that from January to September 3, JIM received 319,945 applications for the entry of foreign workers and of these, 308,189 visas with reference (VDR) were approved, of which 247,985 were through eVDR (electronic VDR) and 60,204 manually.

He said a total of 11,756 applications is still under consideration and will be completed within seven working days.

He added that the number of VDR permits in foreign domestic help sector was 25,980, construction (17,97), services (60,488), manufacturing (145,774), plantation (39,008), and agriculture (18,962).

Khairul Dzaimee said as of October 2, 118,229 foreign workers have entered the country while 1,303, 398 workers are on Temporary Employment Visit Passes (PLKS). — Bernama