PUTRAJAYA, Jan 17 — The government is implementing a plan to make it easier and faster to hire foreign workers in five critical sectors and sub-sectors, said Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar.

In a statement today, he said the plan on relaxation of conditions on migrant worker recruitment covers the manufacturing, construction, plantations, agriculture and services (restaurants only) sectors and sub-sectors.

He said employers in these five industries could submit applications for hiring foreign workers through the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS) platform under the FWe Approval Module with immediate effect.

"The Human Resources Ministry will process and approve applications for hiring foreign workers within three working days from the date the applications are received,” he said.

Sivakumar said advertisements of vacancies on the MyFutureJobs Portal would be exempted with immediate effect.

He said employers who had applied in the FWe Approval Module and eQuota Module before January 17 should submit new applications through the FWe Approval Module to enable their applications to be considered under the plan.

Any further inquiries can be directed to the Migrant Worker Management Division, Ministry of Human Resources at 03-8885 2939/2940.

The Foreign Worker Management Special Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on January 10 agreed to create a Relaxation of Employment of Foreign Workers Plan, in addition to reimplementing the Labour Recalibration Programme, as a measure to meet the demand for migrant workers.

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. — Bernama