PUTRAJAYA, May 31 ― Private and public corporations seeking to employ foreign knowledge workers could expect shorter and more streamlined processing for their visa applications, from roughly three months to under a month come mid-June.
Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said a decision to streamline and consolidate the visa application process for foreign knowledge workers’ Employment Pass (EP) by way of a “Single Window Approach” was finalised during the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) meeting held earlier.
Rafizi said the faster processing would reduce bureaucracy for foreign knowledge workers whose skills and expertise in the digital and technology sectors would benefit the country’s growth.
“The first phase involved the development of the Xpats Gateway system by TalentCorp under the Human Resources ministry.
“Existing approving and supervisory agencies will begin using the system come June 15.
“This will shorten the expatriate visa application from around 80 days before to between 20 and 22 days according to our estimate,” he said in a Pemudah post-meeting press conference here.
Rafizi said the second phase would involve agencies such as the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) and the Iskandar Regional Development Authority (IRDA) to have their existing systems integrated with the new system by August 15.
The new system will encompass both new and renewal applications.
“With this decision, we are sending a strong signal that it shows the government’s seriousness in working with the private sector for the country’s economic growth,” he said.
Separately, Rafizi also said a decision to restructure the cleaning service industry was also reached, with the aim of reducing the industry’s dependency on migrant workers.
At present, Rafizi said cleaning operators were awarded contracts based on the criteria of how many workers they employed which resulted in significant hiring of migrant workers since locals refrained from involving themselves with the “dirty, dangerous and demeaning” jobs.
In the new policy-shift, Rafizi said contracts would now be awarded based on performance instead of headcount, which would reduce dependency on migrant workers as operators may now be able to invest in better wages and cleaning equipment.
This meant that contractors would now be assessed with monthly scores and paid according to their performance.
“This implementation would change the industry from a labour intensive and low-skilled industry to a high-skilled and technologically driven,” he said.
He said several locations have been selected to have a pilot study conducted prior to moving forward towards eventual nationwide implementation.
