New
Straits Times, 19 July, 2008.
By : Marc Lourdes
KUALA LUMPUR : The hassle involved in bringing expatriates into the country will be a thing of the past.
Several changes, including reducing the visa application processing time to seven days and extending the employment pass validity to five years, have been implemented to reduce red tape.
The prime mover behind the improvements is the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah).
Pemudah co-chairman and Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said the Immigration Department's expatriate committee had reduced the processing period for expatriate applications to seven days in June last year.
"They meet twice a week to speed up approvals. Furthermore, the tenure of expatriate posts has been increased to five years from two previously.
"The endorsement of related work passes for expatriates has also been shortened to three days."
State Immigration offices now have special counters to deal with executive-level personnel and the expatriate application forms are available online.
"Approval of the Professional Visit Pass has now been extended from three to six months.
"A special 12-month Professional Visit Pass is now available for foreign trainees attending company courses here. The Dependent Pass facility has also been extended to spouse and children of the Professional Visit Pass holder," Mohd Sidek said.
A booklet, "The Guidebook on the Employment of Expatriates: Processes and Procedures", has been published by the Implementation Coordination Unit, Home Affairs Ministry and the Immigration Department in order to make the country more expatriate-friendly and to attract foreign direct investment (FDI).
It points out the agencies involved in the expatriate employment process, including the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida), the Malaysian Development Corporation (MDEC), Securities Commission, Bank Negara Malaysia and the Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation.
The booklet is free and is available at Immigration offices and at www.pemudah.gov.my.
Pemudah co-chairman and Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers president Tan Sri Yong Poh Kon said the guidebook covered matters related to expatriate employment in the various sectors.
This included manufacturing and manufacturing-related services, information technology, finance, insurance and banking, the securities and futures market, education, health, tourism, civil aviation services and sports.
Yong said: "We need about 10,000 expatriate workers. At the same time, we have 2.4 million unskilled workers here.
"Why should we have hang-ups over hiring expatriates?" he asked, adding that even major Japanese companies hired expatriates for upper management posts.
The easing of restrictions would also attract more FDI.
"Why do the big IT companies set up businesses in Singapore ? Because they give them as many expatriate work permits as they want." |
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