Monday, 15 February 2016
Rehiring costs RM1,200
PETALING
JAYA: The online registration of illegal foreign workers, which begins
today, will require employers to pay RM1,200 as registration and
administrative charges for each worker.
The cost does not include fines for immigration offences, levy, visa, processing fee and foreign worker work permits.
In total, employers will pay between RM1,395 and RM3,485 for each worker.
Immigration
Department director-general Datuk Sakib Kusmi said the charges were
RM800 for registration and RM400 (administrative).
“These charges are not imposed by the Immigration Department but were set by vendors that had been selected,” he told mStar Online.
Two
firms have been selected to handle applications for workers from
Indonesia and Myanmar respectively while a consortium of three companies
has been tasked to process applications involving other countries.
According
to a department circular, the RM400 charge will only be imposed after
the application of the foreign worker is successful and will be used by
the vendors to cover the cost of getting the levy, visa and permit.
The department will impose other charges separately for matters like the levy.
The
Government has recently announced new levy rates – RM1,500 for those in
the plantation and agriculture sectors; and RM2,500 in manufacturing,
construction and service.
Levy for domestic workers remained at RM410.
But the implementation of these rates have been deferred until Feb 20 for the Government to seek feedback from industry players.
The
Immigration Department would also impose charges for visa, which varies
among the countries, permits (RM60) and a RM125 processing fee.
On
Saturday night, the Home Ministry issued a statement to explain that
the Illegal Immigrant Rehiring programme, which ends on Dec 31, was to
give an opportunity for those working illegally to get valid permits and
for employers to meet labour demands.
Strict conditions will be imposed on both workers and employers.
“Those who don’t qualify will be deported to reduce the number of illegal workers in the country,” the statement said.
The ministry said the rehiring programme was aimed at meeting the labour demand in various sectors.
It
will also allow the authorities to determine the actual number of
illegal workers in Malaysia, currently estimated at two million.
“The effectiveness of the programme will be evaluated in the first three months and improvements will be made.”
The ministry warned of stern action against employers who continued to hire illegal foreign workers after Dec 31.
Workers
must have originally entered the country legally, must be employed and
must not have a criminal record to qualify for the rehiring programme.
It does not cover workers from non-permitted sectors or those frozen by the Government.
The online application can be made on rehiring.imi.gov.my.
Employers can also call 03 - 8880 1555. - Star, 15/2/2016
Friday, 26 February 2016
Slow start for amnesty drive
Running
helter-skelter: Suspected illegal foreign workers fleeing the Selayang
day market after spotting DBKL enforcement officers in this file photo.
PETALING
JAYA: Companies chosen to carry out the latest amnesty for illegal
foreign workers admit the programme is off to a slow start.
But they expect numbers to pick up in the months ahead of the Dec 31 deadline, despite criticisms of the costly RM1,200 administrative fee to register each worker.
To date, 2,500 employers have registered to legalise 5,922 Indonesians with International Marketing and Net Resources Sdn Bhd (Iman), which is mandated by the Government to handle amnesty for Indonesians.
Ezreeq Mohd Nor, Iman marketing and Communications manager, said they had targeted to register between 500,000 and one million Indonesians working illegally.
He said registrations were slow when the Rehiring and
Relocation Programme started on Feb 15 and attributed this to poor
publicity.
“There’s hasn’t been a huge campaign but numbers are increasing this week,” he said when met at Iman’s headquarters in Wangsa Maju.
Bukti Megah Sdn Bhd, which runs the one-stop centre to legalise workers from Myanmar, has so far
received 232 applications from 138 companies.
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) said many employers and foreign workers had bitter experiences of being cheated by agents under the previous 6P programme (2011 to 2014) and were not confident with the latest amnesty initiative.
Secretary-general N. Gopal Kishnam said the Government should drop the RM1,200 fee which is imposed in addition to a levy for each worker.
Gopal said there was an estimated four million undocumented workers in Malaysia and the process of legalising and repatriating them should not be driven by profits by private companies.
“The Government should make the process less expensive. The levy imposed by the Government should be sufficient,” he said.
Ezreeq said to date no employers had complained about the RM1,200 registration fee and said unlike 6P, no agents were used by his company.
“Employers and workers can be assured they will not be cheated,” he said.
MyEG, which is among a consortium of three companies tasked with registering illegal workers from other countries, argued the RM1,200 was justified.
A spokesman for the company said the charges were not only for online registration of employers and workers but other management services.
These include the verification of the data provided, biometric and photos of both employer and worker, liaising with local authorities and embassies, medical checks and issuance of various documents.
She said the fee was also inclusive of “monitoring if foreign workers turn rogue again since they already have a previous record of being an illegal” and deporting those who don’t qualify for amnesty.
MyEG also provides a dedicated mobile SIM card, which is activated for one year, with unlimited free messaging to their hotline for each foreigner registered.
She said there was also a call centre manned by foreigners of various nationalities to manage worker issues, including unpaid wages and abuse. - Star, 26/2/2016
But they expect numbers to pick up in the months ahead of the Dec 31 deadline, despite criticisms of the costly RM1,200 administrative fee to register each worker.
To date, 2,500 employers have registered to legalise 5,922 Indonesians with International Marketing and Net Resources Sdn Bhd (Iman), which is mandated by the Government to handle amnesty for Indonesians.
Ezreeq Mohd Nor, Iman marketing and Communications manager, said they had targeted to register between 500,000 and one million Indonesians working illegally.
“There’s hasn’t been a huge campaign but numbers are increasing this week,” he said when met at Iman’s headquarters in Wangsa Maju.
Bukti Megah Sdn Bhd, which runs the one-stop centre to legalise workers from Myanmar, has so far
received 232 applications from 138 companies.
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) said many employers and foreign workers had bitter experiences of being cheated by agents under the previous 6P programme (2011 to 2014) and were not confident with the latest amnesty initiative.
Secretary-general N. Gopal Kishnam said the Government should drop the RM1,200 fee which is imposed in addition to a levy for each worker.
Gopal said there was an estimated four million undocumented workers in Malaysia and the process of legalising and repatriating them should not be driven by profits by private companies.
“The Government should make the process less expensive. The levy imposed by the Government should be sufficient,” he said.
Ezreeq said to date no employers had complained about the RM1,200 registration fee and said unlike 6P, no agents were used by his company.
“Employers and workers can be assured they will not be cheated,” he said.
MyEG, which is among a consortium of three companies tasked with registering illegal workers from other countries, argued the RM1,200 was justified.
A spokesman for the company said the charges were not only for online registration of employers and workers but other management services.
These include the verification of the data provided, biometric and photos of both employer and worker, liaising with local authorities and embassies, medical checks and issuance of various documents.
She said the fee was also inclusive of “monitoring if foreign workers turn rogue again since they already have a previous record of being an illegal” and deporting those who don’t qualify for amnesty.
MyEG also provides a dedicated mobile SIM card, which is activated for one year, with unlimited free messaging to their hotline for each foreigner registered.
She said there was also a call centre manned by foreigners of various nationalities to manage worker issues, including unpaid wages and abuse. - Star, 26/2/2016
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