KOTA KINABALU: The RM110 fee for the proposed i-Kad for foreign workers in the country has not gone down well with those affected.
An expatriate residing in Sabah, Marcomini Romeni, sees the move as a means for the government to make more money and alleges that it probably won’t reduce the presence of illegal immigrants in the country.
He said that the foreign levy charged in the country was more expensive than that charged in neighbouring Singapore.
“When I worked there, I was charged SGD75 for the foreign workers pass. As long as you have the necessary qualifications, they will issue you a foreign workers pass in Singapore,” he said.
He added that a card is issued for foreign workers in Singapore and the cost is included in the SGD75 fee.
Marcomini said he has no idea yet as to how he should go about making an application for himself and his foreign workers for his factory here.
“Such issues must be attended to promptly for the smooth running of my factory,” he said.
Meanwhile, DAP Sabah secretary, Dr Edwin Bosi, criticised the extra cost being imposed on employers of foreign workers in the country.
“I am just fed up with the government on this issue on foreign workers. So many fees have been imposed on employers and foreign workers. Now another one!
“Why don’t the employers just issue cards to their workers? If they are caught, they have proof of their employment and the authorities can call the respective employers for verification. If they don’t have any legal employment, then just biometric them and send them home,” Dr. Bosi suggested.
Property developer, Denis Tan, also lamented the government’s move.
“I don’t suffer but my contractor is the one facing the brunt of the government’s move to introduce the extra expenses for employing foreigners,” he said, adding that this was because the contractors have to pay an extra RM110 for each foreign worker.
“They already have to fork out a high expense for the work pass/workers levy for their foreign workers to the immigration (department) and now they have to pay even more,” he said.