Ken (seated centre) speaking during the press conference. To his right is Hamfatullah.
KUCHING: All companies or employers who wish to hire expatriates or foreign workers will have to personally submit their work visa applications to the State Immigration Department from April 15 onwards.
State Immigration director Ken Leben said the department will not entertain any agent submitting applications on behalf of employers or companies after this date.
“Starting from April 15, we are calling for all employers and companies who are hiring expatriates or foreign workers to be personally present when they are submitting the application for work visa. Please don’t ask the agents to come to our office because we will not be entertaining them,” he told a press conference at the State Immigration Department office in Bangunan Sultan Iskandar here yesterday.
Ken said the decision to introduce this new ruling is to make employers responsible and aware of their responsibility.
Nevertheless, he noted that should an employer is unable to be present, he or she can send a representative from the company.
“However, the representative must attach a letter from the employer stating that he or she is representing the company when submitting the application,” he stressed.
On a related matter, Ken pointed out that despite the expansion of economic activities which paved the way for movement of economic migrants into the state, there had been a decrease in the inflow of registered foreign nationals into the state.
“By comparison, the number of registered foreign workers in Sarawak in 2016 was 154,864, which is a slight decrease of eight per cent (11,953) to that in 2015 which was 166,817.”
Also present was the department’s deputy director Hamfatullah Syawal Hamdan.