New Straits Times, October 27, 2007

Cutting the red tape: Hiring of skilled expats to be ‘painless and seamless’

By Deborah Loh
news@nst.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: The government has made the hiring of skilled foreigners easier and quicker by reducing lengthy approvals that have hobbled businesses and turned away investors for years.

Applying for expatriate employment passes, which used to take months, will now take no more than 10 days.

Procedures have been streamlined so that approvals by the authorities will take between three and seven days, and approval of the employment pass by the Immigration Department will take another three days.

Tied with this is the issuance of social visit passes for expatriate's dependants.

Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan said the move was another initiative by the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business (Pemudah) to cut red tape and make it "painless and seamless" for investors, and foreign and local companies.

If "teething problems" occurred as was expected of new systems, he said all kinks would be ironed out quickly.

"I am not going to pretend that there will be no problems initially. If there are delays, let us know and we'll address them immediately.

"There is not going to be any passing around between departments," said Sidek, who is also Pemudah co-chairman, after launching the Guidebook on the Employment of Expatriates yesterday.

The guidebook details the criteria, processes and procedures involved in employing expatriates.

Sidek said it showed employers how to make applications themselves, hence, cutting out agents or third parties and reducing costs.

The process covers two stages: first, the application by companies for expatriate posts, and second, the application by employers to Immigration for the employment pass.

Depending on the sector, employers wanting to recruit expatriates can apply to the Malaysian Industrial Development Authority (Mida) for the manufacturing and related service sectors, Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) for the information technology sector, Bank Negara Malaysia for the financial, insurance and banking sectors, Securities Commission for the securities and futures market, Malaysian Biotechnology Corporation for the biotechnology industry, and the Expatriate Committee for posts in other sectors.

The Expatriate Committee is under the Home Affairs Ministry with the Immigration Department's employment-pass division acting as the committee's secretariat.

For expatriate jobs in other sectors, the applicant company is required to obtain a recommendation letter from relevant ministries, depending on the post required, such as education, higher education, health and tourism, or associations such as the Football Association of Malaysia and the National Sports Council of Malaysia.

Under the guidelines, there are three categories of expatriate posts: managerial positions, intermediate managerial and professional posts, and non-executive posts that require technical or practical skills and experience.

Sidek said those with complaints could post them on Pemudah's website at www.pemudah.gov.my. The guidebook is available on the website.

He said the streamlining of procedures and production of the guidebook showed how efficiently things could be done when departments and agencies worked together.