MYXpats Centre Malaysia’s Positive Change for Work Permit Processing
June 15, 2015
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By: Mario Tablan
The introduction of the Malaysia Expatriate Talent Service Centre (MYXpats Centre) on 1 June 2015 raises expectations of significant improvements to the Employment Pass application process, such as faster and more consistent processing times.
The new initiative could mean that companies will no longer need to wait several weeks to bring in foreign employees. If proven in practice, this could translate into substantial savings in time and costs, faster onboarding of foreign employees, and less disruption to a company’s business, amongst other benefits. Understandably, the business community is keen to observe how the Immigration Department of Malaysia is implementing this project.
What is the MYXpats Centre?
The MYXpats Centre is a joint initiative between Talent Corporation Malaysia (TalentCorp) and the Immigration Department of Malaysia, and is overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was established as part of the efforts of the Malaysian government to improve its immigration services with the use of technology, beginning with the implementation of the Expatriate Services Division (ESD) in 2014.
In addition to Employment Passes, the MYXpats Centre will also process and issue other expatriate-related passes such as the Dependant’s Pass and the Long Term Social Visit Pass. For now, however, it will deal only with expatriate position applications for foreign nationals that would previously have been submitted to Immigration Department headquarters. Applications for information technology-based positions will still be adjudicated by the Multimedia Development Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDeC).
Companies which are already registered with the ESD can start using the MYXpats Centre to:
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Submit applications and required documents for relevant passes for foreign national employees; and
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Collect the endorsed immigration passes.
Faster and more consistent processing times
TalentCorp aims for the MYXpats Centre to process successfully submitted Employment Pass applications within five working days. This would be a vast improvement from the one to three weeks’ timeframe currently in operation.
Employer registration
The new system continues the current practice of employer registration being implemented for applications submitted through the ESD. This means an employer must first register with the ESD online at esd.imi.gov.my before submitting their Employment Pass applications to the MYXpats Centre. Registration is done only once and, when approved, employers can use the MYXpats Centre to submit ongoing Employment Pass applications for their foreign national employees.
New process
The new system divides the process into four stages. The first two stages are administered on a one-off basis by the ESD, and the last two stages are administered by the MYXpats Centre for every individual application.
Stage 1 - Company registration via the ESD online
The sponsor company is required to create an account and submit related company information, corporate documents and projections of expatriates required for the current year. Once the ESD has verified and approved the company registration, it notifies the company if it has met the necessary requirements for expatriate applications.
Amongst the criteria for approval are documents confirming that the company has registered with the relevant regulatory body or agency (depending on its core business) and, depending on its ratio of foreign-to-local ownership, evidence that it meets equity and paid-up capital requirements.
Stage 2 - Company activation via the ESD
Next, approved companies schedule an appointment via the ESD online system for a short in-person visit for a signing process. A Letter of Undertaking is prepared on the company letterhead, which needs to be signed by one of the designated company directors before immigration officials at the Immigration Department of Malaysia. This is to ensure that the director holds himself responsible for transactions undertaken by the sponsoring company; hence, substitution or representation is not permitted.
Stage 3 - Expatriate application via the MYXpats Centre
A registered company creates and submits an application and associated documents for an eligible candidate online via the MYXpats Centre. Once verified and approved, a notification is sent to the company allowing it to proceed to Stage 4.
Stage 4 - Passport endorsement and collection
The company is required to print the approval letter and visit the MYXpats Centre to submit the expatriate’s passport for endorsement of the Employment Pass. After payment of the required fee, the endorsed passport can be collected within three business days.
Key differences
Eligibility requirements for Employment Passes remain the same; no significant changes to the process or the documents required have been implemented.
However, the key differences lie in:
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Shorter and more consistent processing times; and
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The provision of a more transparent process, especially in terms of change of requirements for online implementation since 2014.
What does the future hold?
As discussed above, currently the MYXpats Centre is administering Employment Pass applications that previously would have been submitted to Immigration Department headquarters. It is anticipated that the MYXpats Centre will also eventually administer Professional Visit Pass applications and Residence Pass applications.
