KOTA KINABALU: The Immigration Department will be carrying out a Regularisation Programme for illegal foreign workers in the plantation and agriculture sector effective April 1 to Sept 20, 2019. Its State Director Datuk Musa Sulaiman (pic) said the programme is aimed at helping to uplift the sector that is currently faced with lack of manpower besides solving security issues involving illegal immigrants in the industry. It is also aimed at giving employers the opportunity to obtain legal passes for their workers as well as aiding the enforcement agency in planning effective operations in the future. He said the Immigration Department would as the secretariat.
Musa said employers in the sector as well as sub-sectors employing Indonesian and Filipino workers of legal age are to be registered along with their dependants (wife and children).He also said those categorised as illegal immigrants who have been in the State before Jan 1, 2019 can be registered but will have to be compounded first before the process of Temporary Visiting Work Pass is issued or Dependent Pass.He said workers that are to be registered should have legal passport from their respective countries with validity of not less than 18 months while those who do not have passport will need their employers to arrange for their legal pass through the respective embassy or consulate.
Although the programme would be from April 1 to Sept 30, the employer quota application would only be opened from April 1 to June 30 where the applications can be obtained from the Immigration Kota Kinabalu Headquarters Foreign Workers Department. Musa said once the application is approved, employers are to present the workers’ passport for further action at any district Immigration Department office in Sabah.Those with inquires pertaining the programme may contact any nearest immigration office in the State.
Source: Daily Express