©The Star (Used by permission)
by A. LETCHUMANAN and NG BEI SHAN
PUTRAJAYA: The task of registering legal and illegal foreign workers will be handled separately to minimise confusion among the tens of thousands of workers who have been queuing up at Immigration Department offices and at the offices of appointed agents.
After a lengthy discussion on the matter, the Cabinet has decided to consider a proposal to confine the registration of legal workers to immigration offices while allowing the 336 government–appointed agents to handle the illegal workers who want to be legalised.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said: “The issue was discussed and there were several proposals, including one for the Immigration Department to handle the legal workers and the agents the illegal foreign workers.”
He said the department was expected to make a decision and issue a statement in a day or two.
After a lengthy discussion on the matter, the Cabinet has decided to consider a proposal to confine the registration of legal workers to immigration offices while allowing the 336 government–appointed agents to handle the illegal workers who want to be legalised.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said: “The issue was discussed and there were several proposals, including one for the Immigration Department to handle the legal workers and the agents the illegal foreign workers.”
He said the department was expected to make a decision and issue a statement in a day or two.
He added that more than 700,000 legal workers and 14,000 illegal ones had registered over the past two days.
“The registration exercise will take time as there are still 900,000 legal workers who have not registered,” he told reporters after chairing his ministry's post–Cabinet meeting here yesterday.
Dr Subramaniam said the Government could not ascertain the total number of illegal foreign workers in the country although there were varying figures of between 1. 5 million and two million.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maids Agencies (Papa) said there should be no confusion over the RM35 fee imposed by agents appointed by the Home Ministry to register illegal foreign workers under the biometric verification system.
Papa acting president Jeffrey Foo said agents were clearly briefed over the fee structure prior to the start of the registration exercise on Aug 1.
“It was made clear that the standard administrative charge for the registration of illegal foreign workers is RM35,” he told The Star yesterday.
He said, however, a processing fee of RM300 would be imposed at a later stage of the amnesty programme after a decision was made by the authorities whether to legalise or deport the foreign workers.
He said there may be some confusion as some employers who came to register their illegal workers chose to pay the processing fee upfront.
“The money they pay acts as a deposit for the legalisation or deportation processes after the biometric registration,” he said.
He clarified that employers of the illegal foreign workers who met the criteria to be legalised would still have to pay the cost of official levies imposed by the Government.
The official levies cover items such as insurance and work permits according to the respective employment sectors where the workers will be absorbed.
However, Foo said the duration between the biometric registration and the legalisation process was still not known.
“We can't tell when it will be because it depends on the volume and validity of the data and also the efficiency of the system,” he said.
On initial glitches faced by the agents on Aug 1, he said the situation had improved with the registration process going on smoothly.
However, a few of the agents appointed to undertake the registration claimed that they were continuously having problems with the system and software.
“It is not functioning well and everything is in a haphazard manner,” the agent who refused to be identified said.
He said they had to chase after Immigration Department officials to come and provide the password for them to log in.
“The registration exercise will take time as there are still 900,000 legal workers who have not registered,” he told reporters after chairing his ministry's post–Cabinet meeting here yesterday.
Dr Subramaniam said the Government could not ascertain the total number of illegal foreign workers in the country although there were varying figures of between 1. 5 million and two million.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Association of Foreign Maids Agencies (Papa) said there should be no confusion over the RM35 fee imposed by agents appointed by the Home Ministry to register illegal foreign workers under the biometric verification system.
Papa acting president Jeffrey Foo said agents were clearly briefed over the fee structure prior to the start of the registration exercise on Aug 1.
“It was made clear that the standard administrative charge for the registration of illegal foreign workers is RM35,” he told The Star yesterday.
He said, however, a processing fee of RM300 would be imposed at a later stage of the amnesty programme after a decision was made by the authorities whether to legalise or deport the foreign workers.
He said there may be some confusion as some employers who came to register their illegal workers chose to pay the processing fee upfront.
“The money they pay acts as a deposit for the legalisation or deportation processes after the biometric registration,” he said.
He clarified that employers of the illegal foreign workers who met the criteria to be legalised would still have to pay the cost of official levies imposed by the Government.
The official levies cover items such as insurance and work permits according to the respective employment sectors where the workers will be absorbed.
However, Foo said the duration between the biometric registration and the legalisation process was still not known.
“We can't tell when it will be because it depends on the volume and validity of the data and also the efficiency of the system,” he said.
On initial glitches faced by the agents on Aug 1, he said the situation had improved with the registration process going on smoothly.
However, a few of the agents appointed to undertake the registration claimed that they were continuously having problems with the system and software.
“It is not functioning well and everything is in a haphazard manner,” the agent who refused to be identified said.
He said they had to chase after Immigration Department officials to come and provide the password for them to log in.