Employment of Foreign Workers in Malaysia


Hi! Edwin here are some information if you intend to employ foreign workers in Malaysia

Employment of Foreign Worker

In Malaysia, foreign workers can be employed in the manufacturing, construction, plantation, agricultural, services and domestic help sector.

Services sector consists of eleven sub sectors: (restaurant, cleaning services, cargo handling, launderette, caddy in golf club, barber, wholesale/retail, textile, metal/scraps/recycle activities, welfare homes and hotel/resort island.

Only nationals from the specified countries below are allowed to work in the selected sectors:
Approved Sectors
Nationals of:
  • Manufacturing
  • Plantation
  • Agriculture
  • Construction
  • Services sector
  • Indonesia
  • Cambodia
  • Nepal
  • Myanmar
  • Laos
  • Vietnam
  • Philippines (male only)
  • Pakistan
  • Sri Lanka
  • Thailand
  • Turkmenistan
  • Uzbekistan
  • Kazakhstan
  • Services (cooks, wholesale/retail, barber, metal/scraps/ recycle, textile)
  • Construction (fixing of high voltage cable only)
  • Agriculture
  • Plantation
  • India

Approval is based on the merits of each case and subject to conditions that will be determined from time to time. Applications to employ foreign workers will only be considered when efforts to find qualified local citizens and permanent residents have failed.
An annual levy on foreign workers is imposed as follows:

Approved Sectors
Annual Levy
Manufacturing
RM1,250
Construction
RM1,250
Plantation
RM 590
Agricultural
RM 410
Domestic Help
RM 410
Services
- Welfare Home
- Island Resort
- Others

RM 600
RM 1,200
RM 1,850

All applications for foreign workers should be submitted to the One Stop Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs except for applications for foreign domestic helpers which should be submitted to Malaysia’s Immigration Department.

Source: Ministry of Home Affairs Malaysia


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