PUTRAJAYA: The government will restructure the application process to bring in foreign workers’ into the country, shortening the whole procedure to 30 days or less.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said his ministry would now take the lead as the “main custodians” for the management of foreign workers.

“Our pledge is to shorten the whole process, from application, prior approval, medical checkups and visa application we hope would take less than 30 days.

“Previously, even before an application can be made (to bring in foreign workers), it must first be advertised for 30 days that a number of foreign workers are needed. Now only one day (of advertising) is needed,” he said after a special meeting of the joint committee between the Home Ministry and the Human Resources Ministry on the management of foreign workers.

Saifuddin said three-quarters of the approval and application process would now be parked under the Home Ministry, while the Human Resources Ministry would still be responsible for compliance to labour policies, quota eligibility and cooperation with source countries.

He added that stakeholders such as employers, industries, associations and foreign workers “need not worry” about the policy change, which was expected to begin by the third week of this year.

“These changes will start in the second or latest the third week of this year, subject to the next cabinet meeting.”

Saifuddin said the meeting also agreed on the proposal to relax the conditions and procedures for foreign worker quota applications.

This, he added, was to balance the needs of economic development with the interests of national security.

“Among other things, the relaxation would include continuous efforts to facilitate the evaluation of qualifications to employ foreign workers, conditions, quota approval, immigration processes and security screening.”

Saifuddin said the accelerated entry of foreign workers into Malaysia was expected to bring a positive impact to the country’s economy, with the economic outlook for the first quarter of 2023 potentially increasing by 1 per cent of the gross domestic product.

As of Dec 31, there were 1.45 million foreign workers holding temporary work visit passes mainly from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal.

Saifuddin said of the total, the manufacturing sector had the highest number of foreign workers with 538,148 people, followed by construction (315,932 people) and service (221,621 people).

He said in 2022, the government had approved 676,070 quota applications from 1.6 million applications.