Malaysia begins repatriation of undocumented foreign workers

Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced that undocumented foreign workers will be facilitated to return to their home countries under the migrant repatriation program that will take effect from March 1 to December 31.

These individuals are encouraged to return home without facing legal action and are only penalised for certain offences under the Malaysian Immigration Act.

According to preliminary statistics, Malaysia currently has about 600,000 foreign workers without valid documents and only a total of 848 cases have registered to participate in the migrant repatriation program after the announcement of the country's Ministry of Home Affairs.

Minister Saifuddin advised foreign nationals to personally visit the immigration office to register and carry out relevant transactions and not seek services from agents as the government does not entertain any requests from third parties.

In a related move, the Malaysian Government also introduced a separate program to provide opportunities for foreigners who have overstayed or do not have valid permits to meet the human resource needs of key industries in Malaysia.

According to Mr Saifuddin, from June 1, no more foreign workers will be officially added from the existing quota. The remaining quota not issued before March 31 will be cancelled and the taxes paid for this quota will be refunded to the employers.

The Malaysian government will implement a more employer-friendly tax refund policy, which will come into effect from 1 March 2024, with improvements including reduced processing times for tax refunds.