‘Bosses who legalise workers will not be prosecuted’

PETALING JAYA: The Immigration Department has reassured employers who have come forward to legalise their foreign workers under the Government’s rehiring programme that they will not be taken to court.

Its director-general Datuk Sakib Kusmi said they would have to pay RM800 in fines, but would not be prosecuted.

“They (employers) will have to pay a compound of RM300 for the employee and RM500 for the employers.

“Those who come forward now will not be taken to court. We have the assurance from the Attorney-General’s Chambers that they won’t be prosecuted,” said Sakib.

Foreign workers who do not pass medical health screening, however, will be deported, he said.

Sakib also advised employers not to approach agents to legalise their foreign workers.

On why the deadline to legalise such workers had been brought forward from Dec 31 to June 30, Sakib said the Government “did not want to wait so long”.

“I also have to remind employers that if they want to recruit new workers from overseas, the cost will definitely be higher, maybe more than RM10,000.

“This is based on the market price,” he added.

Sakib also said that his department would continue to carry out raids until illegal foreign workers were weeded out.

According to the Home Ministry, a total of 15,822 rehiring applications have been received between Feb 15 and March 10.

Of the figure, 9,738 were Indo-nesians while Bangladeshis and Myanmar nationals made up 3,808 and 425 people respectively.

The remaining 1,851 applications comprised various nationalities.

It also said that the rehiring programme was still at an unsatisfactory rate despite ongoing enforcement operations by the Immigration Department.