Govt has approved nearly a million applications for foreign workers in five critical sectors

PETALING JAYA: The government has approved 995,396 foreign worker employment permits in five critical sectors - manufacturing, construction, plantation, agriculture and services.

Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said the approval of the foreign worker quotas so far is expected to meet the needs of foreign workers by industry, including in critical sectors.

Thus, he said, the Government decided to postpone the application and approval of the foreign worker quota, including through the Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan (FWERP), starting on March 18 until a date to be announced later.

“This is to ensure that employers who have been granted quota approval will start making plans for the immediate entry of the required foreign workers,” he added.

In the statement on Saturday (March 18), he said the quota approval for employers in the construction sector involved 342,106 permits, service sector (restaurants only)(143,568), manufacturing sector (387,122), plantation sector (76,325), mining and quarrying sector (376), and agriculture sector (45,899).

He urged employers with approved foreign worker quotas to speed up the hiring of workers during this period.

“The number of foreign workers admitted is still low compared to the number of quotas approved by the Human Resources Ministry,” he added.