KUALA LUMPUR: The recent high arrivals of foreign workers at KLIA and KLIA2 were due to last-minute recruitment by employers as May 31 looms, says Datuk Ruslin Jusoh.
The Immigration Department director-general said such actions occurred following the government's decision to set May 31 as the deadline for employers to bring in foreign workers.
"Furthermore, each foreign worker who enters Malaysia has to go through a review and confirmation of health checks at the airports.
"Normally, about 500 to 1,000 foreign workers would arrive (in the country) daily. However, the number has increased to 2,500 a day on May 22 and between 4,000 to 4,500 daily on May 27," he said in a statement on Thursday (May 30).
The department expects the number of foreign worker arrivals to continue to spike until May 31 based on information from airlines, who have increased their flights to meet the demand, Ruslin said.
"The department and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad have taken immediate measures to manage the congestion to ensure the comfort of other passengers at the airports," he added.
Ruslin said among the measures that will be implemented are increasing the number of counters to expedite the review and confirmation process and increasing the number of Immigration personnel to manage the arrivals of many foreign workers.
"We will also prepare sufficient food and drinks for the foreign workers at the terminals.
“The department will continue to monitor and improve the situation when the need arises.
"We urge employers to give their full cooperation by being at the airports promptly to settle the immigration inspection process for their foreign workers and thus lessening the congestion at the arrival halls," he said.
