KUALA LUMPUR: More than 10,000 Malaysians living abroad have applied to return to work in their home country, according to the Human Resources Ministry.
Its minister Steven Sim (pic) stated that as of December last year, TalentCorp had received 11,402 applications from Malaysian professionals abroad, with 7,241 approved and 4,730 individuals having returned.
He mentioned that for educators, 80 applications were received, 63 approved, and 33 have returned, reflecting a return rate of 52%.
"The average annual applications range from 400 to 500," he said in a written parliamentary reply to Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (Tampin), who inquired about the number of Malaysians returning after working abroad in educational institutions.
He added that the return of Malaysians abroad is also optimised through the Malaysia@Heart (MyHeart) initiative, which has attracted 1,499 diasporas for employment at 59 companies based in Malaysia.
Additionally, 19 educational institutions have registered with MyHeart to facilitate the educational needs of returning diaspora children, he said.
He highlighted that from a World Bank Study (2021-2022), an estimated 281,429 Malaysian diaspora work abroad, with Australia recording the highest number (138,363), followed by the United States (79,827), the United Kingdom (37,549), and Canada (25,690).
