KULIM, March 10 — There is no need to extend the registration of foreign workers by employers under the Recalibration Programme 2.0 (RTK 2.0), Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said.
Since the process of registering foreign workers by employers had been simplified, including not needing to apply for worker’s permits through agents, there was no longer any need to postpone the deadline.
“When an employer needs a foreign worker, they will apply for the quota from the Human Resources Ministry. When the quota is approved, they will pay a levy to the Immigration Department, and then apply for a Visa with Reference.
“Now since they are the ones applying, they will apply faster, and they will receive the results faster as the application only takes two working days,” he told reporters after a Kedah police Ramadan community event at the Kulim district police headquarters here today.
He was commenting on employers pushing the government to rescind its decision to speed up the deadline of foreign worker registrations.
The Home Ministry had recently announced that unused quota for foreign workers would be cancelled on June 1, along with active quotas for foreign workers, whose levies have been paid but their visas have not been issued by the end of March.
In other developments, Saifuddin recommended that all religious programmes at mosques throughout Ramadan be included with awareness on 3R (religion, race, royalty) issues, as many posts uploaded by individuals on social media touched on these issues, which could lead to legal action if reported to the authorities.
“The practice of posting 3R related content on social media needs to be tackled so that people can be more careful, which will also help the police in their duties.
“Today, the police have set up a special task force directly under Bukit Aman. This means any complaints touching on 3R will require their investigation papers to be completed within a week,” he said.
— Bernama
