PUTRAJAYA, Nov 23 — Illegal immigrants with expired temporary work visit pass (PLKS) stickers in the Rehiring Programme and the 6P amnesty programme are allowed to participate in the Labour Recalibration (RTK) programme.
This is among the relaxation of conditions to be implemented in the RTK programme that was agreed upon following the Home Minister and Human Resources Minister’s joint committee meeting on the Management of Foreign Workers held on Oct 26.
Immigration director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud, in a statement today regarding the relaxation of conditions in the RTK programme, said the age eligibility of the applicants (illegal immigrants) which was previously from 18 to 45 years is now 18 to 49 years.
The relaxation also involves extending the illegal immigrants’ eligibility requirements to long-term visit passes that have expired, he said.
Khairul Dzaimee said a quota approval of 70 per cent would be given directly from the number of applications that passed the verification screening in the enforcement division, while the remaining 30 per cent was subject to the decision of the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM), Human Resources Ministry.
“Permits for employers in the construction, agriculture, manufacturing, plantation and services sectors (for example restaurant, cargo, wholesale, retail, cleaning and laundry subsectors) have been extended to other sectors,” he said.
Khairul Dzaimee also said a total of 14,788 employers and 255,909 foreigners had registered in the RTK programme under several key employment sectors permitted by the government such as construction, plantation, manufacturing, agriculture, mining and quarrying, since it started on Nov 16 last year until Nov 16 this year.
He added that the Immigration Department had never appointed any third party or agent to manage the RTK programme, and all employers were reminded to deal directly with the department without going through third parties or agents to avoid being cheated.
