End of ‘tourist visa’ route for Indonesian maids from Aug 15

 

Indonesian domestic workers will no longer be allowed to begin work after entering Malaysia on a tourist visa.

PETALING JAYA: The practice of Indonesian domestic workers entering Malaysia on tourist visas and then applying for work permits will be stopped from Aug 15, says Indonesian ambassador Hermono.

He said the One Channel System to be used stipulates that all applications for Indonesian domestic workers must go through the integrated platform of the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur and the Malaysian immigration department.

Hermono, who was in Jakarta last week to finalise the recruitment procedures, said potential employers must submit the documents and contracts to the Malaysian immigration department and be screened for eligibility as employers.

“The department will then send the data to the embassy through the integrated platform. Once we endorse the employment contract, the immigration department will issue the visas with the reference numbers,” he told FMT.

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The previous Maids Online System, which allows maids to enter with tourist visas first and apply for work permits later, will cease to operate, as stipulated in the agreement between the two countries.

“No Indonesian worker will be allowed to come in with a tourist visa to begin work any more,” he said.

Hermono hoped that with this final agreement, there would be no reason to disrupt the flow of Indonesian domestic workers who are needed badly by Malaysia.

As for any breach of terms, any party not happy with the implementation can bring the matter up at the quarterly meeting of the joint working group of officials from the two countries.

“Things are clearer now and all we want is for our workers to get the maximum protection without being abused or cheated like in the past. We will work hard to achieve this,” he added.

Last Thursday, Malaysian human resources minister M Saravanan and Indonesian manpower minister Ida Fauziyah said the integrated recruitment system would be fully operational within three weeks.

A three-month pilot project will be in place prior to the full application of the system under the OCS. - FMT