Malaysia enforces transfer of work passes to new passport

Malaysian businesses employing expats are reminded of the strict enforcement of transferring work passes to new passport.

According to Berry Appleman & Leiden (BAL), Malaysian authorities are now strictly enforcing policies that require foreigners to transfer their work or other passes into a new passport when their old passport has expired.

This new policy affects all permits and passes, including employment passes, dependent passes, professional visit passes, student passes, social visit passes (long-term).

The stricter enforcement means foreign employees will be prevented from leaving the country if they have not completed the "transfer of endorsement" procedures.

Hence, employers should ensure that expat employees file for a transfer of endorsement as soon as they update from an old passport to a new one to prevent travel disruption.

BAL noted that processing times for the transfer vary according to the agency, with ESD (Putrajaya & MYXpats Centre) and MDEC (MSC & ICT) requiring about three to five working days and TalentCorp (RP-T) requiring 14 to 20 working days to process the transfer.

BAL also pointed out that foreign nationals who require an entry visa and whose new passport is issued in their home country must apply for either a social or business visa from a Malaysian embassy before travelling.

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