No extension of E-kad registration deadline for employers in Malaysia

According to Bernama, there will be no extension of the 30 June deadline for the application of the Enforcement Card (E-kad). However, operations for E-kad registration at immigration offices would remain open until midnight to enable employers to register their workers from 28 to 30 June.

Despite having launched since 15 February, only 21,789 employers have come forward to register their workers. Immigration Department director-general Mustafar Ali said: “Maybe they want to do it at the last minute, which will cause congestion at immigration offices in Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur.

“Maybe they are still hoping for an extension, but it will not happen this time,” he told a media conference on the E-Kad application here today.

He also said that there would be massive operations to flush out illegal foreign workers in the country starting 1 July.

According to Mustafar, the department had issued 118,491 E-Kads and registered 131,269 illegal immigrants from 15 Feb to 18 June. The remaining number were in the process of getting approval. The report stated that the figure is far below expectation of employers coming to register.

Mustafar said: “It is estimated there are one million illegal immigrants in the country, but the Immigration Department was targeting to register between 400,000 and 600,000 people via E-Kad.”

“It appears the number is far from the target,” he expressed.

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Mustafar added that all applications would be reviewed thoroughly with the biometrics of employers and workers, when asked about the rejection of applications.

On that note, he said only 4,616 employers were rejected because they had been blacklisted due to various worker problems in criminal activities or had yet to register with the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM).

He said only five industries were allowed to apply for the E-Kad; and 63,186 had been issued to the construction sector. Others were for the service (32,521), manufacturing (10,477), plantation (5,716) and agriculture (6,591) sectors.

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