PUTRAJAYA (Jan 17): The government is implementing a plan to make it easier and faster to hire foreign workers in five critical sectors and sub-sectors, said Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar.

In a statement on Tuesday (Jan 17), he said the relaxation of conditions for migrant worker recruitment covers the manufacturing, construction, plantation, agriculture and services (restaurants only) sectors and sub-sectors.

He said employers in these five industries could submit applications for hiring foreign workers through the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS) platform under the FWe Approval Module with immediate effect.

"The Ministry of Human Resources will process and approve applications for hiring foreign workers within three working days from the date the applications are received," he said.

Sivakumar said advertisements of vacancies on the MyFutureJobs portal would be exempted with immediate effect.

He said employers who had applied via the FWe Approval Module or the eQuota Module before Jan 17 should submit new applications through the FWe Approval Module to enable their applications to be considered under the plan.

Any further inquiries can be directed to the Migrant Worker Management Division of the Ministry of Human Resources at (03) 8885 2939/2940.

The Foreign Worker Management Special Meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Jan 10 agreed to create a Relaxation of Employment of Foreign Workers Plan, in addition to reimplementing the Labour Recalibration Programme, as a measure to meet demand for migrant workers.

Under the plan, employers will be allowed to hire foreign workers from 15 source countries, without going through the preconditions of employment and quota eligibility.

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