VISA & IMMIGRATION

updtated May 2025

Malaysia

Updates on New Immigration Policies and Processes (updated Feb 2025)

The Immigration Department of Malaysia and Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia have recently made announcements on matters related to expatriates and tourists in/to Malaysia.

WHY THIS MATTERS

New policies and changing requirements can cause disruption and confusion for relocating expatriates and the personnel who manage their immigration affairs. It is important to stay abreast of the changes and consider appropriate next steps.

The changes highlighted in this newsletter aim to clarify employers’ responsibilities, open up opportunities for hiring and developing local Malaysian talent, and tighten up procedures with respect to renewals of Employment Passes and changing Pass categories, as well as to better address the needs of Malaysia’s labour market.

Further amendments may be made by the relevant authority to manage the kinks and hiccups arising from the new policies and procedures, and companies may see extended processing times to procure an expatriate’s Employment Pass due to the adjustments in requirements.

Highlights

Implementation of the “Progressive Policy on Expatriate Contribution to Local Talent Development” by the Ministry of Human Resources (“KESUMA”), referred to as the “1:3 Internship Policy.”
Additional requirements by MDEC, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation, when changing an expatriate’s Employment Pass category.
Extension of the Tourist Visa Exemption for Indian passport holders.
Guidelines on employment of expatriates under Section 60K of Employment Act 1955 [“Act 265”].

More Details

1. 1:3 Internship Policy1

The Ministry of Human Resources, through Talentcorp2, is introducing the 1:3 Internship Policy to help balance expatriate hiring with local talent development. Under this policy, companies with approval for Employment Passes for newly-employed individuals will be required to offer internships to local students based on the number of approved Employment Passes, capped at 2 percent of the company’s total employees.

The policy’s pilot phase will run from 15 February 2025 to 31 December 2025, for Tier 1 and Tier 2 companies registered with the Expatriate Services Division (i.e., mainly consisting of multinational companies, government-linked companies, and conglomerates).

Official implementation is expected to start from 1 January 2026. Companies with specific conditions could be exemp from the policy.

More details can be found in the FAQs from TalentCorp.

2. Additional Requirements by MDEC When Changing Expatriates’ Employment Pass Category

MDEC announced via email dated 24 December 2025 (Ref No: BSD–EXPATS–ANNC–MDEC–227 D20241223 which was sent to company representatives on 25 December 2024) that companies applying for renewals of Employment Passes with a change of Pass category (e.g., change from Category 2 to 1 or Category 3 to 2) will need to provide an additional “Change of Pass Category” letter upon submission of the Employment Pass application. The change is effective from 1 January 2025.

After deliberation by MDEC, the application will be returned to the company to proceed with cancellation of the current Pass before MDEC continues the processing of the change of Pass. The validity of the current Pass may be cancelled forward up to 30 days from the date of application. Thereafter, the application for a new category should be completed within the 30-day validity period.

MDEC has yet to post the announcement on the official website.3

3. Extension of Tourist Visa Exemption for Indian Passport Holder4

The Immigration Department of Malaysia had released an update on the visa exempted duration for tourists holding Indian passports travelling to Malaysia. The exemption is extended until 31 December 2026.

4. Guidelines on Employment of Expatriates under Section 60K of Act 2655

There is an enhancement of/change to the implementation of pre-approval requirements for companies located within Peninsular Malaysia in employing foreign workers pursuant to Section 60K of Act 265 which was introduced on 1 January 2023.

Enhancements and changes rolled out on 2 December 2024, are set out below:

Pre-approval is mandatory for recruitment of new foreign workers defined in Section 2 of the Act 265.
Applications for various types of foreign workers’ employment are to be made via the Integrated Foreign Workers Management System (ePPAx) instead of a separate application platform for each type of foreign worker.
Special requirements for the construction sector.
Approval certificate is to be generated through ePPAx instead of an email approval.

The approval will be valid for 12 months effective 1 October 2024, except for approvals under the “Special Employer Change Process.”

Approval to employ expatriates under the above Employment Act must be obtained before any application for a new Employment Pass can be submitted.