Malaysia Announces Changes to Employment Pass Advertising Requirements

Employers who wish to recruit foreign nationals under Malaysia’s Employment Pass are now required to advertise vacancies on the MYFutureJobs portal for a minimum of 30 days. In addition, subsequent interviews must be conducted within 30 days of the advertisement posting date in order to try and source local talent for the role, and the hiring outcome report must be submitted to the SOCSO Talent Executive within the 30-day timeframe.

Certain automatic exemptions to this condition will be granted for the following:

• Specific posts, such as top-level management roles including C-suite or director positions, and expatriates earning a monthly basic salary of RM15,000.00 or more
• Employment Pass renewals
• Expatriates employed under a Representative Office or Regional Office
• Investors/shareholders/owners who hold at least 30% shares equity and are appointed as a company director
• International assignments or inter-company transfers, for those foreign nationals employed under an affiliated or associated company outside of Malaysia
• International organizations under the purview of the International Organization Act (Privileges and Immunities, ACT 485)
• Sports sector athletes and professionals

Conditional exemptions may also be granted in certain circumstances for those in specialized skilled positions. Employers must complete a PDKK online form (Specialized Skilled Expatriate) to request SOCSO’s exemption from advertising the job vacancy. If the exemption request is granted, a notification of exemption status will be forwarded to the employer by SOCSO. If the proposed position is considered not to be specialized skilled position, the employer will be asked to comply with the job vacancy advertisement condition and adhere to the interview process.

For further information on changes to the immigration process in Malaysia, please contact the Sterling Lexicon immigration team.