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KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The work permit application process for skilled foreign workers could be much faster in three months, Minister of Economy Rafizi Ramli said today, as the government moves to cut red tape and revamp the system.

A more streamlined and speedier processing system was one of the top requests by industries — now facing a severe shortage of workers — at today's Pemudah meeting.

Pemudah is a task force consisting of government agencies and industry representatives meant to improve the ease of doing business.

“We aim to have a more simplified and shorter expatriate permit application to be rolled out in three months,” Rafizi told a press conference after chairing the panel's meeting in the Parliament building.

He said the government aims to roll out the new system within three months.

“While this may not sound like big news to most Malaysians, it is among the top key concerns of investors and industries because the current process can sometimes take up to six months and this obviously has an impact on their manpower planning,” he added.

“We are confident that within three months we will be able to roll out the much simplified and shorter application process.”

Industries said recruitment of foreign workers in Malaysia is often a tedious process laced with complex and sometimes frustrating processes.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said in a report that studies overregulation’s impact on trade that Malaysia is much less appealing for investors because starting up business here is made difficult by overt bureaucracy.

In 2020, Malaysia ranked 126th in its index that measures the ease of starting up a business despite being ranked 12th in the World Bank’s Doing Business survey that same year.

Pemudah — the Special Task Force to Facilitate Business — was set up by the previous administration as a collaborative platform to help the government and the private sector to find ways to reduce bureaucracy in doing business.

The task force was seen as instrumental in improving Malaysia’s standing in the index that scores how easy it is to do business.

Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2023/03/14/putrajaya-to-roll-out-faster-skilled-worker-visa-application-process-system-in-three-months/59524