KUALA LUMPUR: Immigration Director-General Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali is calling on errant employers to surrender their illegal foreign workers under the 3-plus-1 programme, following the expiry of the E-card programme on June 30.
The E-Card functions as a temporary confirmation of employment for illegal workers, in lieu of valid travel documents from their respective countries.
The E-card is given for free to employees, and is valid until Feb 15, 2018. Employers had been given until June 30 to complete the process of registering their illegal workers.
“Errant employers of foreign workers should come forward and surrender, as the RM400 per person compound issued under this 3-plus-1 programme (compared to the previous fine) is lower, Mustafar said.
"We are (cracking down on) those who continue to hire illegal workers," he told reporters after the department's seminar on the APEC Business Travel Card here today.
Since the E-Card’s June 30 deadline, the Immigration Department has arrested more than 2,000 illegal foreign workers and 44 employers.
On a separate matter, Mustafar revealed that last month, the Immigration Department proposed a penalty on Malaysians who lose their passports. There will be a RM200 fine for first time offenders, RM500 (second time) and RM1,000 for third and subsequent times.
"This is not to punish, but to remind Malaysians to be more responsible with their passports. This will likely come into effect this year," Mustafar explained.
Last year, the Immigration Department had barred more than 700,000 people from leaving the country, with student loan defaulters and bankrupts being the bulk of those on the travel blacklist.
Mustafar reiterated that the National Higher Education Fund Corp, the Insolvency Department and the Inland Revenue Board are regularly updating their lists of defaulters and bankrupts for immigration officers to enforce travel bans at international gateways.