This is because these workers had been cleared to work here, and had undergone some training, before the moratorium was announced on Dec 6.
However, the exact number of Myanmar workers who will come to Malaysia is not known at the moment.
According to a report in The Myanmar Times, as many as 50 overseas employment agencies are poised to send workers already in line for jobs in Malaysia.
However, these agencies will have to sign a waiver assuming responsibility for the workers’ safety.
Myanmar imposed the ban on the movement of Myamar nationals to work in Malaysia following a spat between the two countries over the treatment of Rohingyas in Rakhine state.
The immediate trigger for the ban was the participation of Prime Minister Najib Razak in a rally against the treatment of the Rohingyas and the strong words he uttered at the rally.
U Thein Win, director of the ministry’s Migration Affairs Department, told The Myanmar Times that it would allow the agencies to send workers who had been cleared by the Committee of Education, Health and Human Resources Development, “but no others”.
Thein Win said the exact number of workers involved would only be known when the agencies sent in their final reports.
These workers, he told The Myanmar Times, had completed all other requirements and had been ready to go prior to the moratorium.
However, the agencies sending the workers will be subject to new conditions, and will stake their licences on the fulfilment of those stipulations.
Acording to Daw Khin Nwe Oo, the director general of the labour ministry, by signing the waiver, the agencies will assume responsibility for the workers once they are in Malaysia. This includes funding their repatriation, if necessary.
One agency manager told The Myanmar Times he had about 80 workers ready to proceed to Malaysia when the government ordered the Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies Federation not to send workers to Malaysia.
His agency signed the waiver so as to be able to continue the process of sending the workers, he said.
“We had a lot of workers who had completed training and got their visas. We agreed to take responsibility for them. The workers are willing to go, and the employers in Malaysia want them. So I signed the waiver,” the unnamed employer was quoted as saying.
There are an estimated 500,000 to 700,000 Myanmar migrant workers living in Malaysia, most of them without legal documents. About 3,000 Myanmar workers a month were being sent to Malaysia on average before the moratorium was announced, said the report.
MORE: Workers pre-approved for jobs in Malaysia permitted despite ban