KUALA LUMPUR: Putrajaya is considering a new system to charge levy on foreign workers using the Singapore model of “the more you hire, the more you pay”.
The home ministry said the new multi-tier levy system would replace the current single-tier system in the hopes of reducing Malaysia’s high dependency on foreign workers.
“For instance, if an employer pays RM1,850 for one migrant worker, and the employer wishes to bring in 150 workers, the first 50 migrant workers will be charged RM1,850 and the balance of 100 migrant workers will be charged a higher levy,” Khairil Shah, from the ministry’s Foreign Workers Division, told a panel discussion on migrant workers organised by the Bar Council today.
He said the government was looking at ways to decrease a foreign worker’s duration of employment to less than 10 years.
He said at present, a foreign worker’s employment period could be extended to 13 years, with an annual levy of RM10,000 after the 10th year.
Other proposals raised in today’s discussion included limiting the number of workers based on the requirements of the respective sectors.