Deputy Prime Minister Opens MYXpats Centre

PETALING JAYA, 1 SEPTEMBER 2015 – YAB Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and Minister of Home Affairs, Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, officially opened the new Malaysia Expatriate Talent Service Centre (MYXpats Centre) this afternoon. YAB Deputy Prime Minister was represented by the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs I, YB Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohammed. The Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, YB Senator Dato’ Sri Abdul Wahid Omar, was also in attendance.

Based in Surian Tower, Petaling Jaya, MYXpats Centre is a one-stop centre that will process and issue all Employment Pass (EP) applications and other EP-related passes for expatriates working in Malaysia.

In June 2014, YAB Prime Minister Dato Sri Mohd Najib Tun Haji Abdul Razak committed to reducing the processing time of EP applications to only five working days. 

Under the leadership of YAB Dato' Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, as Minister of Home Affairs, that commitment has been realised with the establishment of the MYXpats Centre as a partnership between the Immigration Department of Malaysia and Talent Corporation Malaysia Berhad (TalentCorp) and overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs. Since MYXpats Centre started operations in June 2015, more than 80 percent of EP applications have been approved within the five-day client charter. 

Dato’ Seri Dr. Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said: “The opening of MYXpats Centre shows that the Government has again delivered on its promise to enhance expatriate immigration services and in doing so, enhancing the ease of doing business in Malaysia for investors. It also underlines the Government’s commitment to uphold its pledge on the continuous digital delivery of key public services under the Government Transformation Programme.”

“Malaysia’s economic growth is creating numerous job opportunities that need highly specialised skills, particularly in high impact, high value sectors. Complementing the local workforce with the specialised skills of expatriate talent will enable Malaysia to move to the next level of economic development.”“MYXpats Centre has been set up to meet the needs of expatriate talent and employers in Malaysia. MYXpats Centre’s integrated, streamlined data platform will ensure a fast, efficient and accurate application process for employers.”

Dato' Mustafa Ibrahim, the Director-General of Immigration Department of Malaysia, stated: “The opening of MYXpats Centre introduces a new level of enhanced immigration services. Through our oversight of the secure, government-run system, we will ensure that applications are processed in the most efficient manner, allowing us to deliver on the planned enhancement of immigration services started by the launch of the ESD in June last year by YAB Prime Minister.”

Johan Mahmood Merican, Chief Executive Officer of TalentCorp, added: “Leveraging on our experience working with leading employers in key industry sectors, we are proud to collaborate with the Immigration Department to better facilitate leading investors and employers access foreign skill sets needed through MYXpats Centre.”

MYXpats Centre will process and issue the following expatriate passes: Employment Pass, Dependant Pass, Social Visit Pass (Long Term) and Visit Pass (Temporary Employment).

MYXpats Centre has also recently implemented the Electronic Referral Visa (eVDR), enabling companies to download and print the visa approval letter, eliminating the requirement for companies to collect the visa approval letter from the Immigration Department.

Before employers can submit their Employment Pass applications for expatriates to MYXpats Centre, they must first register their companies with the ESD which will evaluate companies for compliance, risks and hiring needs. Once ESD registrations have been approved, employers will be eligible to use MYXpats Centre to submit applications for expatriate employees.

For more information on MYXpats Centre, please visit https://esd.imi.gov.my/portal/ or call 03-88923939.