Hiring Foreign Workers in Malaysia 2026: Steps, Levy, Maids

Somebody at the kopitiam always knows a guy who can “settle the permit” for a foreign worker or a maid. Walao — the guy is not the permit. There are two government routes into this, one for businesses and one for households, and every step on both sits on a named official system, a named department and a printed fee.

This page maps both routes for hiring foreign workers in Malaysia: the approval that comes first, the quota and pass steps, what each costs according to the department that collects it, and what the law asks of the employer afterwards. Where two official pages disagree, both are printed.

Quick Answer: since 1 January 2023, section 60K of the Employment Act 1955 requires the Director General of Labour’s prior approval before any employer hires a non-citizen who is not a permanent resident, and the Labour Department applies it to domestic helpers too. A business then applies for quota through the eQuota module of FWCMS, now handled by the One Stop Centre under the Human Resources Ministry, obtains a Visa With Reference, and has the worker medically examined within 30 days of arrival before a 12-month work pass is issued. The Peninsular levy is RM1,850 a year in manufacturing, construction and services and RM640 in plantation and agriculture. A household hiring a helper applies to Immigration after its own section 60K approval; the first helper’s levy is RM410 a year.

• Section 60K comes before everything: hiring a foreign employee without it carries a fine of up to RM100,000, up to 5 years’ imprisonment, or both.
• The quota rules moved ministries in July 2026: the One Stop Centre now sits under KESUMA, applications are online only, and the official pages have not all caught up.

Approval firstYearly costsHousing

First, the approval nobody skips: section 60K

Section 60K(1) of the Employment Act 1955 is one sentence long: no employer shall employ a foreign employee unless prior approval has been obtained from the Director General. A foreign employee is any employee who is not a citizen; section 60O excludes permanent residents. Breaching it carries a fine not exceeding RM100,000, imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or both.

The Labour Department applies it to new hires, not to renewals of an existing pass; to every employer, even for positions PERKESO has exempted from job advertising; and the approval is given to the employer, not the worker. It also reaches foreigners already here on other passes: domestic workers, security guards, expatriates, fishermen, and Student Pass, Residence Pass and MM2H holders.

New workers on the Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) apply through the FWeApproval module in FWCMS; a change of employer, a domestic helper and the other pass holders through the Labour Department’s ePPAx; Employment Pass expatriates through XPats Gateway. Section 60K(4) asks for no outstanding order or conviction under the Employment Act, the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969, the housing Act 446 or the National Wages Consultative Council Act, and no trafficking or forced-labour conviction. The department checks that the premises exist, the labour-law record and the accommodation.

Section 60K(3) then requires the worker’s particulars within 14 days from the date the employment begins, reported in ePPAx since December 2024. Separately, section 55B of the Immigration Act 1959/63 makes employing a non-citizen without a valid pass punishable by a fine of RM10,000 to RM50,000, up to 12 months’ imprisonment, or both, for each such worker.

Where quota policy stands on 23 September 2026

Whether a business can bring in new workers is a policy question, and it has moved several times. Nothing here predicts the next move; the table lists what each official source says, with its date.

Each permitted sector has a regulating agency — MITI for manufacturing, CIDB for construction, the plantation, agriculture and natural-resources ministries for their sectors, and the tourism, transport, domestic-trade and home ministries for named services sub-sectors — and the 1 September 2026 schedule gives each one its interview day.

On timing, the only figure printed here is the ministry’s: from applying for section 60K prior approval to a Conditional Approval Letter, “within 14 days”, subject to a complete application that meets the conditions. The Minister said on 6 July 2026 that 15 source countries were permitted, three of them inactive.

Route A: a business hiring on a work pass

Immigration sets the frame: manufacturing, construction, agriculture, plantation or services; quota approval from the One Stop Centre under the Human Resources Ministry; a worker aged 18 to 45 years at application, certified healthy at home and not on the prohibited list. Nationality limits the job: Philippine women may work only as domestic helpers, Indian workers only in named sectors, and Nepalese men also as security guards.

The Labour Department lists the government’s prerequisites for employers of foreign workers: advertise on MYFutureJobs, pay through a bank at the minimum-wage rate, house every foreign worker, comply with labour law, contribute to PERKESO for each, have no forced-labour conviction, and meet the regulator’s criteria.

After arrival the employer has 30 days to complete the FOMEMA examination; an unfit worker is sent home on a Check Out Memo. The pass runs for 12 months, renewals continue up to 10 years, and the holder may not bring family, marry, work as a frontliner, or change employer or sector.

That last condition has one exit, held by the original employer: KESUMA’s change-of-employer terms, updated 28 August 2026, allow a transfer for bankruptcy, closure, disaster, restructuring, a change of name or a sole proprietor’s death — not in the pass’s final year, and only with at least 3 months left on it.

What a work pass costs each year

Immigration publishes one table of what is paid at each renewal. The levy depends on the sector and on which side of the South China Sea the job is; the pass and processing fees do not.

The security may be a bank guarantee, an insurance guarantee valid at least 18 months, or a deposit; it is claimable only after the worker leaves on a Check Out Memo. Renewals also need a SPIKPA insurance slip (except in plantation) and an SPPA slip. FOMEMA charges RM207 for a man and RM217 for a woman, whose fee covers additional tests such as a pregnancy test.

Who pays is in the Employers Undertaking: the employer pays the levy, effective 1 January 2018, and Immigration says the employer is solely responsible for the deposit, visa and levy payments.

Route B: a household hiring a foreign domestic helper

Immigration’s Maid Online conditions: a Malaysian citizen or permanent resident, normally a married couple, with a child under 15, a disabled child of any age, a sick employer or spouse, or a sick parent, sibling or grandparent, who needs a specialist’s letter and must have no fixed income. Single parents may apply; a single person only to care for sick parents. The domestic-helper page names the core grounds more narrowly — a child under 15 or sick parents — and puts section 60K approval through ePPAx first.

The helper must be a woman aged 21 to 45 years in the year of application, from one of nine countries, certified healthy at home and still there when the application is made. Bankrupt or blacklisted employers are ineligible, and a Muslim employer may employ only a Muslim helper.

A second helper needs a documented reason and net monthly income above RM10,000; a third, above RM15,000 and the Director General of Immigration’s special approval. Indonesian helpers follow the Malaysia–Indonesia memorandum: household income of RM7,000, at most 6 people in the household, three roles (housekeeper and cook, child caretaker, elderly caretaker), recruitment only through agencies, an entry cost of at most RM15,000, a minimum wage of RM1,500 a month, and an embassy-endorsed contract.

Counter applications by the employer are accepted except for Indonesian helpers (ePPAx, SIPERMIT, myIMMs) and Philippine ones (ePPAx, FWCMS, myIMMs); for Indonesia, no Maid Online filing is needed after 16 October 2024. The 12-month pass covers only that employer and residence. At renewal a first Indonesian helper costs RM610 — RM410 levy, RM60 pass, RM125 processing, RM15 visa — and a second RM790.

Housing: the certificate, the floor space, the RM150 cap

The 2021 Regulations require accommodation under Part IIIA of Act 446 for every PLKS holder except a domestic servant. Section 24D bars providing accommodation without a Certificate for Accommodation, on pain of a fine of up to RM50,000; section 24E requires the Director General to be told within 30 days of workers moving in, with a fine of up to RM10,000.

The minimum standards can be checked with a measuring tape:

• A single bed of at least 1.7 square metres per worker, with at least 0.7 metres between the two levels of a double-decker, a mattress at least 4 inches thick, a pillow and a blanket — none of it shared.
• A locked cupboard at least 0.35 by 0.35 by 0.9 metres for the worker’s valuables, including the passport, which the worker can open at any time.
• Floor space of at least 3.6 square metres a worker in a bedroom, or 3 square metres in a dormitory.
• One bathroom and toilet per 6 workers, or per 15 in a dormitory, plus rest, dining and kitchen areas, fans, lamps, a first aid kit, water and electricity.
• Separate accommodation for men and women, fire-safety measures, compliant wiring, and medical assistance when needed.

The certificate’s processing fee is RM100 for up to 10 workers and RM300 above that, non-refundable. What the worker may be charged changed this year: the Labour Department’s housing FAQ says the cap was RM100 a month until 28 February 2026 and is RM150 from 1 March 2026. No deduction without a valid certificate, never above the contract amount without written consent, none if the contract promises free housing.

Payroll: minimum wage, PERKESO, EPF and the passport

A written contract of service must be signed, and foreign workers are entitled to the minimum wage in full — RM1,700 a month under the Minimum Wages Order 2024, which does not apply to domestic servants. The clause-by-clause floor is in the employment contract minimums guide.

Failing to register the worker with PERKESO or to pay in full is an offence: a fine of up to RM10,000, 2 years’ imprisonment, or both. Foreign workers are not in the Employment Insurance System, which PERKESO describes as cover for Malaysian and permanent-resident workers who lose their jobs. On 9 July 2026 LINDUNG 24 Jam became voluntary for local workers but stayed mandatory for foreign ones.

EPF covers workers with a valid pass below 75 years of age from October 2025 wages, paid by the 15th of the next month, on at least the minimum wage; the employer may deduct the worker’s 2%. Registration is automatic, notified by post.

Can the employer keep the passport? The Labour Department answers no, and names the offence: section 12(f) of the Passports Act 1966. The locked cupboard in the housing rules is for the worker’s own passport, reachable at any time.

What changes when the worker is a domestic helper

A domestic employee works in connection with a private dwelling-house — cook, house-servant, child’s nurse, gardener, private driver. For them the First Schedule switches off sections 12, 14, 16, 22, 58A, 60, 60A, 60B, 60C, 60D, 60E, 60F, 60FA, 60I, 61 and 64, and Parts IX and XIIA — among them notice, rest days, hours of work, holidays, annual, sick and paternity leave, maternity, and termination benefits.

Section 57 lets either side end the contract on 14 days’ notice or 14 days’ wages, unless the contract says otherwise. Section 57A requires the Director General to be told within 30 days of employing a foreign domestic employee, and section 57B within 30 days of the employment ending, absconding included; each carries a fine of up to RM50,000.

Immigration’s conditions fill part of the gap: household work only, not washing the car; a suitable room, nutritious food and enough rest including sleep; wages paid by the last week of each month, with records kept; medical treatment at the employer’s cost; no hitting or injuring. Immigration may move a mistreated helper to a new employer without the first employer’s consent.

PERKESO has covered domestic workers since 1 June 2021, a foreign helper at the same rates as other foreign workers. EPF is optional for domestic servants, Act 446 does not reach her, and she may change employer only if unsuitable in her first year, with the old employer’s written consent.

When it ends: reporting, the Check Out Memo, absconding

Section 60KA(1) gives the employer 30 days to inform the Director General when the employer ends the employment, the pass expires, or the worker is repatriated; if the worker quits or absconds, 14 days. Section 60M forbids dismissing a local employee to employ a foreign one, and in a redundancy section 60N sends foreign employees in a similar role first — the payout side is in retrenchment compensation.

The worker leaves on a Check Out Memo, applied for only online through MyPASS or FWCMS since 1 September 2025. For a helper it is an eCOM on MyPASS, with a return ticket dated within 30 days; without one, she is treated as still employed and the employer as still responsible.

A worker who leaves without notice intending to run, or fails to return after a trip home, has absconded. The employer reports at an Immigration office with a copy of the passport, the report form and a police report; the worker is blacklisted and the security bond forfeited. For a helper, the employer pays the personal-bond amount.

Where the official pages disagree

Each row is two official pages, read the same day, answering the same question differently. Both are kept; ask the department handling your file which one it applies.

On FOMEMA, the operator ties its annual examination to a Ministry of Health guideline effective December 2023; the Immigration checklists naming fewer years carry no date.

Sabah, Sarawak, and where to ask

Foreign-worker applications for Sabah and Sarawak fall under the state governments’ jurisdiction, Act 446 applies only in the Peninsula and Labuan, and Maid Online only in the Peninsula. Start with the state Labour Department and Immigration office there.

• Section 60K and foreign-worker reporting: the ePPAx help-desk module, or bpajtksm@mohr.gov.my.
• Domestic-helper approvals at JTKSM: maid.ocs@mohr.gov.my, or 03-88862410 and 03-88862361.
• Quota interviews: the One Stop Centre at Aras 5, Blok Setia Perkasa 3, Putrajaya, by appointment made in FWCMS.
• A complaint about wages, contracts or treatment: JTKSM takes complaints by letter, e-mail, SISPAA, the Working for Workers app or in person; which office handles which grievance is set out in the labour department complaint guide.

Walaoeh Verdict

Start with section 60K, not with a recruiter. Every route, a helper for your own home included, begins with the Director General’s prior approval, and skipping it is the offence with the RM100,000 fine.

Budget from the official tables. Levy, pass, processing, visa, bond, certificate and medical fees are printed by the departments that collect them. Insurance premiums, agency charges and travel are not, apart from the RM15,000 ceiling on an Indonesian helper’s entry cost.

Three things are deliberately not answered above. Whether you will be approved, because that is the regulator’s assessment of your file. Whether quota will open or close again, because the ministry says applications stay subject to policy. And what a helper’s contract term means, because most of the Employment Act’s floor does not apply to her — a question for the Labour Department or a qualified professional.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

Every figure above comes from one of these, all checked on 23 September 2026.

• Act 265 — Employment Act 1955, as at 1 January 2023: sections 2, 57–57B, 60K–60O and the First Schedule.
• JTKSM — Foreign Workers Employment, Permohonan Penggajian Pekerja Asing, section 60K approval documents, the foreign-worker FAQ, the housing FAQ, complaints and the Employers Undertaking.
• Act 446 and regulations — the Act, as at 1 February 2021; P.U. (A) 81/2021; P.U. (A) 250/2020; P.U. (A) 248/2020.
• KESUMA — statement of 6 July 2026 on the One Stop Centre, statement of 9 July 2026 on LINDUNG 24 Jam, the new-quota interview schedule (updated 1 September 2026) and the change-of-employer terms (updated 28 August 2026); the 22 August 2026 statement via Berita RTM, and the Minister’s 6 July 2026 briefing, Berita RTM.
• Home Ministry — Bahagian Hal Ehwal Imigresen services page, last updated 19 September 2025.
• Immigration Department — Pekerja Asing and its English version, Pembantu Rumah Asing, Visitor’s Pass (Temporary Employment), the Check Out Memo notice, Enforcement, MyPASS renewal conditions, myIMMs payments, and the Maid Online conditions and FAQ.
• PERKESO — Foreign Worker, Domestic Workers, and the clarification of 24 December 2018.
• EPF — Contribution for Non-Malaysian Citizen Employees.
• FOMEMA — Guidelines for Employers.
• P.U. (A) 376, Minimum Wages Order 2024, hosted by JTK Sabah.