Apply for PATI registration e-card before 30 or face the music

Employers in five economic sectors who use the services of illegal immigrants (PATI) have until June 30 to apply for the temporary Enforcement Card (E-Kad) at the Immigration Department.

Immigration director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali said the application could be made at all Immigration Department offices in Peninsular Malaysia from Feb 15.

Mustafar said the PATI and their employers must present their passports and valid travel documents from their embassies for the purpose of legalising them and no extensions would be given.

"We have given the employers enough time to register them and if they fail (to do so)....we will take legal action against the PATI and their employers," he said at a press conference held after a working visit to the Malaysia Expatriate Talent Service Centre (MYXpats Centre) here Monday.

The five sectors which have been identified as requiring foreign workers are construction, plantation, services, manufacturing and agriculture.

On Jan 17, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid was reported as saying the Home Ministry had obtained permission from the Attorney-General's Chambers to issue temporary cards to illegal immigrants who are employed in the country.

There are an estimated 400,000 to 600,000 illegal immigrants who are expected to register under this programme, which will hopefully resolve the problem of the lack of foreign labour faced by these economic sectors.

- BERNAMA