Only 85,000 foreign workers have registered under E-Card programme - Immigration DG

He said since the implementation of the E-Card on Feb 15, the department had targeted that 400,000 to 600,000 illegal immigrants would register, but the number recorded so far had been disappointing as employers were still hesitant about registering their foreign workers.

Mustafar said the Immigration Department was giving employers until June 30 to register their illegal immigrants with the E-card programme and the period would not be extended.

"I hope employers will take immediate action to register their foreign workers with the Immigration Department as legal workers in this country," he told reporters after ''Ikrar Bersepadu'' Op in the capital, Wednesday.

The Foreign Worker Temporary E-Card Programme is a government initiative aimed at giving the chance to all employers who have hired foreign workers without work permits to register their employees in an effort to address labour shortages in certain economic sectors.

In the ''Ikrar Bersepadu'' Op the Immigration department raided two electronic gadget outlets in Jalan Imbi here and arrested 125 illegal immigrants who were working in the premises.

Mustafar said they were detained for various offences among them not having valid travel documents, travelling with expired passports and misusing their visit pass.

Some 142 Immigration personnel and 30 General Operation Force members were involved in the operation which started at 3 pm and ended at 5.30 pm.