Labour quota application in Sarawak
The approval that has to be in your hand before you recruit anybody. Not after, and not while.
The short answer
A labour quota is the approval that permits an employer to hire a set number of foreign workers, from named source countries, in an approved sector, at a specified worksite. It is applied for before any recruitment. A quota is granted to the employer against its own operations; it is not transferable, and it does not follow a worker who changes employer.
What documents does a quota application need?
- SSM company registration and constitutional documents.
- Business licence for the operating location.
- Evidence of the operation itself: premises, contracts, order book or production records supporting the headcount claimed.
- Current staffing list, showing local and foreign headcount.
- The application form for the relevant labour department.
Why are quota applications refused?
- The sector is not open to foreign workers, or not open to the requested source country.
- The headcount requested is not supported by evidence of the operation’s scale.
- The local hiring position has not been addressed.
- Documents are inconsistent: the staffing list, the accounts and the premises do not describe the same business.
- Outstanding compliance issues from a previous approval.
Does a quota apply to expatriates too?
In Sarawak, increasingly yes. The labour quota step is already in the EXPRT process flow for expatriate hiring, even though nobody has published how those quotas get decided. Plan on the basis that a quota may apply to your expatriates too, and treat it as a step you might need rather than one that only concerns foreign workers.
Sources
- Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Sarawak Ministry of Human Resources
- Immigration Department of Sarawak Jabatan Imigresen Sarawak
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