Sarawak has its own jurisdiction and autonomy to decide policies for the hiring of foreign workers. According to the new foreign worker management platform in Sarawak - SANSOLS, Sarawak distinguishes between “General Worker”, “Skilled Worker” and “Expatriates”.
General Worker Category
| Permitted Sector | Permitted country |
|---|---|
| Plantation Manufacturing Construction Logging/ Mining/ Quarry Services | Indonesia |
Under the “General Worker” category, there are 5 permitted industries, namely, Plantation, Manufacturing, Construction, Logging/ Mining/ Quarry, and Services. The only permitted source country for the General Worker Category is Indonesian.
If you are a restaurant owner, whether a hotel restaurant, coffee house (i.e. Kopitiam), or regular restaurant, you may hire Indonesians as servers. Laundromats and Recycle Waste facilities are also permitted to hire Indonesians in Sarawak.
Skilled Worker Category
| Permitted Sector | Permitted country |
|---|---|
| Plantation Manufacturing Construction Logging/ Mining/ Quarry Services | Indonesia Thailand Cambodia Nepal Myanmar Laos Vietnam Philippines Pakistan Bangladesh India China |
Sarawak recognises up to 12 countries for the “Skilled Worker” category. Spa and Reflexology services fall under the “Skilled Worker” category. For restaurants, cooks are considered “Skilled Worker” and therefore can be hired from most of the source countries listed for specialist restaurants. For Textile Shops and Bookstores, employers may hire skilled workers as supervisors only, and from Indonesia only. Lastly, for Vehicle Workshop, employers may hire Skilled Workers too from the countries listed except from India and China.
Expatriate Category
Expatriates are different from Skilled Workers. Broadly, expatriates in Malaysia typically refer to white collar workers like consultants, engineers, management executives or software engineers, while Skilled Workers are typically in grey collar jobs, such as technicians, cooks, spa therapists, or crane operators.
| Permitted Sector (Non- Exhaustive) | Permitted country |
|---|---|
| Oil, Gas & Energy Electronics & Electrical Education Digital Economy Tourism Financial Services Healthcare Agriculture Wholesale and Retail Communication, Content and Infrastructure Palm Oil Business Services And other Professional Fields | All Nationalities |
All Expatriates in Sarawak must demonstrate “special skills”. All applications must be approved by the Immigration, Labour and Management Unit (ILMU) under the Premier’s Department of Sarawak. Generally, Sarawak is industry agnostic for the hiring of Expatriates as long as special skills can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Localisation committee.
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