Glossary of Malaysian and Sarawak immigration terms

ALIANCE is the Sarawak platform on which expatriate Employment Pass applications and renewals are filed. New applications have started here since the pilot phase began on 1 November 2025.

The entry visa issued against an approved application, allowing a named foreign worker or helper to travel to Malaysia for that employment. Entering on a social visit pass and converting afterwards is not a substitute.

The document an employer must obtain in person from Sarawak Immigration when a foreign domestic helper is found medically unfit, before she leaves Sarawak.

DE Rantau is Malaysia’s digital nomad pass, for remote workers and freelancers earning income from foreign clients or employers while living in Malaysia.

The Expatriate Services Division is the Immigration Department unit that handles federal expatriate pass applications in Peninsular Malaysia. A company must be registered with ESD before it can apply for any expatriate pass.

The electronic visa with reference, issued through GENESIS against an approved application so a named worker or helper may travel to Sarawak for that employment. Medical screening bookings are made through it.

The GENESIS submodule through which every Sarawak expatriate application is now filed, by West Malaysians, Sabahans and foreign nationals alike. Employment Pass applications run on it; the Professional Visit Pass is still to be added.

The body administering the mandatory medical screening of foreign workers in Malaysia, both on arrival and at renewal.

GENESIS, the Gateway and Employment for Non-Sarawakians via Sarawak’s Integrated System, is the ALIANCE module covering everyone who is not Sarawakian. Applications once filed on paper at counters in Kuching now start inside its submodules: EXPRT for expatriates, SANSOLS for foreign workers, HAVEN for domestic helpers and eVDR for the visa with reference.

HAVEN, the Household and Assistance Vetting and Employment Network, is the Sarawak platform for hiring a foreign domestic helper. State approval, the household labour quota and the calling visa all run through it. It is the household module of the Foreign Worker Transformation Approach, alongside EXPRT for expatriates and SANSOLS for foreign workers.

The report produced after a vacancy has been advertised on JobSarawak for at least fourteen days, evidencing that no Sarawakian filled the role. Key Post, Shareholder, Specialist and Cross-posting applications are exempt.

The Immigration and Labour Integrated Centre in Kuching brings immigration and labour functions into a single location, so an employer’s file can move between them without separate submissions at separate counters.

The body to which complaints about a licensed employment agency’s conduct may be escalated, alongside JTKSWK and JIM.

The Investor Pass is a residence route for foreign nationals holding a qualifying shareholding in a Malaysian company. It rests on the investment, and no employment is involved.

The Immigration Department of Malaysia, responsible for federal immigration matters in Peninsular Malaysia.

The Sarawak job advertising portal. Since 2025 it replaces MYFutureJobs as the platform on which qualifying expatriate vacancies must be advertised to Sarawakian candidates before a pass application proceeds. The advert runs for a minimum of fourteen days.

JTKSWK, Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Sarawak, licenses private employment agencies operating in Sarawak. A licence is held by a company, never by an individual, and every licensed agency has a licence number that can be checked.

The licence required to employ a non-resident worker in Sarawak under the Sarawak Labour Ordinance (Amendment) Act 2025. It is valid for one year, renewed annually, and a current licence is a prerequisite for renewing the worker’s pass.

The annual government charge payable by the employer for each foreign worker or domestic helper employed. It is an employer cost and may not be deducted from wages.

A Sarawakian assigned to learn an expatriate’s role. Where the approving agency requires one, the employer has six months from Employment Pass approval to name them in EXPRT, and the Employment Pass cannot be renewed until they do.

A residence pass for family members who fall outside the Dependent Pass. It permits residence, and work only where a separate endorsement is granted.

Malaysia Digital Status is a company-level designation for qualifying digital businesses. It unlocks a set of incentives, including a more accommodating route to hiring foreign knowledge workers.

MM2H is Malaysia’s federal long-stay residence programme for foreign nationals. It is granted on financial criteria, and no job offer is involved. It gives you residence and no right to work.

MTEP is a federal pass route for foreign technology entrepreneurs, allowing them to establish and run a technology venture in Malaysia without an employer sponsor.

The identity card issued to a non-Sarawakian working in Sarawak, and the final stage of both the expatriate and the domestic helper process flows.

The PLKS, or Temporary Employment Visit Pass, is the permit held by a foreign worker in non-executive employment in Malaysia. It is tied to a named employer and an approved sector.

The Resident Pass-Talent is a ten-year federal pass for highly qualified expatriates already working in Malaysia. Unlike an Employment Pass it is held by the individual, not tied to one employer.

A labour recalibration programme that lets employers regularise the status of undocumented workers already in Malaysia. It opens in defined windows, so it is available only when a window is running.

S-MM2H is Sarawak’s own long-stay residence programme, administered by the Sarawak state government. It is separate from the federal MM2H programme and has its own financial criteria.

The Sarawak medical screening system for foreign workers and domestic helpers, and the state equivalent of FOMEMA. Screening must be done at a SAFHIS-certified panel clinic, within 30 days of arrival and then at odd-year renewals only.

SANSOLS is a Sarawak state system used in the administration of labour and immigration compliance, forming part of the same digital ecosystem as ALIANCE and EXPRT.

A bond lodged by the employer against a foreign worker or domestic helper, refundable when the worker leaves Malaysia in accordance with the permit. The rate varies by nationality.

PERKESO, known in English as SOCSO, administers Malaysia’s social security schemes. Employers of foreign workers and foreign domestic helpers must register and contribute for the Employment Injury Scheme.

A Sarawak Employment Pass route for a non-Sarawakian spouse of a Sarawakian who intends to work in Sarawak, sponsored by a company and renewable annually on evidence of a continuing marriage.

The Companies Commission of Malaysia, which maintains the register of Malaysian companies and business entities.