Employment Pass process, Sarawak
The visa and entry stages, step by step, with the time each one takes. This is the chart we work to, and the two stages answer different questions: one is about your file, the other is about your candidate’s passport.
The short answer
A Sarawak Employment Pass is approved twice. The State Government decides first, in one to two months. The file then goes to Sarawak Immigration as a physical bundle and is approved at an internal meeting held every two to three weeks, which takes one to three months more. Entry comes after that: a West Malaysian or Sabahan flies in and collects the ePass, while a foreign national needs a calling visa and an eVISA first.
What happens, and in what order?
Two stages, read top to bottom. The visa stage is ours to run and yours to supply documents for. The entry stage is your candidate’s, and which route they take depends on the passport they hold.
Sarawak Employment Pass, visa and entry stages.
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Visa process
From your documents reaching us to the approval letter being issued.
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You send us the requested documents
The checklist is the long pole here. Three items need a certified true copy and two need LHDN stamping, and those are measured in days rather than minutes.
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We register your company account on ALIANCE Sarawak
Done once, at company level. It covers new applications and renewals alike.
3 to 5 days
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JobSarawak job advertisement & interview
Where it applies, the role is advertised on JobSarawak for 14 working days and a company representative attends a physical interview in person. What that produces is the Hiring Outcome Report, and the Employment Pass application cannot proceed without one.
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Director position, or a cross-posting
Neither the advertisement nor the interview applies. Straight to submission.
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Any other position
Advertised, interviewed, and the Hiring Outcome Report obtained before the application goes in.
14 working days of advertising
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We submit the expatriate visa application
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The State Government approves the application
1 to 2 months
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We submit the physical bundle to Sarawak Immigration
Immigration works from the paper bundle and brings applications to an internal meeting, which sits every two to three weeks. An application that reaches a meeting is approved, so what decides your date is which meeting yours makes.
1 to 3 months, processing and approval
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The approval letter is issued
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Entry process
Which route your candidate is on is decided by their passport. Nothing in the file changes it.
West Malaysian or Sabahan
1 to 3 daysNo visa of any kind. Sarawak controls its own entry, but a Malaysian passport still gets in without one.
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Enter Sarawak and collect the ePass
The permit endorsement. Collecting the ePass is what that amounts to in practice.
1 to 3 days
Foreign national
3 to 10 days-
The calling visa is issued
The calling visa is issued against the approval, and it is what the mission abroad endorses. Nobody boards a plane on the approval letter alone.
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Your candidate obtains the single entry visa, the eVISA
The single entry visa and the eVISA are the same thing under two names. It is applied for from the Malaysian mission covering their country of origin or residence, before travelling. There is no visa on arrival for this.
2 to 7 days
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Enter Sarawak and collect the ePass
The permit endorsement. Collecting the ePass is what that amounts to in practice.
1 to 3 days
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Where does the time actually go?
Into the two decisions. The State Government takes one to two months, and Sarawak Immigration takes one to three more. The second of those is still a manual process: a paper bundle, and a committee that sits every two to three weeks. Everything you control happens before either of them.
| Step | What it covers | How long |
|---|---|---|
| ALIANCE registration | Your company account on the platform, done once | 3 to 5 days |
| JobSarawak, where it applies | The advertisement, the physical interview, and the Hiring Outcome Report | 14 working days of advertising |
| State Government approval | The decision on the application itself | 1 to 2 months |
| Sarawak Immigration | The physical bundle, then approval at an internal meeting | 1 to 3 months |
| Entry, West Malaysian or Sabahan | Fly in, collect the ePass | 1 to 3 days |
| Entry, foreign national | Calling visa, eVISA, fly in, collect the ePass | 3 to 10 days |
Add those up and a director-level hire with nothing held up runs to about two months. One that has to advertise, and lands on the wrong side of a meeting cycle, can run to five or six. Neither figure is a promise, and both assume a complete file: an incomplete submission does not pause the clock, it restarts it.
What do you need before any of this starts?
The document checklist, because five of the items on it cannot be produced on the day, and the salary bands, because a candidate who does not clear RM3,000 a month does not qualify for an Employment Pass in Sarawak at all.
- Employment Pass document checklist, Sarawak Everything to gather from your candidate and your company, with the certified copies and the LHDN stamping flagged
- Employment Pass, Sarawak Salary bands, costs and the current processing times
- Professional Visit Pass process, Sarawak The same chart for the other Sarawak pass
Sources
- Immigration Department of Sarawak Jabatan Imigresen Sarawak
Tell us what you need
Describe your situation and we’ll tell you which pass fits it, what it costs and how long it takes.
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