Professional Visit Pass process, Sarawak
The visa and entry stages, step by step. This one is still filed on paper, and where you file it changes the timeline.
The short answer
A Sarawak Professional Visit Pass runs in two stages. The visa stage starts when your documents reach us and ends with approval, which takes 30 to 45 working days: the file is worked by hand and decided at an internal meeting held every two to three weeks. Filing through a divisional office adds 7 to 10 days. Entry then depends on the passport. A Malaysian collects the ePass on arrival; a foreign national needs a calling visa and an eVISA first.
What happens, and in what order?
Two stages, read top to bottom. The Professional Visit Pass has not moved to ALIANCE and is still processed manually, so the divisional office your file passes through is a real step with real days attached to it.
Sarawak Professional Visit Pass, visa and entry stages.
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Visa process
30 to 45 working daysFrom your documents reaching us to the approval.
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You send us the requested documents
The applicant list forks on nationality and the company list forks on whether you hold a business address in Sarawak. The checklist has both.
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You and your applicants sign the forms and documents
We’ll prepare the document bundles for signing by your company representative and the applicants respectively.
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We submit to Sarawak Immigration in Kuching
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.
30 to 45 working days to approval
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Filed in Kuching
Goes straight to Sarawak Immigration.
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Filed in Bintulu, Miri or another divisional office
Lodged at the divisional office first, then forwarded to Kuching.
Add 7 to 10 days
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The visa is approved
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Entry process
Which route your applicant is on is decided by their passport. Both end at the same place: the ePass collected, and site entry cleared.
West Malaysian or Sabahan
No calling visa and no eVISA: a Malaysian passport needs neither to enter Sarawak.
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Enter Sarawak
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Collect the ePass
The permit endorsement. Collecting the ePass is what that amounts to in practice.
1 to 3 days
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Site entry
Foreign national
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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 applicant 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
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Collect the ePass
The permit endorsement. Collecting the ePass is what that amounts to in practice.
1 to 3 days
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Site entry
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Where does the time actually go?
In the submission. Everything else on this chart is days; the decision is weeks, because the file is worked by hand and then waits for a committee that sits every two to three weeks. Filing outside Kuching adds a week to a week and a half on top of that.
| Stage | What it covers | How long |
|---|---|---|
| Visa process, filed in Kuching | Documents in, signing, submission, decision | 30 to 45 working days |
| Visa process, filed outside Kuching | The same, through a divisional office first | 30 to 45 working days, plus 7 to 10 |
| Entry, West Malaysian or Sabahan | Fly in, collect the ePass, go to site | 1 to 3 days |
| Entry, foreign national | Calling visa, eVISA, fly in, collect the ePass, go to site | 2 to 7 days for the eVISA, then 1 to 3 for the ePass |
The pass itself runs six months and renews once, for twelve months in total. If the assignment is longer than that when you scope it, the Professional Visit Pass is the wrong instrument and an Employment Pass is the conversation to have instead.
What do you need before any of this starts?
The document checklist, because the company list changes shape depending on whether you hold a business address in Sarawak, and a purchase order that has to be certified is not something you produce on the afternoon you decide to file.
- Professional Visit Pass document checklist, Sarawak The full list, forked by nationality and by whether your company holds a Sarawak business address
- Professional Visit Pass, Sarawak What the pass covers, and why it is still filed on paper
- Employment Pass process, Sarawak The same chart for the Sarawak Employment Pass, which starts on ALIANCE
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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