Malaysia on Friday opened applications for permanent resident status or resident passes in a bid to attract highly skilled foreign professionals, including Indians.We hope the highly-skilled and professional workers from abroad will contribute to the government's effort to make Malaysia a high-income nation by the year 2020, in line with the Economic Transformation Programme," Malaysian Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
Hussein said this initiative was a joint effort with the Immigration Department and Talent Corporation Malaysia Bhd.
Malaysia heavily relies on foreign labour for its unskilled and semi skilled sector. A majority of the workers are from neighbouring Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Pakistan.
However, it also faces a shortage in skilled professionals. For the first phase, the focus will be on applications recognised by Talent Corporations