Immigration dept rakes in over RM5.5bil revenue in 2023
Published on: Monday, February 05, 2024
By: FMT
Immigration director-general Ruslin Jusoh says the department’s revenue collection for 2023 surpassed the previous year’s RM5.13 billion and the target of RM4.5 billion. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: The immigration department garnered a total revenue of RM5.56 billion in 2023, with foreign worker fees being the largest contributor at over RM3 billion.
Immigration director-general Ruslin Jusoh said this collection marked an increase from the previous year’s RM5.13 billion, surpassing the RM4.5 billion target, Utusan Malaysia reported.
ADVERTISEMENT
He added that the entry of over two million foreign workers last year contributed to the RM3.31 billion earned from foreign worker levies.
“Additionally, revenue from the immigration department’s service processes amounted to RM654.6 million, making it the second-highest contributor to our revenue,” he was quoted as saying.
“The passport renewal process recorded a revenue of RM522.1 million, work permits for foreign workers totaled RM379.9 million, and visas amounted to RM228.5 million.”
In other developments, Ruslin said there were a total of 2.38 million registered foreign workers across various sectors in 2023, with Bangladesh accounting for 36.28%, followed by Indonesia (23.55%), Nepal (17.61%), Myanmar (7.7%), and India (5.7%).
ADVERTISEMENT
With an estimated 2.4 million foreign workers required by 2025, Ruslin said the government is currently formulating specific measures, with discussions held between the home and human resources ministries.
He added that one of the specific measures includes reducing the time taken to process the documentation for foreign workers.
ADVERTISEMENT
“In the past, the process from the beginning (once the quota was given) until the issuance of temporary work visit pass took 29 months and 13 days. It was indeed a long time.
“Hence, the government has agreed to reduce it to 15 months and seven days, which is a 46% reduction from the original period,” he said.
Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
Daily Express Malaysia
