PUTRAJAYA (May 20): The government has decided to once again extend the freeze on foreign worker applications, according to Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.

The number of foreign workers in the country should not exceed 15% of the 17.1 million labour force projected by the Ministry of Economy, Saifuddin reiterated at a press conference on Monday.

"The current number of foreign workers, which includes those with approved quotas, awaiting entry and those registered through [the] Recalibration 2.0 [programme], indicates that the ceiling limit set by the Ministry of Economy is expected to be reached by Dec 31 this year,” he said.

The government has a freeze on hiring of foreign workers since March 2023.

"In today’s (Monday) meeting [with the Human Resource Ministry], we decided that the current freeze policy on foreign worker applications will continue. There is no new quota on foreign workers,” Saifuddin said.

The move follows Saifuddin's announcement at end-January that the Cabinet had decided to maintain the freeze on the application and approval for foreign workers as the existing quota that allows the hiring of foreign workers was sufficient to meet the country's workforce needs.

This was despite calls from the private sector to lift the ban, citing major losses due to labour shortage.

On a separate note, Saifuddin said that China Communication Construction Company, the contractor for the RM50 billion East Coast Rail Link project, has been granted an extension to import its approved quota of foreign labour.

He stressed that the foreign labour quota for the Chinese company has previously been approved and is only being extended to ensure the “high-impact” project, which Saifuddin said is close to 70% completion, faces no difficulties.