Maid Online system proving to be a big hit with employers
PUTRAJAYA: Thirty-six employers are set to be the first batch to receive their maids under the Immigration Department's new Maid Online system (SMO) by this week, said its director-general Datuk Seri Mustafar Ali.
He said the 36 employers are at present waiting for the Foreign Workers Medical Examination Monitoring Agency (Fomema) to verify their documents.
Mustafar said it will take about three to five days before the maids are finally issued with several documents such as temporary social visit pass and i-Kad with biometric details before the process is completed.
"Since the commencement of the SMO on Jan 1, 111,000 people have accessed the SMO as of Jan 8.
"While 3,141 employers have successfully registered their I.Ds into the system.
"Seventy-six employers who have applied through the system have successfully completed their maid registration," he told reporters at the Immigration Department headquarters here, today.
He added that the SMO had only suffered a minor glitch when the system kick-started in the New Year, which was rectified immediately.
The introduction of the SMO this year is expected to slash costs by more 400% for employers as there are no middlemen involved.
Under the SMO, the cost of hiring a maid amounts to between RM1,600 to RM2,500, a fraction compared to hiring a foreign maid through an agency, which costs RM12,000 and above.
The cost under SMO encompasses levy, deposit and processing fee, among others.
The online application system was first announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak during his Budget 2018 speech.
Among the conditions required to hire a foreign maid via SMO include having the potential maid entering the country on a social visit pass.
If the potential maid has overstayed her social visit pass, she can still be employed but the employer must pay a compound, which could be a maximum of RM900.
It was reported that only maids who overstayed between Jan 1, 2017, and Dec 31, 2017, are allowed to be hired.
The maid must come from nine source countries – Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Laos, Nepal, Vietnam and Cambodia.