The Ministry of Home Affairs (MOHA) and the Immigration Department of Malaysia (MID) have introduced new mandatory procedures that companies must comply with when managing permanent departures of expatriates from Malaysia.
These new developments are mandatory cancellation of passes prior to an expatriate’s permanent departure and the implementation of Exit Clearance requirements via the Expatriate Services Division (ESD) and Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) eXpats online portals for expatriates whose passes have expired or with no exit record found within the records of the Immigration Department. Failure to comply with the new procedures will impact the processing of new expatriate applications.
Cancellation of Employment Pass and Professional Visit Pass
Companies are required to cancel their expatriates’ Employment Passes, including passes held by accompanying dependents, and Professional Visit Passes (PVP) prior to their final departure from Malaysia. Whilst this is not a new requirement, prolonged delays in completing this process will now have an impact on the company’s ability to sponsor new expatriate applications.
For ESD registered clients, a slip will be issued via the immigration online portal upon receiving an approval of the cancellation application. Pass holders must ensure that this slip remains in their possession throughout the departure process as it may be asked to be presented by the immigration officer at their discretion.
Exit Clearance requirement
A new Exit Clearance requirement has been implemented for expatriates whose Employment Passes or PVPs have expired or with no exit record found within the records of the Immigration Department. This also includes passes held by accompanying dependents. Under this new requirement, if neither a renewal nor a pass cancellation application is submitted after the pass expiry date, the company must submit the expatriate’s Exit Clearance via the ESD or MDEC eXpats online portal (whichever applicable) within 30 days of the pass expiry.
Companies that fail to submit the Exit Clearance within the stipulated timeframe will face restrictions in submitting new applications until the Exit Clearance is completed.
The effective date for the exit clearance requirement is 18 November 2025 for companies registered with ESD and 20 November 2025 for companies registered with MDEC.
Companies are strongly encouraged to monitor and track the permanent exit date of their expatriate population from Malaysia to ensure compliance with the cancellation and exit clearance directive from the Immigration Department. This will ensure that there is sufficient time to process the cancellation of their passes prior to permanent departure from Malaysia and avoid any potential delays which may lead to restrictions in processing of new expatriate applications.
For a deeper discussion on the above, please reach out to your Vialto Partners point of contact, or alternatively:
Sasha Reddy
Partner
Hana Rabi
Senior Manager
Kimberly Chong
Manager
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