Check everything we tell you.
Plaza Rakyat, Kuala Lumpur — a project stopped mid-build
Show the working
Everything we assert, and where it came from.
This page exists so you do not have to take our word for anything. Figures carry their authority and a check date. Questions we cannot answer are published as unanswered rather than guessed. Things we have got wrong are numbered and stay here permanently.
Construction levy
RM1,850
per worker, per year
Same band as manufacturing, services and mining.
KESUMA / FWCMS levy schedule, as reported by industry sources. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
Security bond
RM1,500
per worker, one time
Lodged with Immigration before the calling visa is issued. The rate is set by nationality — check yours before you budget.
Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia, security bond and bank guarantee rates. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
Permit processing
4–6
weeks, typical
From approved quota to permit in hand, when nothing is queried.
Industry-reported typical range, not a published service standard. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
Non-compliance ceiling
RM50,000
per worker
Assessed against the employer, not against the agent.
Employment Act 1955 and related worker accommodation legislation. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
What we quote, verbatim
The passages this site is built on.
The centralisation, July 2026
Since 6 July 2026 foreign worker quota applications are managed centrally by KESUMA through the FWCMS eQuota module, and manual case-by-case approval has been discontinued.
KESUMA, reported by The Malaysian Reserve and Malay Mail. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
The construction opening
“The FWCMS eQuota module is now open across all sectors, including the construction sector for companies classified as G4 and above (with more than 100 workers).”
Master Builders Association Malaysia, member circular relaying the KESUMA announcement. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
This is the passage our channel routing rests on. It does not settle whether the 100-worker condition counts a company's total payroll or the size of one application — see Q-001 below.
Incomplete files are rejected
“Permohonan yang tidak lengkap, tidak teratur dan tidak menepati kriteria yang telah ditetapkan akan DITOLAK.”
Pusat Sehenti Pengurusan Pekerja Asing, Kementerian Dalam Negeri — Senarai Semak Permohonan Kuota Penggajian Pekerja Asing, Sektor Pembinaan, updated 25 April 2025. Source, checked 15 August 2026.
In English: Applications that are incomplete, disorderly, or do not meet the criteria will be REJECTED. This is printed on the application form itself. The full checklist is republished, with the traps marked, at /checklist.
The six-month project rule
“Projek hendaklah berbaki sekurang-kurangnya 6 bulan dari tarikh siap projek semasa permohonan dikemukakan.”
KDN construction checklist, note to Dokumen Khusus item 2 (Letter of Award / work contract). Source, checked 15 August 2026.
In English: The project must have at least 6 months remaining from its completion date at the time the application is submitted. It is an eligibility gate, not a formality — a project with under six months left will not carry an application.
The blacklist declaration
“Kementerian Dalam Negeri (KDN) dan Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia (JIM) berhak menyenarai hitam saya dan syarikat saya sekiranya didapati tidak mematuhi dasar dan syarat penggajian pekerja asing yang ditetapkan oleh kerajaan.”
The declaration you personally sign on the KDN construction application form, updated 25 April 2025. Source, checked 15 August 2026.
In English: The Ministry of Home Affairs and the Immigration Department have the right to blacklist me and my company if I am found not to comply with the government's foreign worker employment policy and conditions. Whoever prepares the file, the name on that declaration is the employer's.
No more case-by-case approval
“There will be no more case-by-case basis – you don't have to come to me or my chief secretary for your applications.”
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan, reported by The Star, 7 July 2026. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
This is the sentence to hold up against anyone still selling access or speed. What was being sold has been removed.
Locals first, then foreign workers
“Employers must first apply for local workers through the MYFutureJobs portal before they are permitted to apply for foreign workers through the OSC.”
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri R. Ramanan, reported by The Star, 7 July 2026. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
FWe comes before quota
“Employers are required to first submit applications under the Foreign Worker Employment (FWe) module. Upon approval, they may subsequently proceed to apply for quota through the FWCMS eQuota platform.”
Master Builders Association Malaysia, member circular relaying the KESUMA announcement. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
This is the step most contractors miss. You cannot start at eQuota.
Prior approval under Section 60K
“Seksyen 60 (K) Akta Kerja 1955 [Akta 265] yang berkuatkuasa mulai 1 Januari 2023 memperuntukkan kewajiban majikan untuk mendapatkan kelulusan Awal (prior approval) sebelum ingin menggajikan pekerja asing.”
Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia (JTKSM), foreign worker employment services page. New quota PLKS applications are made through FWeApproval and FWCMS.. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
In English: Section 60K of the Employment Act 1955, in force from 1 January 2023, requires employers to obtain prior approval before employing foreign workers. What this page does not settle is how long the job must be advertised to Malaysians first — see Q-003.
The CLAB programme for smaller contractors
“maximum 10 workers per application … short project duration (3 – 6 months)”
Master Builders Association Malaysia notice on the CLAB programme for G1–G3 contractors. CLAB is a wholly owned subsidiary of CIDB.. Source, checked 14 August 2026.
That notice is dated January 2019. We have not confirmed with CLAB that the caps still stand, so we publish it as the programme as described then, not as today's rule.
What we do not know
Open questions.
Every firm in this market meets the same ambiguities. The difference is whether they resolve them in the direction that produces a sale, or publish them. These stay here until they are answered — and if we never get an answer, that stays here too.
- Q-001Asked, awaiting a replyAsked 14 August 2026
In the construction eQuota opening, does “more than 100 workers” mean the company’s total workforce, or the size of a single application?
It decides whether a G4 contractor with 60 people on the payroll is in the direct eQuota channel or not. We route nobody on our own reading of an ambiguous clause.
Question submitted through the FWCMS published enquiry channel. When an answer comes back we publish it here with the date, marked as an informal enquiry response rather than official guidance. If no answer comes, this entry stays open and says so.
- Q-002UnresolvedAsked 14 August 2026
Do the CLAB caps for G1–G3 contractors — 10 workers per application, 3 to 6 month projects — still apply in 2026?
We route smaller contractors toward CLAB. If the caps have changed, the routing advice changes with them.
The only description we have found is MBAM’s notice, dated January 2019. We have not confirmed current terms with CLAB and we do not print the caps as current rules.
- Q-003UnresolvedAsked 14 August 2026
How long must a job be advertised to Malaysians on MYFutureJobs before a foreign worker application?
It is the first clock in the whole sequence and it starts long before quota. A wrong number here would have contractors planning against a date that does not exist.
Mostly answered. The Human Resources Minister has stated that employers must apply for local workers through MYFutureJobs before they are permitted to apply for foreign workers, and JTKSM confirms the prior-approval requirement under Section 60K of the Employment Act 1955, in force from 1 January 2023. Both are quoted above. The one thing we still do not have from an official source is the minimum advertising period. Secondary sources say 14 working days. We do not print that number until an official source states it.
- Q-004UnresolvedAsked 14 August 2026
At exactly what point is the levy paid?
Contractors budget around it, and some assume it is payable up front. It is not — but published sources disagree on where in the sequence it falls, and we would rather say that than pick one.
Everything we have read agrees on one thing: the levy is not paid before quota approval. After that the accounts diverge. Some describe it as paid after quota approval and before the calling visa is issued. Others describe it as paid after the worker has arrived and passed the FOMEMA medical, immediately before the pass is endorsed in the passport. Both may be right for different cases. Until we have a primary source we say what is certain — approval first, levy later — and no more.
What we got wrong
Corrections.
Numbered, dated, never deleted. It opens with two entries because we were wrong twice on this site before it launched, and deleting the evidence would have defeated the point of the page.
- C-00114 August 2026
Removed three sentences that implied an operating history we do not have.
Earlier drafts of this site said “most of the rejections we see” and “plenty of our audits end with…”. We have run no audits and have no clients. The sentences were written to sound experienced and they were not true. The build now fails if that phrasing returns.
- C-00314 August 2026
Softened the levy timing on the process page.
We had the levy sitting firmly at “on approval”. That is the right end of the sequence — the levy is never paid before quota approval — but published sources disagree on the exact point, and we were more certain than the evidence allowed. See Q-004.
- C-00214 August 2026
Stopped stating the G4 construction threshold more firmly than the evidence allows.
We now quote MBAM’s circular verbatim, link it, and separately log what it does not settle — whether the 100-worker condition counts total payroll or one application. See Q-001.
Check us
Found something wrong on this site?
Tell us and it goes in the log with a number and a date, whether or not you are ever a client. If you find a published fee schedule from another firm in this market, send that too — we will log it here.
The checks you can run on any firm, including usAll figures last checked 14 August 2026.