More than 500,000 foreign workers, who have been temporarily legalised, must return to their home countries next month and observe a compulsory six-month cooling-off period before they can return to Malaysia, reports the New Straits Times Online. 

The 6P programme, implemented in August 2011 by the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers, aimed to reduce the number of illegal immigrants entering the country or those overstaying their work permits.

Adopting a firm stance on the issue, the government has chided employers for not taking proactive measures to prepare for the “exodus”, despite having had ample time to prepare.

Immigration Deputy Director-General (Operations) Datuk Sakib Kusmi said those with temporary work visit passes under the temporary Registration, Legalisation, Amnesty, Supervision, Enforcement and Deportation programme (abbreviated to 6P) must honour the understanding agreed in 2011.

Under the 6P programme, undocumented foreigners in the services sector were issued temporary work visiting passes lasting two years, while those working in manufacturing, construction, and plantations received three years.

If the undocumented foreigners do not leave by January 2015, they will be considered as having overstayed and could be arrested under Section 15(1)C of the Immigration Act.

Mr Kusmi said: “We are aware that there are some who are still living here with expired documents, but our policy is clear. If caught, they will be brought to court and jailed or be forced to pay a compound.”

After paying the find or completing their jail time, they will be held at the Immigration depot until they are deported.

Mr Kusmi added that they could return to Malaysia for work after observing the cooling-off period of between six months and a year: “The government believes it is actually better for them (the foreign workers) to undergo the cooling-off period before returning. Employers should not be afraid of this because this is not something new, they already knew this beforehand,” he told the New Straits Times.

He said the government did not want the foreigners to remain in Malaysia continuously for more than five years, as they could then request for permanent resident status, with all the benefits provided to citizens.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said employers had been made aware that they needed to send their foreign workers back to their home countries after their temporary work visit passes expired: Many employers had legalised their illegal workers during the 6P programme and were given temporary work visit passes in 2011. They already knew their workers would need to be sent home within two or three years after the agreement.”

“The government has not made any new decision to continue their status as workers in the country,” he said, adding that the government was standing its ground on the policy.