Malaysian Immigration department said applications for foreign worker visa and health status clearances will go fully electronic next Monday.

In a statement yesterday, Immigration Director-General Datuk Mustafa Ibrahim said the Foreign Workers Centralised Management System would rely on the capture of biometric data when the workers undergo health screenings.

Under this, foreign workers are required to go through health screenings at registered clinics equipped with the biomedical system to weed out incidences of fraud, reports Malaysian English daily The Star.

The Immigration chief Mustafa added that immigration counters would no longer accept manual applications following the implementation of these two new modules, including electronic submissions for visa applications.

“All manual counters will remain open during the transition period for 15 days before they are closed from July 1,” the daily reports quoting Mustafa.

According to Mustafa, the use of electronic Visa with Reference (eVDR) will be compulsory for worker visa applications, including the purchase of insurance policies for the workers.

He added that no additional service charge would be imposed under the new regime.