MDEC Approval Letter

Hello I have been granted a work visa and obtained my approval letter from MDEC. My employer has mentioned i will need yo present this at the immigration officer when reaching Malaysia. Is it the case? Should i give it to them even if they do not ask for it? I will enter on a one way ticket. They said that following this, the officer will stamp “Report to immigration” in my passport so that i send for endorsement. Is this something new? I worked in malaysia two years ago and entered without showing the letter and got stamped and entry as any tourist.

Cheers,
Bev

Hi,

You can try to check in your approval letter whether you need to get reference visa first or not. For my case, the letter mentioned that i need to get reference visa first from embassy in my home country for entry into Malaysia.

Hope it helps.

@seatheworldwithbev can you provide any details about how you entered Malaysia in the end?

I am currently in the country and in the process of sorting out my employment pass application with my prospective employer. They are insisting that I will need to go back to the US, but I am hoping that as long as I leave the country while the application is being processed (e.g. a quick hop to thailand) I can simply re-enter on a tourist visa and then have the EP endorsed by MDEC.

Unfortunately my employer is not very well versed in the process.

Hello!

I think that your situation is different as for me I was already back in my country. You need to check if you need a referral letter from back home. Just give a call to MDEC they are helpful.

Hello purplecarrot
I think you are right
You are required to be out of Malaysia, you could be in Thailand or Philippines or Vietnam any place except Malaysia

Thanks all for your replies. For the benefit of future readers - I have confirmed with MDEC that it is necessary to exit the country and have a single entry 'visa with reference' granted at a Malaysian foreign embassy before you can enter the country. You must then forward your passport to MDEC for the employment pass endorsement in your passport.

Key point (at least in my case) is that the visa with reference issuance can be done at ANY Malaysian embassy/consulate - it does not need to be the consulate in your home country.

Probably a new thing. Back at my time, it was depending on your nationality and I was not required to get a reference letter.