A Quick Guide To Employment Pass Application Fees

As employing expatriates is not cheap, employers must make an informed decision for every role considered, and to help, our guide compares Employment Pass (EP) application fees if self-managed or outsourced to MISHU.

Without wasting time, for a one-year validity period, employers handling the entire EP application themselves can expect to pay around:

• RM2, 500 for every principal EP holder, and
• RM700 for every dependent

Those same applications outsourced to MISHU cost at least RM11,500 for every principal EP holder and RM1,700 for every dependent, and employers who also want help registering with Immigration for the first time can expect to pay RM7,000 on top of that.

If this sounds good and you’d like to hire us, get in touch – otherwise, keep reading to see our fee breakdown and decide if it’s justified!

Immigration fees

For self-managed applications, employers mostly just have to pay Immigration fees for each visa applied, namely application, endorsement, and any applicable visa fees as shown the latest schedule below.

Application fees (one off)

This is the main fee payable upon application submission:

• Employment Pass: RM2,160 / application
• Dependant / Long-Term Social Visit Pass (LT-SVP): RM540 / application

By the way, these are also the same fees you’ll pay during the EP renewal process.

Endorsement, processing & visa fees

If the application is approved, these fees are paid when the expatriate receives their visa endorsement:

Employment Pass:

• Processing fee: RM125
• EP fee: RM200 – RM300/ year
• Visa (if applicable): from RM6
• Total: RM331 – RM431

Dependant Pass (DP) / LT-SVP:

• Processing fee: RM50
• Pass fee: RM90 / year
• Visa (if applicable): from RM6
• Total: RM146

Personal bond / bank guarantee

Depending on nationality, an expatriate’s personal bond ranges from RM200 – RM2,000 and despite sounding like it, we don’t consider it a cost.

As can be seen from the sample above, a personal bond is used as a ‘promise of good behaviour’ and the money will never need to be paid to Immigration unless there is a breach of terms or dispute.

MISHU’s EP application service fees

For employers who already have necessary approvals and infrastructure to apply for EPs and just need help with the actual application submission, here’s how it works out to around RM11,500 (and potentially more) per principal EP holder:

Service	Scope of Work	Fee (RM)
Immigration Fees (listed previously)	Application Endorsement Processing Visa	2,500
MyFutureJobs Letter of Support	Advisory on advertisement and final report Advisory on preparation of Hiring Outcome Report and submission	3,000
JTKSM Section 60K Approval	Filing up forms and submission Obtaining JTKSM approval for hiring expat	2,000
EP Application	Advisory on process, requirements and documents to prepare Compilation and assessment of documents Filing up forms and submission of application Liaison with officer and follow up Advisory on passport endorsement and collection	4,000
Regulatory Body Support (if needed)	Document collection Drafting justification letter Filing up forms and submission Liaison with officers, answering queries and follow up	3,000 / agency

End-to-end expatriate visa support services

For employers who don’t yet have necessary approvals to apply for EPs and also need help setting up the required infrastructure, our scope and services and theri corresponding fees are as follows:

Service	Scope of Work	Fee (RM)
ESD Account Setup	Compilation of documents and advisory Creation of ESD account Drafting justification letter and employment contract Filing up forms and submission Preparation of Letter of Undertaking Liaison and follow up with officers	6,000
Quota Projection	Preparation and submission of quota request	1,000

The time cost of handling EP applications

As we hope the sections above show, EP applications require coordination with multiple government bodies and strict observation of proper documentation. This process is extremely time-consuming, and for inexperienced HR teams, fraught with potential missteps that delay applications.

We’re not saying it’s impossible to do yourself – but we are absolutely saying it’s a giant pain in the butt!

As a result, employers have a choice to make:

• self-manage the process and accept the time sink and higher risk of errors while keeping costs at approximately RM2,500 per EP holder
• engage MISHU for all their documentation and submission needs at an additional cost of roughly RM7,000 or more per application

We have to say that our fees aren’t far off from the market average, so this applies to any of the highly capable visa application service providers in Malaysia – but we’d prefer you to hire us over them!

Whatever your decision, we wish you all the best with your expatriate hiring plans 

Let MISHU handle your Employment Pass applications

Our team enjoys a 98% success rate across our Employment Pass applications and renewals over the years and can provide end-to-end foreign talent hiring assistance from ESD account registration to securing MyFutureJobs support letters, handling Immigration queries on your behalf, and more.