A Step-By-Step Guide To Employer ESD Account Registration

For businesses and foreign entrepreneurs looking to apply for Malaysian expatriate visas, the first step is creating an employer’s account on Immigration’s Expatriate Services Division (ESD) portal.

Once created, this portal is where you will:

• submit visa applications for principal holders and their dependents
• make payment, and
• track your applications

Our guide below walks you through account registration, starting with a pre-registration checklist to ensure a smooth process.

Those who prefer to just let us handle it for you are welcome to skip the reading and get in touch!

Otherwise, let’s begin.

Let’s begin. 

Pre-registration checklist

These are action items that should be addressed before trying to register an ESD account, and we’re going to split it into four main parts: 

• business entity registration
• paid-up-capital requirements
• required documents
• key individuals named in Letter of Undertaking

Business entity registration

The only parties that qualify for employer accounts on ESD are registered:

• Sdn Bhds
• LLPs
• societies
• foreign companies

If you have not incorporated a Malaysian private limited company, LLP, or subsidiary, that should be your very next step, and for those going with a private company, the next requirement applies exclusively to you!

Paid-up capital threshold

Sdn Bhds must meet increasingly higher minimum paid -up capital levels as their percentage of foreign ownership increases.

Percentage of Foreign Ownership	Min Paid-up Capital
100% Local Owned	RM250,000
Joint Venture (minimum 30% foreign equity)	RM350,000
100% Foreign-Owned	RM500,000

Foreigners often partner with locals under an incorporated joint venture to reduce PUC requirements – just don’t skip a good Shareholders’ Agreement!

If you can meet your required PUC threshold and have incorporated a company, the last step is to prepare required documents.

Required documents

These are a mix of director / shareholder details, proof of entity registration, and necessary business licenses:

• copy of all company director’s MyKad or Passport copy.
• company profile
• copy of Company’s Phone Bill
• tenancy / S&P agreement
• e-SSM printout (can be purchased via ESD portal during registration)
• SSM Form 9, 24 & 49
• latest financial report
• copy of PBT license
• copy of other business licenses & supporting documents

Notes: A PBT license is essentially a business premise and signboard license from the Local Authority where your business operates, and for foreign owned companies, one of the additional licenses you will likely need is a Wholesale, Retail & Trade (WRT) license. 

Individuals in Letter of Undertaking

After an employer submits their initial application, ESD will get back to them requesting a Letter of Undertaking (LoU) signed by the company director, acknowledging that information submitted is accurate.

In total, at least two parties must be named in the letter (potentially three):

• Director signing the Letter of Undertaking – the company director who formally signs the LoU and accepts responsibility for the accuracy of the information submitted
• Endorser – an authorised individual who endorses the application and confirms the company’s submission
• Submission officer – the person responsible for submitting the application and supporting documents through the ESD system

Alright, now we get to the actual ESD account registration.

Registration steps

We’ve used Sdn Bhds as our example, but the process is identical for all other entity types, and consists of four main steps.

Step 1: Company details & account credentials

Step 2. Email confirmation

Remember to check your spam folder if the email isn’t there. Follow the link and your email should be validated.

Now return to the ESD front page and log in to your account to begin the employer registration.

Step 3. Employer account registration

This flow is pretty self-explanatory so just follow the instructions as presented, including purchasing your SSM printout, where you will be redirected to SSM e-info and asked to make payment and click submit.

Vy clicking submit to ESD, the printout will automatically be uploaded for you.

Step 4. Supporting documents

You will be redirected back to the registration workflow and now asked to upload the list of supporting documents we mentioned above.

Upload them and submit your application, then wait for ESD to get back!

Post-application submission steps

In our experience, ESD typically takes around 14 working days to get back to you via email asking for the aforementioned signed Letter of Undertaking.

Submit it via the ESD portal and upon approval, your ESD account will be created and you can submit expatriate visa applications.

That’s it from us, and we wish you a smooth setup 🙂

Let MISHU handle your ESD account registration

MISHU’s end-to-end visa application services help employers handle every part of their visa process, from determining the correct Employment Pass category to ESD account registration, obtaining all necessary supporting documents, and liaising with immigration officers.