Shortly after the Government of Malaysia imposed a temporary travel ban on flights to and from India on April 26th, 2021, the list has been extended to include travellers from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan & Nepal, to prevent the spread of the new Indian Covid-19 variant into the country.

Ensuing that, MDEC’s eXpat Service Centre issued an announcement where companies are encouraged not to submit or (at least) put on hold applications of Foreign Knowledge Worker from these countries until the restriction is lifted. Notwithstanding, companies that wish to proceed with the applications, may still opt to do so.

In case you’re wondering what will potentially happen if the application is approved but the travel ban is still enforced? Read on.

To give some background, an Approval Letter is valid for 6 months from the date of its issuance. Companies and the expatriate must complete the process including endorsement before the approval letter lapsed. Ever since the travel ban (albeit, not long ago), many stranded Indian expatriates outside of Malaysia are asking what will happen to their approval letter should the travel ban drags on?

Well, the announcement did offer some light on this. For companies that are unable to complete the process, the company is required to re-apply the application when the approval letter lapsed.