Malaysia Professional Visit Pass for short work assignments

ESD grants the pass to foreign talent with acceptable professional qualifications or skills who come to provide services or receive practical training with a Malaysian company on behalf of a company abroad. Typical cases are engineers commissioning equipment, consultants on a fixed project and staff sent for on-the-job training.

The Immigration Department also handles other Professional Visit Pass categories outside ESD, such as volunteers, exchange or industrial-training students, religious teachers, and foreign artistes and film crews approved through the PUSPAL one-stop centre.

The Immigration Department requires the sponsor in Malaysia to file the application before the foreign professional enters the country. The applicant must be in their home country when the application is made and enters Malaysia on a visa issued through a Malaysian mission, and the application should be lodged at least one month before the assignment or training starts.

The pass is granted for a period not exceeding 12 months under immigration rules, and for training at a factory or hotel for no more than six months. Applications for categories handled by the Immigration Department itself rather than ESD go to the Visa, Pass and Permit Division in Putrajaya, and foreign artistes and film crews must first obtain approval from PUSPAL under the Ministry of Communications.

Since 1 September 2024 the ESD application fee for a PVP is RM1,200, or RM1,296 including SST. The Immigration Department charges RM90 per quarter of approval plus the visa fee, so a 12-month pass costs RM360 in pass fees. Performing artistes approved through PUSPAL pay RM500, while film crews pay RM90.

The Malaysian company checks it is eligible, registers on ESD and submits the application from its account before the professional travels. Nationals of countries outside the 51 that the Immigration Department exempts from the visa-with-reference requirement should expect to collect a VDR after approval; the approval letter states whether it applies. After entry the company files the endorsement and the ePASS is issued about one working day after payment.

Where a VDR is required, it is issued as an eVISA on the MyVISA portal. Since 1 July 2026 VDR photos are validated automatically: only a plain white or blue background is accepted, and a photo that fails is passed to the VDR issuing office, which can delay travel.

ESD processes applications within five working days. Once the company has paid the pass fee after the professional's arrival, the ePASS is ready in about one working day; it can be downloaded from the ePASS section of ESD Online or endorsed at the Expatriate Service Centre at KLIA Terminal 1 or Terminal 2 without an appointment.

If an application is rejected at the approval stage, ESD refunds 75 percent of the processing fee when the refund is claimed within six months and no appeal is filed. Once an appeal is started the fee is no longer refundable, and an appeal review can take up to 30 working days.

The professional may only work for the company named in the pass. The PVP does not allow family members to accompany the holder on dependant passes, and a rejected application can be appealed by the company through the ESD appeal module within 14 days.