2026
Since 22 August 2026, the Nepali Embassy in Kuala Lumpur has stopped certifying demand letters from the 25 principal agencies Malaysia’s system authorises, in a dispute over how many of Nepal’s roughly 1,100 licensed agencies should be eligible. Only quotas issued before that date continue processing, and whether this affects domestic-worker hiring specifically, as opposed to other worker categories, was not confirmed in the reporting found as of this review. See the dedicated Nepal route guide for the full picture and for anything confirmed since.
In August 2026, Malaysia and Thailand agreed to modernise their labour cooperation framework, though the specific changes this brings for domestic-helper hiring specifically were not detailed in what was reported. Separately, this site’s own drafting and verification process caught and corrected its own early-draft error on Thailand’s Immigration personal-bond rate for a different, unrelated visa schedule: the correct figure is RM300, not the RM200 an earlier draft stated before review. See the dedicated Thailand route guide.
2025
From late 2025, the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers applied a USD 500 monthly wage floor to Filipino domestic workers in Malaysia, up from the long-standing USD 400 figure. Philippine officials have described enforcement as voluntary during an initial rollout period, and whether it has since become mandatory was not confirmed as of this review. See the dedicated Philippines route guide.
A 1 May 2025 amendment to the Sarawak Labour Ordinance introduced a new two-stage process for hiring a domestic helper through the state’s own GENESIS/HAVEN system: an Approval Letter, valid six months, followed by an auto-issued Labour Licence, valid one year. The same amendment extended a weekly rest day to Sarawak’s domestic workers for the first time, closely mirroring the existing right in Peninsular Malaysia. This is Sarawak’s own separate system, run outside the Peninsular Malaysia PL(KS)/VP(TE) process this site describes by default. See the dedicated Sarawak guide.
2023
A 2023 amendment to the Employment Act 1955 raised the penalty under section 57B from RM10,000 to RM50,000. Some employer guides in circulation, including one JTKSM/ILO-published PDF still online, predate the amendment and still show the older RM10,000 figure. See the dedicated guide on this penalty for the full picture.
FOMEMA’s own current guidance made the foreign-worker medical examination an annual requirement for every year of employment, effective 16 December 2023. This superseded an older framing, still found in some employer guides, that limited the mandatory exam to the first two years only. See the dedicated FOMEMA guide.
In March 2023, Cambodia and Malaysia signed a new five-year memorandum of understanding covering domestic-worker recruitment, including SOCSO injury and health-scheme insurance, a weekly rest day, and religious and dietary protections for Muslim workers. This followed an earlier 2011 halt to the corridor, lifted in November 2017. See the dedicated Cambodia route guide for the full history and current status.