Another year, another post — not about golf. I think this blog has run its course in terms of golf. Right now, I am just using it like a journal or diary sort of to ensure the future gilagolf who faces dementia does not have issues renewing the maid. This is the eternal struggle we have against our government.
Last year was smooth so naturally I thought this year would be the same as well.
Fomema – I dont want to post this anymore, because Fomema process is very straightforward already. Website, register, pay, go to clinic, go to x-ray, come back, check website — if suitable then go!
So I headed over to https://imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/plks/welcome which is where I usually go to and unfortunately, it says it has migrated to https://imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/mypass. Now if you know anything about government migrating something– we know this is BIG TROUBLE. Because they can’t even stop people migrating away from their own country. Usually the system is a piece of sh*t that doesn’t work.
So surprise–when I ‘Log Masuk’ I was able to enter the main website , greeted with the informational menu saying
Laman Utama| ESP | ECOM | Status permohonan
ECOM I found is used when your maid wants to leave the country. ESP is probably what used to be PRA, so I clicked on it –
Permohonan eSP – Pembantu Rumah Asing
When I key in my IC, nothing happens. No PRA shows up.
Tried looking and asking the facebook page with no luck until I stumbled upon this term: fwcms
Googling it led me to https://fwcms.com.my/ the Foreign Worker’s Centralized Management System.
Now, why the hell would not the eplks site direct to this instead of having their own portal?
Logging in using my old login (I wonder how they managed to migrate the hashed passwords), I saw the feature :
ePL(KS)
It allows employers to apply work permit renewal for the desired workers whose work permit nearly expired as early as three months
Which is very encouraging as this site looks much newer and more modern. It’s still sucks at navigating though. There’s no HOME button and clicking on the logo at main screen doesn’t do anything, unlike most websites.
So you just login as EMPLOYER and you get dumped into the first screen ePLKS. Click on ePLKS – PLKS Application –> New Application
Putting in my maid’s details, I received a somewhat encouraging error stating: Pass Expiry Date is more than three months to proceed with renewal.
This means it KNOWS that my maids renewal is somewhere mid November. I am doing it now in Early August. I guess I am one month early. So I need to try a month from now and keep my fingers crossed!!
UPDATE 1
I am trying this on first week of September.
So when logged into https://fwcms.com.my/, go to EPLKS and then hit the new application. The good news is that they finally came up with a user manual https://fwcms.com.my/download/user-manual-eplks-renewal-security-sector/. It’s by no means a good user manual but at least there’s some guidance on what needs to be done.
So do a search for your maid. You need to use the “Enter Worker Details Manually” option and NOT the form below in the main page workers enquiry, under “WORKER LIST”. this is actually a search for workers already identified and verified. It’s very confusing and it took me a while to figure this out because…well, UX is shit.
A pop up screen will appear where you key in your workers birthdate, passport, nationality and click ‘verify’. So what happens now is … nothing happens. The windows stays open but subtly the ‘eligibility’ column may change to a thumbs up meaning its ok. You then need to “SAVE” it manually and close the window before the worker will appear on the list.
So now ideally you will have your maid listed, a plks reference number, application date, and application status. You can PROCEED.
Now the next step is slightly tricky. Under worker information, you need to check “Action” — options.
There, you will click on WORKER INFORMATION. Check whether everything is in order. The issue here is that you need to scroll down to find ‘supporting document’. which I believe you need to upload the current EPASS. I think. It says special pass (which I think is the one that for her to leave the country) and “Latest Pass” which in English, simply means the current one that they have.
I am just guessing here. The previous time I did this I had to upload the EPASS + the Passport. I dont know why we need to do this though because the EPASS was downloaded from exactly the same system that is asking me to upload the Epass. W. T. F.
So I uploaded the EPASS back to them and now the application status changes to DRAFT- DECLARATION.
Go ahead and click on the checkbox, get the OTP sent to your phone, submit and pray to God that everything will be oK. The application now has changed to “PLKS APPLICATION IN PROGRESS.” I mean I have around 2 and half months in case things messes up so it should be fine.