Cost of hiring a foreign worker in Malaysia
All employer costs per worker, per year for mining & quarrying operations — levy, bond, FOMEMA, EPF, SOCSO, insurance, PLKS and Act 446 accommodation in one place.
Recruitment agent fee | RM 3,000one-time |
VDR (Visa with Reference) feeEstimate | RM 1,200one-time |
Security bondRefundableEstimate | RM 500one-time |
Annual levy | RM 1,850/ year |
FOMEMA medicalEstimate | RM 200/ year |
SPIKPA insuranceEstimate | RM 120/ year |
FWIG (insurance guarantee)Estimate | RM 50/ year |
PLKS / VP(TE) renewalEstimate | RM 60/ year |
SOCSO Employment Injury (employer) | RM 255/ year |
EPF (employer 2%) | RM 408/ year |
Accommodation (Act 446) | RM 1,800/ year |
EPF (employee 2%, deducted from wage) | RM 408/ year |
What goes into the cost?
Hiring a foreign worker in mining & quarrying carries one-time costs (recruitment agent fees, the Visa with Reference, and a refundable security bond) and recurring annual costs (the foreign worker levy, FOMEMA medical screening, SPIKPA insurance, the FWIG insurance guarantee, PLKS pass renewal, SOCSO, employer EPF, and accommodation under Act 446). The calculator separates one-time from recurring costs so the multi-year projection reflects what you actually pay each year.
Employer EPF (2%) and the employer's SOCSO Employment Injury contribution (1.25%) are calculated from the monthly wage. The employee's 2% EPF share and 0.5% SOCSO Invalidity share are shown for reference only — they are deducted from the worker's wage and are not employer costs. SOCSO rates are effective 1 July 2024.
Across a multi-year mining hire the one-time costs land almost entirely in year one. The recruitment agent fee, the Visa with Reference (VDR) and the security bond are paid up front to bring the worker in, while the levy, FOMEMA, SPIKPA, FWIG, PLKS renewal, SOCSO, employer EPF and accommodation repeat every year the worker stays. That is why the first-year total per worker is higher than each later year, and why the projection adds only the recurring lines from year two onward.
The security bond is shown as a first-year cash outlay but it is not a true expense: it is a refundable banker's-guarantee deposit that the employer recovers once the worker is repatriated and there are no outstanding liabilities. The calculator flags it as refundable so you can see your real net cost — the levy and the other recurring lines are the figures that actually leave your books each year.
Mining-specific rules
Mining is not separately listed in the main foreign-worker sector levy tables. Its levy is generally treated as following the manufacturing/construction band — RM 1,850 per worker per year in Peninsular Malaysia — based on secondary HR sources that group mining with manufacturing. This rate should be read as inferred, not as an explicitly published mining levy. Verify against official government sources before relying on it.[1]
For Sabah and Sarawak, the mining levy figures used in this calculator are estimates inferred from manufacturing parity. No primary or secondary source explicitly lists a Sabah or Sarawak mining levy. These figures carry the lowest confidence level of any sector on this site — treat them as planning estimates only and confirm the applicable rate with your regional immigration office before hiring.
The general foreign-worker rules apply to mining regardless of how the levy is classified: one-time costs (agent fee, VDR, security bond) land in year one, while the levy, FOMEMA, SPIKPA, FWIG, PLKS, SOCSO and employer EPF repeat annually. If you operate in Sarawak, an additional FWTA fee applies each year. Because mining figures carry lower confidence than other sectors, the calculator surfaces an estimate banner whenever this sector is selected.
Mining under the 2026 multi-tier levy
Today, the calculator applies the inferred RM 1,850 manufacturing-band levy to Peninsular Malaysia mining operations — the same flat rate used for manufacturing and construction. This figure is not a published mining-specific levy; it is an inference from secondary sources and carries secondary confidence.
The 2026 multi-tier levy (MTLM) has not yet been gazetted. Until it is, no new rates are in force and the calculator continues using the current inferred flat levy for mining.
Once the MTLM is gazetted, rates are expected to scale with a firm's foreign-worker dependency rather than stay flat. Ideally, the gazetted schedule will enumerate mining explicitly — removing the inference that the current calculator relies on. We will update the calculator and revise the confidence level when official rates are published.