Direct answer: You cannot apply for a Sarawak work permit yourself. The employer files it on Sarawak's GENESIS portal. What you control is the applicant file — passport, photographs, certificates, medical and entry visa — and that is where most applications actually fail. This page is written from the applicant's side of the desk.
Updated 1 November 2026. Official source: the GENESIS Sarawak portal (e-Services: EXPRT / SANSOLS / HAVEN / eVDR; checked 1 November 2026).
Key Facts at a Glance
| Item | Fact |
|---|---|
| Who files | The employer. There is no applicant-side counter or self-service submission |
| Where | GENESIS (genesis.sarawak.gov.my), the employment module of the state's ALIANCE system |
| Which module applies to you | EXPRT (professional/EP) · SANSOLS (general & skilled worker) · HAVEN (domestic helper) |
| Who counts as "foreign" | Anyone who is not a Sarawakian — including Malaysians from West Malaysia and Sabah |
| What you must produce | Passport, photographs, certificates, medical, and (if required) an eVDR entry visa |
| Passport rule | Validity must cover the whole intended employment period — renew before the file goes in |
| Medical | Post-arrival screening (SAFHIS) at a panel facility, before the PLKS is issued |
| Fees and timeline | No published unified fee table or guaranteed processing time — treat any quoted number as indicative |
The thing applicants get wrong first: it is not your application
Almost every guide online describes the Sarawak work permit as something a worker applies for. It is not. The application belongs to the employer company, which holds the GENESIS account, confirms the position, and carries the workforce quota. A worker cannot open a file, cannot submit one, and cannot "check on it" from the outside.
That does not make you passive. It makes you the owner of one half of the file, and the half that is easiest to get wrong — because the employer knows their own company documents, but only you can produce a passport, certificates and a medical report that all agree with each other.
If an agent offers to "get you a Sarawak work permit" without an employer and a real position behind it, that is not how the system works. Walk away.
What the applicant actually controls
Six things. Everything else is the employer's, or the department's.
- Passport validity and consistency. The name and number on the passport must match every other document in the file, character for character.
- Photographs that meet the portal's specification. Not "a nice photo" — the exact specification, including background and dimensions.
- Certificates that support the position applied for. Academic, professional or trade certification relevant to the role, not a general bundle.
- The personal particulars on the employment contract. Job title, salary, work location and your personal details must read identically across contract, passport and application.
- Medical screening. Where a pre-arrival examination is required, it must be done at an accepted facility; after arrival, SAFHIS screening is done in Sarawak at a panel facility.
- Entry clearance (eVDR). If your nationality requires a visa to enter Malaysia, you cannot board without the Visa with Reference tied to the approved application.
Documents: what to prepare, and why each one fails
Passport
Check the expiry date first, before anything else is prepared. Two failure modes dominate: a passport that expires inside the intended employment period, and a passport renewed mid-application. A renewal changes the passport number, which means every document already prepared against the old number has to be redone.
Rule of thumb: if the passport has less than the full intended employment period left on it, renew it before the file is opened — not during.
Photographs
Portal specifications are exact about background, dimensions and recency. A photograph rejected at upload stalls the whole file, and the applicant is usually the last to find out. Get the specification from the portal itself rather than from a photo shop's default.
Certificates
Provide certificates that support the position being applied for. A file for a skilled trade position that contains only a school certificate invites a query; a file for a professional position that contains an unrelated diploma does the same. If a certificate is in a language other than English or Malay, a translation is normally needed.
Employment contract particulars
You do not draft the contract, but you are the one who can see whether it is consistent. The job title, salary, and work location should match what you were told and what the application says. Inconsistency between the offer letter and the application is a common reason a file is queried rather than approved.
Medical
Two different things carry the same name in conversation, and mixing them up causes delays:
- Pre-arrival medical — where the category requires it, done in your home country at an accepted facility.
- SAFHIS — the post-arrival screening in Sarawak, done at a panel facility, and sequenced before the PLKS is issued and before NSIC registration.
Doing the wrong one, or doing SAFHIS at a non-panel clinic, means the result cannot be used.
Entry visa (eVDR)
eVDR stands for Visa Dengan Rujukan — Visa with Reference. It is the entry visa tied to the approved application. It is not a tourist visa and cannot be substituted with one. If your nationality requires a visa, the eVDR must be in place before you travel; arriving on the wrong pass creates a compliance problem for you and for the employer.
The sequence, from the applicant's side
- Employer confirms the position and quota. You are not involved yet. If this step is not done, nothing downstream can start.
- You hand over the document set. Passport, photographs, certificates, and the personal particulars the contract needs. This is your main window to prevent problems — once the file is submitted, corrections cost time.
- Employer files in the correct module. EXPRT for professional/employment pass roles, SANSOLS for general and skilled workers, HAVEN for a foreign domestic helper. The wrong module is one of the most common reasons a file bounces.
- State review. Sarawak immigration reviews the employer, the position and you together, through the Immigration and Labour Integrated Centre (ILC) in Kuching.
- Approval, then entry. If you are outside Malaysia and your nationality requires a visa, entry is arranged through eVDR linked to the approval.
- Arrival, SAFHIS, then the pass. Medical screening at a panel facility, then the PLKS is issued and collected, then NSIC registration.
- Stay compliant. The pass is tied to that named employer and that role. Changing employer is not a formality — it is a new application.
Where applicant-side files actually fail
| Failure | What it looks like | How to prevent it |
|---|---|---|
| Passport expires inside the term | Employer finds out at submission | Check expiry before anything else |
| Passport renewed mid-file | Number no longer matches prepared documents | Renew first, then start |
| Name spelling differs across documents | Passport vs certificate vs contract | Use the passport spelling everywhere, including aliases |
| Photograph rejected at upload | File stalls with no clear owner | Use the portal's own specification |
| Certificates unrelated to the role | Query instead of approval | Match certificates to the position |
| Medical at a non-panel facility | Result cannot be used | Confirm the facility is accepted before booking |
| Arriving on the wrong pass | Compliance problem at the border | eVDR tied to the approval, never a tourist entry |
Cost and timing: what an applicant can honestly be told
The Sarawak authorities do not publish one simple public fee table covering every category. Charges depend on the pass type, the applicant's nationality and the sector. Any figure you see on a blog, or quoted by a middleman, should be treated as a placeholder until confirmed on the official portal.
Processing time varies with the module and with how complete the file is. Nobody outside the department can promise you a date. If someone sells you a "guaranteed approval time", that is a sales signal, not information.
What you can control is how many rounds of queries the file goes through. A file that is internally consistent on the first submission is the only real speed advantage available to an applicant.
If you are already in Malaysia on another pass
Two points matter:
- A federal pass issued for Peninsular Malaysia is not a Sarawak work approval. Working in Sarawak on a peninsula-only arrangement is a compliance risk for both you and the employer.
- A social pass visit is not a work permit. Converting a visit into work is not a matter of applying from inside; it depends on the category and on the employer's approval. Assume it is not available unless the department confirms it for your specific case.
Applicant checklist
Use this as the applicant's own list, separate from whatever the employer is tracking.
- Passport valid for the full intended employment period
- Passport name spelling noted exactly, including any alias
- Photographs to the portal's current specification
- Academic / professional / trade certificates relevant to the role
- Translations for any certificate not in English or Malay
- Employment contract particulars checked against passport details
- Pre-arrival medical done at an accepted facility (where required)
- SAFHIS screening booked for after arrival (Sarawak panel facility)
- eVDR arranged if your nationality requires a visa
- Copy of every document kept, in one folder, in the same order as the file
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply for a Sarawak work permit without an employer? No. The application is employer-driven on GENESIS. Your part is documents and information; the filing is the company's.
I am a Malaysian from Kuala Lumpur. Do I need this too? Yes. Malaysians from Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah are non-Sarawakians for Sarawak immigration purposes, and the employer needs state approval to employ you.
Do I need a medical before I travel? It depends on the category. What is certain is the post-arrival SAFHIS screening in Sarawak, which happens before the PLKS is issued.
What is eVDR and can I enter on a tourist visa instead? eVDR is the Visa with Reference tied to the approved application. If your nationality requires a visa, entering on a tourist pass is not a substitute and creates a compliance problem.
How long does it take? There is no published guaranteed timeline. The variable you control is file completeness, not the department's queue.
How do I check whether an employment agency is licensed? JTKSWK (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Sarawak) licenses private employment agencies. A licence is held by a company, never by an individual, and carries a licence number that can be checked.
My agent says they can get the pass without the employer doing anything. Is that possible? No. The employer holds the GENESIS account and the quota. An agent can prepare and check a file; an agent cannot replace the employer in the system.
How we fit in
AUSVJ is based in Miri, Sarawak. We work on the applicant's side of the file: checking that the passport, photographs, certificates and contract details agree with each other before the employer submits, flagging the documents that typically trigger a query, and making sure the medical and eVDR steps happen in the right order.
We are not the immigration department. We do not issue passes, we cannot approve anything, and we cannot promise a timeline or an outcome. What we can do is stop the file from being returned for something that was avoidable.
Sources:
- GENESIS Sarawak official portal:
genesis.sarawak.gov.my— Gateway & Employment for Non-Sarawakians via Sarawak's Integrated System; e-Services SANSOLS, HAVEN, eVDR, EXPRT; official contactadmin.genesis@sarawak.gov.my(checked 1 November 2026) - ALIANCE Sarawak official portal:
aliance.sarawak.gov.my— the state e-services parent system; GENESIS is its employment module - JTKSWK official portal:
jtkswk.gov.my— licensing of private employment agencies in Sarawak - Mondaq, "Updated Submittal Process for Malaysia EP Applications", 17 December 2025 — Employment Pass applications in Sarawak filed online through the new platform effective 1 November 2025
- Sarawak immigration administered under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63)
Related Guides
- Sarawak Work Permit 2026/2027: requirements, documents and the application process — the employer's side of the same file
- SANSOLS Sarawak: foreign worker application guide — which category general and skilled workers fall under
- Sarawak eVDR 2026/2027: the electronic entry visa guide — the entry visa you need before arriving
- Sarawak SAFHIS medical screening 2026/2027 — the post-arrival screening step
- Sarawak PLKS: application, collection and renewal — what happens after approval
- Sarawak Employment Pass via EXPRT — the professional/EP route
