The pass, the new salary floors and what actually reaches you
FreeOn 1 June 2026 Malaysia raised every Employment Pass salary band at once, and the floor below which no pass is issued at all moved from RM3,000 to RM5,000.
The change most candidates have not caught up with
The Revised Expatriate Salary Policy took effect on 1 June 2026 and it is not a tweak. Category I went from RM10,000 up to RM20,000. Category II, which used to start at RM5,000, now starts at RM10,000. The old Category III band of RM3,000 to RM4,999 no longer exists, and Category III now means RM5,000 to RM9,999. Below RM5,000 basic there is no Employment Pass at all, and the separate exemption route that used to let employers apply below the floor was withdrawn on the same date.
Something real was given back. Category III holders can now bring their family, which they could not before, and the longest Category III pass went from twelve months to five years.
Expatriate Services Division, Revised Expatriate Salary Booklet, effective 1 June 2026; Revised Expatriate Salary Policy FAQ, updated 12 February 2026, prepared jointly by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Immigration Department, MIDA, MDEC, IRDA, ECERDC, Bank Negara Malaysia, the Securities Commission and MYXpats. Both checked 20 September 2026.
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