Malaysia is fighting to obtain more blockchain talent, and now the proposal offers a particular type of visa, specifically designed to encourage technological innovation and stimulate international blockchain talent to visit Malaysia. Officials announced that the visa would be fundamentally used to attract blockchain talent.
Malaysia’s efforts to position itself as one of the blockchain industry behemoths is a well-known fact. We’ve seen many offers from the country towards blockchain professionals, and now it’s time to be introduced to a new “tech visa”.
Tech visa will be a short-term visiting permit. The purpose is to bring the freelancers of the blockchain and the tech industry to Malaysia. It was announced at the recent Malaysia Tech Week conference.
While tracking the origins of this idea, we realized that the visa program is a child of the collaboration between the NEM Foundation and Jobbatical jobs platform, which is based in Estonia. It’s obvious how their partnership will work, right? The NEM Foundation will define and list down the essential skills that are needed for specific positions, while Jobbatical will make sure to attract the overseas market of freelancers.
The idea behind the innovation is to attract blockchain industry professionals that will teach and train locals in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Norhizam Abdul Kadir, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) Growth Ecosystem Development Vice-President told the reporters that they would start this project with blockchain jobs, and proceed on the others.
An excellent opportunity for both parties
In the interview with English Forward, Mr. KEY (Karnika E. Yashwant), CEO of KEY Difference Media said that “It’s fascinating to see how the global political policies are changing and affecting the economic growth of respective regions. Malaysia’s neighbour, India, on the other hand, is indirectly chasing away the talents while growth-focused economies are coming up with blockchain-friendly policies. What is right? I am not the one to say that, but I believe a right strike of balance can help a country so much in the coming decade or two.”
It’s apparent that the initiative coming from Malaysia is recognized as one of the first attempts to drive blockchain education through the global industry.
What’s more important is that other Asian countries have similar initiatives:
- Thailand has its’ own Thai Smart Visa for tech-savvy talent.
- Hong Kong has Technology Talent Admission Scheme (also known as TechTAS).
Although Malaysia is the first country to concentrate on the Blockchain industry, and it might as well push other Asian countries to participate and offer similar projects and promote blockchain education on the whole continent.
It’s unclear when the Visa will be available for freelancers and overseas workers, and how long it will last. But we’re waiting for more details on this subject.
It’s nice to hear about such interest and efforts from Malaysia, isn’t it? Do you think that Malaysia will ever have a chance of becoming a blockchain hub country?
