Home ministry announces several visa liberalisation programmes

Visitors from China and India will be allowed 30 days visa-free travel from Dec 1.

PETALING JAYA: A multiple entry visa (MEV) for all tourists and long-term social visit passes for international students from selected countries are among the five home ministry initiatives for the country’s new visa liberalisation plan.

To be implemented from Dec 1, home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the initiatives were aimed at boosting the country’s tourism industry, adding that Bank Negara Malaysia had described the sector as one of the three key drivers of the country’s economic growth.

In a statement, Saifuddin said MEVs for up to 30 days would be issued to “all tourists who wish to enter Malaysia”.

He also said that Malaysia would offer long-term social visit (LTSV) passes to international students from 23 low-risk and high-income countries to allow them to stay in the country for up to a year after graduation to further their studies, travel, and work part-time in certain sectors.

Apart from students from neighbouring Singapore and Brunei, these long-term social visit passes will also be extended to citizens from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, UAE, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Saifuddin also announced the issuance of a seven-day umrah transit visa through agencies that are registered to handle umrah (Muslim pilgrimages).

Another initiative is to improve the validity period of visas issued by Malaysia from the current three months to six months, and to standardise the eligibility period for social visit passes to a minimum of 30 days for all countries that require visas to enter the country.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that visitors from China and India will be allowed 30 days visa-free travel from Dec 1 – which is another initiative under the visa liberalisation plan.

Saifuddin emphasised that the visa liberalisation plan would see “intensified control and enforcement measures” to prevent unwanted incidents, such as an influx of undocumented migrants.

He said the immigration department would establish a task force to monitor the dates that the Chinese and Indian nationals leave the country, while also stepping up its monitoring in areas popular with foreigners – such as Bukit Bintang and Masjid India.

Saifuddin said that the government would revisit the visa liberalisation plan in a year to assess its return on investment, effectiveness, and associated risks.

“If an unexpected event occurs (during the first year), the visa liberalisation plan will be reviewed for improvement in preparation for 2025 and 2026,” he said.