Visa on arrival facility for Indian tourists in Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur, June 4: The Malaysia Government will continue with the visa on arrival (VOA) facility for tourists from India, Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam has said.

"The Home Ministry has said that an earlier report suggesting the withdrawal of the facility, was inaccurate. The Immigration Department will continue with its VOA facility for tourists from India," he said, adding that the Home Ministry would issue a statement soon. Subramaniam said the Home Ministry had given the assurance following a news report that the 30-day visa issued to tourists from India would be reduced to two weeks.

The report had said that tourists from India would need to have a social visit pass for two weeks as well as a return air ticket if they wanted to visit Malaysia, the Star Online reported.

Subramaniam said the Government was concerned that certain quarters were misusing the VOA but there had been no decision to stop its issuance.

Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar had said recently that the ministry was seeking a review of the VOA facility approved by the Cabinet last year as it has been abused.

He said there were two million registered foreigners working here, with a further million working illegally. Police records showed that 30 percent of the 180,000 tourists on VOA had overstayed.

ANI