Malaysia Is To Abolish The Visa-On-Arrival (Voa)

[Boater]

Monday, 16 August 2010 00:00 Malaysia is to abolish the visa-on-arrival (VOA) facility effective today (Monday, 16 August), Immigration director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman announced on Friday.

As such, all foreign nationals requiring a visa to enter the country must apply for it at the offices of Malaysian missions overseas, he said in a statement.

He said the Cabinet Committee on Foreign Workers and Illegal Immigrants decided that the VOA facility granted to the nationals of several countries be abolished.

"The VOA facility is being abolished because it has been misused and this has had a negative effect on Malaysia," he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had announced early this month that the VOA would no longer be issued at the country's points of entry as there had been gross misuse of the facility.

http://www.whichbudget.com/blog/news/destinations/553-malaysia-is-to-abolish-the-visa-on-arrival-voa

Edited August 16, 2010 by Boater

[Boater]

so does this mean no more easy visa runs to malaysia?

[gotlost]

so does this mean no more easy visa runs to malaysia?

Kinda looks that way.

[opalhort]

The way I read it it affects only nationalities which require a visa for entry. Most western nationals can enter with a visa exempt stamp, usually good for 90 days.

opalhort

[PoorSucker]

Yeas it seems they are targeting illegal Indians.

40,000 Indians 'disappear' in Malaysia

[gotlost]

The way I read it it affects only nationalities which require a visa for entry. Most western nationals can enter with a visa exempt stamp, usually good for 90 days.

opalhort

After some quick research I think you are correct. Visa exempt stamp hopefully will be no problem.

[Jingthing]

Of course, they don't wish to kill tourism. Next ...

[lopburi3]

Most countries do not require any visa for Malaysia and this has nothing to do with them. It only effects those that both required a visa for entry and that already had a visa for Thailand or Singapore.

[dangman]

are you sure? this is confusing me. the site for the malaysian ministry of foreign affairs says it has abolished it for ALL countries.

i look at the requirements for foreigners page, and check for australia and it has a * note (like most of the countries)

the note says i must enter malaysia through airports only. and that i must obtain a visa from a malaysian embassy before entering.

http://www.kln.gov.my/web/guest/requirement-for-foreigner

[lopburi3]

It says you are allowed a 3 month entry without visa. No change. The visa on arrival was a special facility for a very limited number of countries (just as in Thailand) and that is what has been removed - they will now have to obtain a visa prior to arrival. Most countries do not require any visa for normal visit to Malaysia.

[dangman]

i see now. thank you.

it's like the 90 day stamp you get is not considered a visa.. it's considered a permit or something.

well, that's a relief. i thought for a minute they were going to ruin a good thing.

now, if only thailand would follow malaysia and give 90 days on entry, we'd be laughing.

[opalhort]

I don't think Malaysia will allow many back-to-back visa exempt stamps.

opalhort

[Louie77]

They do allow it. We lived there for almost 2 years on tourist visas (and only just left). Lots of people there have been living on tourist visas for several years. One couple (that we know) has been there more than 15 years on a tourist visa.

Edited August 18, 2010 by Louie77

[mahjongguy]

There is and has always been a great majority who confuse Visa On Arrival with Visa Waiver. On this board we all do our best to spread the word.

Many countries have a Visa On Arrival counter at major ports of entry for arrivees from countries that are in the middle of the spectrum, between the "sure, come on in" folks and the "no way, not unless you got a carefully considered visa before you left North Korea" folks.

The problem is that there they are, already off the plane, standing at the counter, and the temptation is to go ahead and save a big headache by giving them their 15 days. The track record, then, for overstays and worse problems is consistently poor.

If Malaysia is saying that VOA hasn't worked out well for them, it's easy to believe. VOA is probably more useful and worthwhile for a special zone like Bali, where it's used in lieu of Visa Waiver for everyone who is not ASEAN (serving more as an entry tax).

[marinediscoking]

This is one of the only reasons why it is beneficial to live some where in the south. Those boarder runs are the cheapest and easiest IMO.