Malaysia to tighten visa
procedures for foreigners
PUTRAJAYA, MALAYSIA: According to Farrah Naz Karim,
Staits Times, Malaysia will tighten visa procedures for
foreigners to prevent negative influences and unsavoury
characters from entering the country.
It is learnt that visitors from all countries that
currently need visas to enter Malaysia will be subjected
to "individual assessments".
A declaration of intent will no longer suffice.
This is in accordance with the first-tier visa issuance
system in most developed countries, including the United
States. This will allow for the identification of
"questionable" characters at the point of application.
The government wants to plug loopholes in the current
entry system as it is felt that many had taken advantage
of the country's relaxed visa requirements to indulge in
undesirable activities, such as vice.
It is learnt that countries that are of concern include
several African nations, a few countries in the Middle
East and Latin America.
Visitors who want to come to Malaysia will need to
present their economic and detailed personal background,
a security bond, as well as letters of undertaking
and proof of family ties and financial support from
their sponsors here when applying for visas at Malaysian
consuls in their country.
This will not only enable the government to reject visa
applications of suspicious characters, but also to track
them down if they cause trouble later.
The source said this would spell the end of the two-tier
visa processing system or the "visa-without-reference"
system adopted several years ago to promote tourism and
higher education in Malaysia.
"What we have is a system with limited information about
the people who we allow to enter the country. Only when
they arrive do we try to manage and get them to observe
their visa restrictions.
"As you know, entering the US is not easy as assessments
are conducted on applicants. We want to stop visa
applications based on nothing but declarations made by
applicants," said the source.
Currently, only visitors from Afghanistan, North
Korea, Cuba, India, China and Vietnam are required to
submit supporting documents when applying for a
Malaysian visa.
A government committee to monitor and manage foreigners
recently met and decided to beef up the monitoring
mechanism and information system on foreigners,
enforcement efforts and review relevant laws.
Sources said allowing better quality visitors to come
into the country would prevent the infiltration of
negative influences, curb the proliferation of drug
syndicates and use of Malaysians as drug mules.
"If not addressed, the country's image will deteriorate
and this will turn away tourists and investors in the
long term," they said.
