KUALA LUMPUR: The Home Minister today clarified that the order to grant visa exclusion for tourists from China was undertaken to enable the implementation of the Electronic Travel Registration and Information (eNTRI), a visa-free facility for visitors from the people’s republic to Malaysia for travel or social visits for 15 days.
The order – Passports (Exemption of Visa to Tourist Who is Citizen of The People’s Republic Of China) (No 2) Order 2019 – which was published in the Federal Government Gazette on Dec 26, was issued in accordance to the Passports Act 1966.
“The issuance of the order is a normal procedure that has been done every year since the initiative was introduced in 2016.
“The main objective of this initiative is to boost the tourism industry by providing visa-free facilities to tourists coming to visit Malaysia.
“The initiative was announced by the government during the budget re-calibration on Jan 28, 2016, which offered free visa to Chinese tourists from March 1 to Dec 31 for a visit of not more than 15 days.
“It was later extended to Indian citizens on April 1, 2017,” the statement read.
The ministry said entry without a visa via eNTRI is an improvement over Visa on Arrival, whereby the security element is part of the process and under the purview of the Immigration Department of Malaysia.
The statement said the entry permission into the country, however, is still subjected to the existing rules, procedures, and immigration at the entry points, in which Notice of Refusal of Entry may be issued if the travellers were in the blacklisted list or prohibited immigrant list.
“Despite the visa exclusion, visitors from China and India still have to complete their registration via eNTRI, as the Immigration Department would monitor and verify tourists using this visa-free facility.
“Also, the visitors can only re-apply via eNTRI after 45 days of their departure from Malaysia. The 45 days, also known as the cooling-off period, is to prevent visitors from abusing the visa-free facility.”
The statement said there were attempts to associate visa exclusion with the issues of overstaying among Chinese nationals in the country.
“The ministry would like to emphasise that the Immigration Department is constantly working on curbing illegal immigrants, including tourists, from overstaying in the country.
“Immediate action will be taken against those found violating the laws.”
The ministry said together with the Immigration Department, there will be no compromise when it comes to national security.
On Saturday, a federal government gazette stated that the government has announced one-year visa exclusion for tourists from China and India.
The visa exclusion, however, is limited to a maximum of 15 days and will take effect from Jan 1, 2020, onwards.
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