Malaysia ends VOA for India tourists
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Malaysia said it would not provide visas-on-arrival for Indian and Bangladeshi tourists as part of new visa rules to curb the influx of illegal immigrants. The New Straits Times, quoting Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar, said the tourists must now obtain a two-week social visit pass from their own countries and have a return ticket. “The social visit pass replaces visas-on-arrival (VOA) which was discontinued in April,” the paper quoted him as saying. Malaysia extended the visa-on-arrival facility two years ago to a number of countries, including India and Bangladesh. According to reports, immigration officials had called for the programme to be scrapped as many Indians and Bangladeshis were overstaying to find work in plantations and restaurants. A Reuters report said Malaysia is home to around three million foreign workers, one million of whom are working illegally. Most of the foreign workers are from Indonesia and the Indian subcontinent, doing jobs that many locals shun.
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