Malaysia will grant visa-free entry to citizens of India for stays of up to 30 days

According to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, people from China and India will be able to enter Malaysia without a visa beginning December 1 for stays of up to 30 days. During an address at his People's Justice Party conference late on Sunday, Anwar made the news. He did not specify the duration of the visa exemption, though.

Malaysia's fourth and fifth-largest source markets are China and India, respectively. 9.16 million tourists arrived in Malaysia between January and June of this year, with 498,540 coming from China and 283,885 from India, according to government figures. In contrast, during the same time of 2019, before the epidemic, there were 1.5 million arrivals from China and 354,486 from India.

The action comes after Thailand enacted such policies to strengthen its critical tourist industry and revitalise its flagging economy; this year, Chinese and Indian nationals were excluded from the restrictions.

At the moment, citizens of China and India need to apply for visas in order to enter Malaysia.