Foreign travellers who plan to enter Malaysia in conjunction with the reopening of the country’s borders tomorrow must comply with the rules set by the Immigration Department.
Its director-general Datuk Seri Khairul Dzaimee Daud said these included the health protocols outlined by the Health Ministry, including downloading the MySejahtera application.
“Visitors must be able to cover their expenditures here and must have a return ticket to their home country and pre-booked accommodation. Their passports must also have a validity of at least six months.”
“For travellers from countries that require visas to enter Malaysia, they must have their applications submitted through the eVisa online system,”
he said.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier announced that Malaysia would open its borders starting April 1.
The decision was made based on the latest information on Covid-19, the requirement for border reopening from other countries and the comfort for travellers. Khairul Dzaimee said the two sets of rules that visitors must comply were from the Health Ministry and the immigration department.
He also assured that the department had sufficient staff to handle visitor arrivals.
“Before the pandemic, the number of personnel and officers working at the border entrance was about 5,000 and during the pandemic, some of them were assigned to guard immigration depots temporarily.
“These officers will be called back to man formal entry points in stages, with the reopening of the borders,”
he said.
Meanwhile, he said commuters from Singapore who come to Malaysia as soon as the country’s borders reopen tomorrow (April 1, Friday) were able to go back to pre-pandemic immigration procedures.
“The procedures (for daily travellers from Singapore) are the same as before the pandemic (Covid-19). Entry and exit (procedures) are the same,”
he said.
Meanwhile, a report by an online news portal has reported that Singaporeans were still in two minds about making the journey to Malaysia when the country’s borders reopen. A number of them claimed that they had to cancel their plan to visit Malaysia because of the difficulties with the entry process, especially for daily travellers.
Among the grouses include not having a residential address in Malaysia and being confused with the required process in the MySejahtera application.
Legal Disclaimer: This article is provided for information purposes only.
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