Taiwan will maintain visa-free privileges for Malaysian visitors even though Kuala Lumpur has decided to stop issuing landing visas for citizens of all countries, including Taiwan, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) official said yesterday.
The new measure will come into effect on Sunday.
Baushuan Ger (葛葆宣), deputy director-general of MOFA’s Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said Malaysia’s decision is part of its efforts to grapple with the increasingly serious problem of those overstaying visitors, particularly visitors from China, India and Bangladesh who have been abusing the system by working illegally in the country.
There are a substantial number of illegal immigrants in Malaysia, as many as 2 million by some estimates.
Taiwan has been granting visa-free treatment to Malaysian passport holders since 2002.
Although Malaysia has been offering landing visa privileges to Republic of China citizens since last year, Ger said few Taiwanese visitors opt for landing visas because of the MYR$330 (US$104) fee, much higher than the NT$240 visitors pay if they apply for a visa beforehand in Taiwan.
He said that Taiwanese authorities have asked their Malaysian counterparts not to erroneously put Taiwan on the list of countries whose citizens have been abusing the landing-visa program.
Ger added the ministry will continue to hold talks with Malaysian authorities to push for visa-free privileges for Taiwanese visitors.
According to Ger, the number of Taiwanese tourists travelling to Malaysia stands at 200,000 a year, on average.
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