Lankans also need ‘bio-visa’ to enter Malaysia

28 October 2012 03:00 pm Views - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}} 27 Bookmark

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Sri Lankan visitors to Malaysia are among the foreign nationals who require entry visas using a unique biometric system at the country’s embassies to deter visa fraud, a top immigration official has said.

Touted to be the first-of-its-kind “Bio-Visa” to be introduced in the world, those who do not comply with the Immigration Department’s proposed Biometric-Visa will be slapped with a “Not to Land” (NTL) notice and turned back.

Under the proposal, the fingerprints of the foreigners will be verified at the embassies and again at the entry points in Malaysia.

Biometric screening is a fingerprint scanning system with security features to match an individual’s identity with the data recorded in the passports.
Malaysian Immigration Director-General Alias Ahmad said that the fingerprint verification system was a key initiative under the second phase of the department’s Transformation Plan to be unveiled on Dec 1.

Alias said 38 countries were placed in Malaysia’s visa list which included China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nigeria and Myanmar.
“Tourists from China and India top the list of those entering Malaysia using a visa,” he said.

Last year, 1.25 million visitors from China and 693,056 from India entered Malaysia.

Alias said the Bio-Visa system would be implemented in stages, starting with countries with the highest number of visitors into Malaysia. (The Hindu)