The Malaysian government has announced the extension of the 30-day visa exemption for Indian nationals until December 31, 2026. This initiative has been launched as part of Malaysia's Visa Liberalisation Plan, which aims to promote economic and tourism growth in the lead-up to Visit Malaysia Year 2026 and Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025. With this initiative, Malaysia joins several other countries which are providing visa exemptions for Indians.
This visa exemption policy by Malaysia has been in place since December 1, 2023. It grants Indian nationals a 30-day stay in Malaysia. Indian tourists must present a return flight ticket and demonstrate adequate funds for their stay, either in the form of a bank statement or credit cards, upon arrival. Tourism Malaysia is working closely with airlines, travel agencies, and industry players to roll out special travel packages and promotions targeting Indian travellers. These tailored packages will be available for various group travel segments, including weddings and social events, business events, education tourism (aimed at short-term language programmes, cultural exchange, or specialised academic tours etc) and leisure tourism.
Interestingly, as per Tourism Malaysia, Indian travellers contributed significantly to Malaysia’s tourism industry, with over 7,35,000 arrivals from India in 2019, before the pandemic. With the visa exemption, Malaysia welcomed a million Indian tourists this year. Tourist arrivals for Jan-Nov 2024 reached 10,09,114, compared to 5,87,703 in Jan-Nov 2023, and 6,86,338 in Jan-Nov 2019, showing an increase of 47 per cent more travellers in 2024/2019 and 71.7 per cent more travellers in 2024-2023.
Interestingly, the next Visit Malaysia Year, is set to take place in 2026 and will commemorate the sustainability of the nation's tourism industry, which is also in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDG). Tourism Malaysia is also actively endorsing the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), working towards the realisation of the IMT-GT Visiting Year 2023-2025, with the shared aim of promoting the region as a unified tourism destination.
Other countries where Indian nationals do not need any visa to travel to, include Mauritius, Nepal, Bhutan, Dominica, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Fiji, Grenada, Jamaica, Senegal, Thailand, Barbados, Iran, Macao, Montserrat, Niue, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago. However, the duration of stay varies. In these countries, even visa on arrival is not required. To travel to all the visa-free countries, Indian citizens require a passport valid for a minimum of six months, passport sized pictures, return flight tickets, confirmed accommodation, bank statement (last 3 months), among others.
