Malaysia visa for Indians

Update November 2023

Malaysia announced that the citizens of India will be granted visa-free entry to Malaysia for a duration of up to 30 days from December 1, 2023.

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Malaysia is a favourite destination for Indians. The Government of Malaysia is also making the process of getting visa simpler for Indians. The visa can now be obtained online in a matter of few minutes. This post is based on my experience of applying for tourist visa.

Visa Options

Malaysia provides two options – eNTRI and eVisa.  

What is eNTRI?

It is a visa waiver program for Indian citizens. Malaysian Government provides Electronic Travel Registration & Information (eNTRI) facility, an online registration facility. This will be issued as proof of registration and should be presented on arrival in Malaysia. There are few points that people need to be aware of before applying for eNTRI.

• eNTRI is valid for 3 months from the date of issue.
• It is applicable for 15 days from the day of entry into Malaysia and valid for single entry only.
• eNTRI should be obtained at least 48 hours before departure.
• The print out of eNTRI note is a must. This is checked during boarding and immigration.
• eNTRI does not apply for Indian citizens in Singapore!!
• There are restrictions from which country you can enter. The eNTRI note said “Indian nationals tourist residing inside India must have a direct flight from India to Malaysia or via Singapore/Thailand/Brunei and must have a direct return flight ticket from Malaysia to India or via Singapore/Thailand/Brunei.” It also says “Indian nationals expatriate residing outside India must have a flight ticket to Malaysia and must have a return flight ticket to country of residence if travelled by air.”
• Cost of eNTRI is 20USD

What is eVisa?

Very similar to eNTRI but it gives 30 days of stay in Malaysia. It is only valid for single use. Visa fee is 45USD. The restrictions of source and destination country does not apply foe eVisa.

My experience

Since we were planning to visit Malaysia for 8 days, I chose eNTRI. The first challenge was to find the website in which I can register. A simple search for Malaysian visa bring up lot of websites. I was able to find official link after some effort. (Link here)

The process of getting eNTRI was very simple if the following documents are available.

• Photo – size 50mmX35mm with white background. The website also has an editor to make minor modifications.
• Scanned copy of first page of passport
• Air tickets
• Hotel reservations. If you have multiple reservations, combine them into one pdf document. A simple step in Adobe Acrobat Pro.

I had to create an account with email to register. The website did not allow to apply for others from one account. It was not an issue for me and Chaya but Tanu had no email address. I had to first create an email for Tanu. It was not a simple process as Tanu was minor. It took some time to create a gmail address for her.

The rest of the process was straightforward. I filled out the basic information about passport and personal details, uploaded photo and documents required and made payment online. eNTRI was generated immediately!! The entire process took about 10-15 mins per person.

The hotel reservations were made in my name. Since we were applying separately, I was wondering how can it be verified for others. But considering that eNTRI got generated immediately, I believe that the documents are not manually verfiied. Crossing Malaysian immigration was a simple process as no questions were asked!!