Malaysia has been in an ongoing application with the US for a visa waiver and good news, because we are very very close to realising that dream!
To qualify for the US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP), a country must reach at least 97% approval rate for the visas, and Malaysia is already at 96.7%!
This percentage is for US business (B1) and tourist (B2) visas. We’re so close guys!
Why is this so awesome you ask?
Currently, for Malaysians to go to the US, we’ll have to submit a lot of paperwork and even go through an interview session in the embassy. After all that work, there’s a chance that you won’t even get approved for your visa!
However, with the VWP, Malaysians are able to travel there for tourism, business, or transit for up to 90 days without a visa!
Currently, Malaysia is still below that 97% mark because the full ‘standard’ had not been reached yet as there is need to further improvement on border and travel security.
According to The Star, US Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir said,
“The Malaysian Government is improving things towards achieving that goal. We need to keep working on the list of requirements, which will improve Malaysia’s safety standards anyway.
“The world is not getting any safer,” she said at the Asian Strategy and Leadership Institute’s roundtable on “Enhancing Malaysia-US ties in a new era”.
She further mentions that while the American courts have implemented a ban on Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, Iran, and Yemen, there is absolutely no word about the VWP for Malaysia and no definite move to terminate the initiatives with our Bolehland. Sounds like awesome news guys!
Well, it looks like we can expect to be able to travel to the US without a visa! Till then, better save up first!
Also read: Here’s the New Occupation List for 2017/2018 if You Want to Migrate to Australia
