Malaysia close to getting US visa waiver

KUALA LUMPUR: The United States is close to granting visa waiver status to Malaysia. The US Visa Waiver Programme (VWP) will enable Malaysians to travel there for tourism, business or transit for up to 90 days without a visa.
According to a report in The Star, US Ambassador Kamala Shirin Lakhdir said that Malaysia is just short of the approval rate required to qualify for the VWP.
US Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir said Malaysia has a 96.7% approval rate for US business (B1) and tourist (B2) visas. To qualify for the VWP, Malaysia needs attain an above 97% approval rate for the visas.
She said border and travel security measures also need to be improved by Malaysia.
"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 Star quoted her as saying.
Lakhdhir also said Malaysians are not be affected by US President Donald Trump's executive order to ban the entry of people from six Muslim-majority countries.