PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will be among the 71 countries whose citizens will need authorisation to enter the country under a new tourism plan by the Japanese government.
According to Japan Today, these countries, which also include Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Britain, United States and Australia, are currently exempted from having to apply for a visa to enter Japan.
The Japanese government, the daily reported on Friday (Aug 30), has announced plans to introduce the new travel authorisation system that will require visitors to declare personal information online in order to enter the country.
It is reported that the Japanese government aims to put aside costs for the system under next year's budget with plans for this to be in place by 2030.
According to a website by Japan-based JTB Tourism Research and Consulting Co, the country saw some 22,000 visits from Malaysia from January to June.
Tourism has boomed in Japan, with the country seeing over 17.7 million visits between January and June this year.
The new system is said to run in a similar way to the US' Electronic System for Travel Authorisation or ESTA, which was introduced as an anti-terrorism measure.
Japan Today reported that the new system will require visa-exempt foreign nationals to declare their purpose of entry and place of stay online for screening by the country's Immigration Services Agency before they travel.
If the application is flagged as an illegal-stay risk, the travel authorisation required to leave the country will not be granted, and the traveller will be encouraged to obtain a formal visa through their local embassy instead.
The Japanese government had said that the aim of the new system is to reduce the number of illegal immigrants who come to Japan from visa-exempt countries and regions, and remain beyond the valid period of stay, which currently ranges from 14 to 90 days depending on the passport.
Under the current system, airlines provide the government with passenger information for screening shortly after takeoff, which means travellers who do not pass the screening still arrive in Japan, and although they are officially ordered to leave the country, many fail to do so.
According to the government, the number of people who abuse the system and stay illegally in the country is considerable — of the 49,801 illegal short-term visitors recorded in January 2016, more than 28,000 came from visa-exempt countries and regions.
