NO VISA WAIVER FOR MALAYSIA JUST YET, SAYS U.S. ENVOY
US has no plans to add new countries to the list in the near future, says Lakhdhir
MALAYSIA’S inclusion in the United States’ visa waiver programme will not be happening soon. This was because the US had no plans to add new countries to the list in the near future, said US ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Shirin Lakhdhir.
Lakhdhir, who has been serving in Malaysia since January last year, said US President Donald Trump’s administration had not set a time frame to lift the freeze on new applications.
She said the Trump administration was studying a few issues on immigration.
“Apart from visa approval, there are several factors that we are also looking at, such as border security and passport security issues.
“This is for the safety of both Malaysian and American travellers,” she said after visiting the American Corner at the Kedah Public Library here yesterday.
She said the US embassy was working with the Malaysian government to achieve the minimum approval rate of 97 per cent in filling up visa forms for business (B1) and tourist (B2) visas to the US.
“We are working closely with the Foreign Ministry and the Immigration Department on various border security and passport issues.”
She said although the approval rate for B1 and B2 visas was improving, it had yet to reach the 97 per cent level required by the US.
On the other hand, she said, the number of visa approvals for Malaysians furthering their studies in the US had gone up substantially to 99 per cent last year.
Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi expressed confidence that the government would be able to fulfil the conditions to participate in the US Visa Waiver programme by September this year.
He was quoted as saying that all terms and conditions set by the US had been fulfilled, except for one: keeping the percentage of rejected US visa applications to below 3 per cent.
It was reported that the rejections were largely due to applicants’ failure to fill in forms correctly.
Lakhdhir said 12 fresh graduates from the US would arrive in Kedah to serve as English teaching assistants in local schools.
She said they were part of 100 volunteers arriving next week under the programme to help students have a better grasp of English.