Malaysia has narrowed its Multiple Entry Visa sharply. In a notice on its official announcements page, the Immigration Department of Malaysia says the Multiple Entry Visa, or MEV, "will no longer be available for all nationalities" and is limited to 31 eligible nationalities travelling for one of four purposes: fly and cruise, business, medical treatment, or wedding tourism. The restriction applies from 1 September 2026. Ordinary tourism and social or family visits are not on the list, which means a traveller who needs a Malaysian visa can no longer hold a single authorisation covering repeat leisure trips.
Background
The MEV is the permit that lets a visa-required national enter Malaysia more than once without applying afresh each time. It has always been aimed at a narrow group. The Immigration Department's own guidance describes it as issued mainly for business or government-to-government matters, with a specific carve-out that let Indian and Chinese nationals apply for social visits. That version costs RM100 for Indian citizens and RM30 for Chinese citizens, runs for one year, allows 30 days per entry and cannot be extended. Chinese nationals no longer need it for short trips: the China-Malaysia mutual visa exemption has been in force since July 2025, allowing 30 days per visit, and Malaysia added a cumulative cap of 90 days in any 180-day period from February 2026. That leaves India as the largest visa-required market that used the MEV for repeat family travel.
What exactly changed
Two limits now apply at the same time, and a traveller has to clear both. The first is nationality: only 31 nationalities remain eligible, down from a scheme that was open in principle to anyone who needed a visa. The second is purpose: the visa is issued only for fly and cruise itineraries, business travel, medical treatment, or wedding tourism. A trip described as tourism, or as visiting family or friends, no longer qualifies for multiple-entry status, so those travellers fall back on a single-entry visa through the MyVISA portal and apply again for the next trip. The department has not published a named list of the 31 nationalities. VisasNews tested the MyVISA application form on 4 September 2026 and reported that the multiple-entry option appeared for the 31 nationalities that use Malaysia's eVisa system, a group that includes India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, Afghanistan and a long list of African countries. Until Immigration publishes the list itself, that is a reading of the portal rather than an official roster.
Before and after
- Before: the MEV was in principle open to visa-required nationals, with Indian and Chinese nationals able to use it for social visits.
- After: 31 eligible nationalities only, and only for fly and cruise, business, medical treatment or wedding tourism.
- Dropped: tourism and social or family visits are no longer qualifying purposes for multiple-entry status.
- Effective: 1 September 2026, per the Immigration Department notice.
Who it affects
The people who lose most are frequent visitors from visa-required countries with family in Malaysia. An Indian national who previously held one MEV to visit relatives in Penang two or three times a year now applies for a single-entry visa each time, with a fresh fee and a fresh processing wait on every trip. The same applies to travellers from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka making repeat social visits. Business travellers from the eligible nationalities are largely unaffected, because business remains a qualifying purpose. Patients travelling for treatment, cruise passengers and wedding parties are also explicitly covered. Anyone from a nationality outside the 31 loses the multiple-entry option entirely, whatever the purpose of the trip. Visa-exempt travellers, including nationals of the UK, the US, most of the EU, Australia and China, are not touched by this at all, because they never needed a Malaysian visa in the first place.
What this means in practice
If you were counting on a Malaysian multiple-entry visa for a series of trips, check the MyVISA portal before you book anything, because the application form is currently the only place the nationality restriction is visible. If your purpose is business, medical treatment, a cruise itinerary or a wedding, the option should still appear if your nationality is eligible. If you are travelling to see family, plan on a single-entry application per trip and build the processing time into each booking. Our Malaysia country guide (/country-guides/malaysia) covers entry rules and stay lengths for the main nationalities.
When it takes effect
The Immigration Department of Malaysia states that the change is effective 1 September 2026. The notice is published as an announcement on imi.gov.my.
What is not yet confirmed
The Immigration Department has not published the list of 31 eligible nationalities, and its own "Types of Visas" page still describes the old MEV terms with no reference to the change. The reported list comes from testing the MyVISA portal rather than from an official roster, so treat any individual country's status as provisional and confirm it in the portal before relying on it.
Key Takeaway
Malaysia's Multiple Entry Visa now covers only 31 nationalities travelling for business, medical treatment, fly-and-cruise or wedding tourism; repeat tourist and family visits require a fresh single-entry visa each time.