PETALING JAYA: Under a new tourist strategy by the Japanese government, individuals from 71 nations, including Malaysia, will require authorization to enter the country.
As per Japan Today, the nations above—including Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea, Britain, the United States, and Australia—are presently free from the requirement of obtaining a visa to enter Japan.
According to a daily article published on Friday, August 30, the Japanese government has revealed plans to implement a new travel authorisation system that will force travellers to declare personal information online to enter the nation.
According to reports, the Japanese government intends to set aside money for the system in the budget for the next year, with intentions to have it operational by 2030.
A website run by JTB Tourism Research and Consulting Co., a company based in Japan, states that from January to June, almost 22,000 visitors were from Malaysia.
Japan’s tourism industry is booming; from January to June this year, over 17.7 million people visited the nation.
According to reports, the new system functions similarly to the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, which was implemented in the US as a counterterrorism tool.
According to a report by Japan Today, foreign nationals who are exempt from requiring a visa will now need to disclose their reason for arrival and intended destination online for the Immigration Services Agency of the country to screen them before they leave.
The travel authorization needed to exit the country will not be issued if the application is deemed to pose an illegal stay risk. The applicant will be advised to apply for a formal visa through their local embassy.
The goal of the new method, according to the Japanese government, is to lower the number of undocumented immigrants who enter Japan from areas and countries exempt from requiring a visa and stay longer than the permitted duration, which varies from 14 to 90 days based on the passport.
In the existing system, shortly after takeoff, airlines give the government access to passenger information for screening. As a result, even if travellers who do not pass the screening are officially required to leave Japan, many do not comply.
The government claims that a sizable number of people take advantage of the system and enter the nation illegally; of the 49,801 illegal short-term visitors registered in January 2016, over 28,000 were from nations and areas where visas are not required- The Star
