Key takeaways
- Visa-free entry for Indian passport holders is in force now and the Immigration Department of Malaysia publishes the end date as 31 December 2026.
- No extension has been announced. We checked the Immigration Department and the Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi on 26 October 2026 and found nothing.
- It allows up to 30 days for tourism, business, social visits or transit — and not for work or study.
- The Malaysia Digital Arrival Card is compulsory, submitted within 3 days before you arrive. There is no charge on the official portal.
- If it lapses, the fallback is an eVISA single-entry visa: a RM50 visa fee plus a RM105 processing charge.
If you are planning Malaysia from Kerala, the thing to know is the date: 31 December 2026. Indian passport holders can enter Malaysia without a visa today, but the Immigration Department of Malaysia publishes that waiver as ending on 31 December 2026, and as at 26 October 2026 there is no announcement of any extension or replacement. That leaves about two months of certainty. Travel inside the window and nothing changes for you. Travel after it, and you may need a visa again.
We have written this because people are already searching for what happens in 2027, and the honest answer is that nobody outside the Malaysian government knows yet. What follows is only what the Malaysian government itself publishes, with the date we checked it.
What the rule is today
The Immigration Department of Malaysia still lists India in its visa-required table, and carries the waiver as a dated footnote reading: “India citizen: visa exempts until 31st December 2026.” The Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi states the waiver applies for up to 30 days, for business, tourism, social or transit purposes.
We also ran the Immigration Department’s own eVISA eligibility checker with the nationality set to India. It replied that you are not required to apply for an eVISA, though a single entry visa can be applied for if needed — which confirms the waiver is live in the government’s own system, not just on a web page.
Worth correcting, because a great many travel blogs get it wrong: the waiver does cover business and transit, not tourism alone. That is the Malaysian High Commission’s own wording.
What you still need, visa or no visa
- A passport valid for at least six months from the date you enter.
- A confirmed return ticket.
- A confirmed hotel booking.
- The Malaysia Digital Arrival Card, submitted before you fly.
- Enough money for your stay. Malaysia’s general entry conditions require sufficient funds, and immigration can ask — though there is no published figure and funds are not on the High Commission’s India-specific checklist.
And what the waiver will not do: it is not a work or study permit. Anyone going to Malaysia to take up a job, to study, or as a dependant needs a visa with reference, which requires an approval letter obtained before applying. Entering visa-free and then trying to work is how people get into serious trouble.
The arrival card is compulsory — and the fakes are a real problem
The Immigration Department’s wording is blunt: all foreign nationals are required to register the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card within 3 days before arriving. The High Commission says the same. Indians are not on the exemption list — that list covers Singapore citizens, diplomatic and official passport holders, Malaysian permanent residents and long-term pass holders, and certain Brunei, Thai and Indonesian border-pass holders. Transit passengers are not exempt either.
The only official address is imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/mdac/main. We loaded it and there is no payment step of any kind. Paid lookalike sites charging for the arrival card are a known problem, so if a site asks you for money to submit it, you are on the wrong site. Blogs claiming a 48-hour window are also wrong: two Malaysian government sources both say 3 days.
If it lapses on 1 January 2027
The confirmed fallback is Malaysia’s eVISA, applied for online at malaysiavisa.imi.gov.my — the only official eVISA portal, and the one the Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi itself publishes. For a social or tourist visit that means a single-entry visa, valid 3 months from issue.
| What | Published amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Visa fee for Indian nationals | RM 50 | From the Immigration Department’s official fee table |
| Processing charge | RM 105 | Per application |
| Payment convenience charge | 0.8% or 1.7% | 0.8% on card, 1.7% on Alipay or WeChat Pay, of the total |
| Transit visa | RM 50 | Not needed if you stay inside the airport and continue on the same flight |
Documents the portal asks for: a studio photograph, your passport biodata page with more than six months’ validity, your previous passport page, a round-trip ticket or proof of onward journey, proof of paid accommodation, proof of financial support, and a birth certificate for children. One thing to watch: since 1 October 2026, applications left unpaid or unsubmitted for more than seven working days expire automatically and you start again.
Two traps on Malaysia’s own website
Both of these are live government pages that are out of date, which makes them more dangerous than an obviously wrong blog.
- The eNTRI page. Malaysia’s immigration site still hosts a page describing eNTRI, a 15-day registration facility for Indian nationals. The page’s own text says it ran from 1 April 2017 until 31 March 2018, and no fee is listed. We could not confirm it operates at all. If you land on it while searching, do not assume it is current.
- The multiple-entry visa page. The public page still shows a one-year multiple-entry visa for Indian citizens at RM100. But the eVISA portal announced that from 1 September 2026 the multiple-entry visa is no longer available to all nationalities and is limited to a list of 31 nationalities for specific purposes only — and that list is not published. Do not plan around a one-year Malaysian MEV until someone confirms you are eligible.
What we would actually advise
- If your trip can happen before 31 December 2026, go now. No visa, no fee, no processing time, no risk of a rule changing under you.
- If you are travelling in 2027, plan for a visa and be pleasantly surprised. Budget the RM50 plus RM105, and allow processing time. If the waiver is extended, you lose nothing by having planned for the harder case.
- Do not book non-refundable flights for January 2027 onwards on the assumption the waiver will be extended. There is no announcement, and a flight is a poor bet on a government decision.
- Submit the arrival card yourself, on the official site, within three days of flying — or let us do it with your booking.
- Combining Malaysia with Singapore? They are separate entry rules. Singapore has its own requirements and the Malaysian arrival card does not cover it. Ask us and we will set out both.
We book Malaysia from Kozhikode and will tell you plainly which side of the date your trip falls on, and what it costs either way. See our Malaysia tour package from Kozhikode, or our Malaysia visa guide for the rules as they stand.
Frequently asked questions
Is Malaysia visa-free for Indians right now?
Yes. As at 26 October 2026 Indian passport holders can enter Malaysia without a visa for up to 30 days, for tourism, business, social visits or transit. The Immigration Department of Malaysia publishes the waiver as ending on 31 December 2026.
Will Malaysia extend visa-free entry for Indians into 2027?
Nobody outside the Malaysian government can say. We found no announcement of an extension or of any replacement scheme on the Immigration Department’s site or from the Malaysian High Commission in New Delhi when we checked on 26 October 2026, and the portal’s announcements feed is actively maintained, so the silence is meaningful. Do not book non-refundable travel for 2027 on the assumption it will be extended.
Do I need a visa for Malaysia in January 2027?
Possibly, and you should plan as though you do. If the waiver lapses on 31 December 2026 and nothing replaces it, Indians will need an eVISA — a RM50 visa fee plus a RM105 processing charge — applied for at malaysiavisa.imi.gov.my before travel. If it is extended, you will not need it. We will update this article when Malaysia announces either way.
Is the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card free?
There is no charge on the official portal at imigresen-online.imi.gov.my/mdac/main — we loaded it and there is no payment step. Several unofficial sites charge for submitting it on your behalf. Use the official address and submit it yourself within 3 days before you arrive.
How long can Indians stay in Malaysia without a visa?
Up to 30 days per visit while the waiver is in force, for tourism, business, social or transit purposes. It cannot be used for work or study, which need a visa with reference obtained in advance.
Can I work in Malaysia on visa-free entry?
No. The waiver covers tourism, business visits, social visits and transit only. Employment, study and dependant status all require a visa with reference and an approval letter obtained before you apply. Entering visa-free and then working is a serious immigration offence.
Do I need a transit visa for Malaysia?
Not while the waiver is in force, since transit is one of the permitted purposes. Separately, Malaysia’s own rules say a transit visa is not required if you remain within the airport and continue on the same flight — note that it says the same flight, not simply the same airport.
Every fact here was checked against Malaysian government sources on 26 October 2026, and the situation has roughly two months to run. We will update this article when Malaysia announces its decision — but if you are reading this close to or after 31 December 2026, confirm the position with us or with the Malaysian High Commission before you book.
Sources
- Immigration Department of Malaysia — visa requirement by country
- Immigration Department of Malaysia — official eVISA portal
- Immigration Department of Malaysia — Malaysia Digital Arrival Card
- High Commission of Malaysia, New Delhi — requirements for foreigners
- Immigration Department of Malaysia — visa fees
- Immigration Department of Malaysia — types of visas
