KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: The Government will continue with the Visa on Arrival (VOA) facility for tourists from India, Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam said here.

He said the Home Ministry had given the assurance following a news report that the 30-day validity extended to tourists from India would be reduced to two weeks.

The report had said that tourists from India would need to have a social visit pass for two weeks as well as a return air ticket if they wanted to visit Malaysia.

"The Home Ministry had said that the report was inaccurate and the Immigration Department would still continue with their VOA facility for tourists from India," he said, adding that the Home Ministry would issue a statement soon.

Subramaniam said the Government is also concerned that certain quarters were misusing the VOA but there has been no decision to stop the issuance of VOA.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar had said recently that the ministry was seeking a review of the VOA facility approved by the Cabinet last year as it has been abused.

He said there were two million registered foreigners working here and another million working illegally while police records showed that 30% of the 180,000 tourists on VOA had overstayed. -The Star, ANN