The Indian High Commission has taken a decision to further put off to a later date the introduction of biometric visa requirements for Malaysians. The introduction/implementation of the biometric system would now be pushed further to the end of May, 2014. This decision was taken after due deliberations by the Indian High Commissioner, Mr. Trimurti in Malaysia with a MIC delegation, at that party’s head quarters.
Those who attended the meeting included, apart from the Indian High Commissioner, were KP Samy, central working committee (CWC) member, A. Prakash Rao, the MIC secretary general, S. Murugesan, party’s treasurer general, L. Siva Subramaniam, information chief and KP Samy, central working committee (CWC) member. Mr. Prakash Rao told the presspersons after the meeting that the high commissioner had assured the delegation members that he would consider their views about the hurdles encountered by the Malaysian applicants who would like to visit India if the biometric system for visas is introduced now.
The delegation’s leader Prakash Rao also told the presspersons that the high commissioner had informed them that the biometric system requirements were applicable not only to Malaysia, but to other countries too. For example, he pointed out that even Singapore would witness the introduction of the biometric system for visas by June, this year.
On April 1st, the government of India had introduced the biometric system for visas in Malaysia. Because of this decision, it faced a barrage of criticism as many Malaysians complained that they lived far away from the capital where the high commission is located and at which location the biometric information from the applicant was to be provided by the applicants. Now that the delegation had spoken and discussed with the high commissioner about the matter in detail, it has emerged that the high commission will i) set up more visa centres and ii) the need for a biometric information for applying for a visa has been put off to a later date.
