Myanmar extends eVisa

YANGON Myanmar’s Ministry of Immigration and Population officially included another 32 nationalities that are now eligible for an eVisa, effective 2 January, 2015.
They join a list of 68 countries that were eligible for eVisas when the scheme rolled out 1 September 2014.
The eVisa costs USD50 paid for by Visa or American Express, but applicants should be aware there are other web services that compete for attention; one paying Google to have a top ranking (Myanmar-visa.org).
They have similar internet addresses that could give applicants the impression they are contacting the official website for eVisas. Fees charged by the sites are much higher possibly exceeding USD100.
inside no 1.1 The official site is evisa.moip.gov.mm, while information on restricted no-go areas can be found at mip.gov.mm.
Also, effective 2 January, the eVisa is now available for travellers entering the country at Yangon, Mandalay and Nay Pyi Daw airports (first point of entry).
This is particularly useful for travellers flying to Mandalay and Nay Pyi Daw directly from Bangkok and Singapore.
Despite assurances by the Myanmar government last year, not all ASEAN citizens are eligible for visa-free entry for up to 14 days.
That privilege is available to citizens of Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia and Cambodia.
Surprisingly, the big three investment countries for Myanmar (Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia) are not on the visa-free list.
According to the ASEAN charter all member countries are expected to offer visa-free travel to citizens of the 10 member bloc. Myanmar is the last country to comply with that requirement and it was thought it would introduce visa-free travel across ASEAN before it relinquishes the ASEAN chair at the end of January. That is now unlikely.
inside no 1Travellers applying for an eVisa, must complete the online form, provide a 4.8 cm x 3.8 cm colour photo that can be attached to the online file and have a valid passport of more than six months.
They have to identify they are staying in a registered hotel, or guesthouse, to meet visa conditions and the visa is limited to tourism purposes excluding business, event or seminar related trips. This is again counter productive for a country that is keen to attract quality visitors. Business tourism is a top earner with much higher daily spend than registered by leisure travellers.
Once the online process is approved the applicant receives an approval letter that is valid for just 90 days and must be presented to immigration officials at the first point of entry.
An eVisa is valid for a stay of just 28 days and cannot be extended.
An application is confirmed within one hour of filing online and it usually takes three days for the ministry to email the confirmation or rejection. Fees are non-refundable, whatever the outcome.
The following 32 countries were added to Myanmar’s eVisa facility list 2 January 2015:
Albania 17. Iceland
Algeria 18. Jamaica
Belarus 19. Jordan
Bhutan 20. Kazakhstan
Bolivia 21. Kenya
Bosnia 22. Kyrgyzstan
Cameroon 23. Maldive
Costa Rica 24. Mauritius
Côte d’Ivoire 25. Monaco
Ecuador 26. Morocco
Eritrea 27. Qatar
Fiji 28. South Africa
Georgia 29. Uganda
Ghana 30. Ukraine
Guatemala 31. Uruguay
Guinea 32. Uzbekistan
Original list of 68 countries and Taiwan that eligible to apply eVisa:
1. Argentina 35. Latvia
2. Australia 36. Lithuania
3. Austria 37. Luxembourg
4. Bangladesh 38. Malaysia
5. Belgium 39. Malta
6. Brazil 40. Mexico
7. Brunei 41. Mongolia
8. Bulgaria 42. Nepal
9. Cambodia 43. Netherlands
10. Canada 44. New Zeland
11. Chile 45. Norway
12. China 46. Pakistan
13. Colombia 47. Panama
14. Croatia 48. Peru
15. Cyprus 49. Philippines
16. CZECH 50. Poland
17. Denmark 51. Portugal
18. Egypt 52. Romania
19. Estonia 53. Russia
20. Finland 54. Saudi Arabia
21. France 55. Serbia
22. Germany 56. Singapore
23. Greece 57. Slovakia
24. Hungary 58. Slovenia
25. India 59. Spain
26. Indonesia 60. Sri lanka
27. Ireland 61. Sweden
28. Israel 62. Switzerland
29. Italy 63. Thailand
30. Japan 64. Turkey
31. Korea, DPR 65. United Kingdom
32. Korea, Republic 66. United States of America
33. Kuwait 67. Venezuela
34. Laos 68. Vietnam

sourced:traveldailynews.asia