Malaysia visa – Our Two Step Start

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Visiting South East Asia is a daunting prospect, with months of planning and organising. That… partnered with creating your itinerary and wanting to make the most out of your once-in-a-lifetime trip, it’s really not easy.

In fact, it’s rather time-consuming and even scary trying to gather all the necessary information and create the perfect plan. There’s so much to organise and find.

When we were planning our trip to South East Asia, one of the toughest parts for us was finding up-to-date and correct visa information for each country we aimed to visit. Now, we are going to cover some of the most popular destinations in South East Asia and the visa requirements needed if you are from the UK (We shall do any other highly requested countries also… So let us know!!)

Please note, all this information is as of the 11th of August 2025 and is likely to have changed by the end of 2025 or even sooner.

Visas from the United Kingdom

We are both from the UK and spend many hours looking for country visas. Here, we have the most popular ones all in one place so you don’t have to spend loads of time like we did!

Thailand

Thailand is a pretty simple country for visas… Well, to start off with.

Anyone from the United kingdom can access a free, 60-day visa to explore and visit Thailand at their leisure. However, at the time of checking, the Thailand Embassy are in talks to reduce this to 30-days. Fortunately, this does not have a confirmed date yet, and something you would need to check yourself here.

But as it stands, the 60-day visa is accessible for all British Citizens, so make sure to make the most of this before it changes. Also, this is a single-entry visa, so if you were to leave, you would have to reapply before entering again, so bear that in mind. There is an opportunity to extend this visa by 30 days once it’s running out, but you would need to do that at a Thai Immigration office.

Also, British Citizens have an option of a multi-entry tourist visit, which allows you to spend up to 2 months at any one time in Thailand before having to leave the country and come back. This visa does last 6 months total so you can make the most from visa runs or visiting other countries while dipping in and out of Thailand!

British Citizens do not qualify for the visa exemption scheme as of the date writing this.

Vietnam

Vietnam is known for being quite a complicated location to get a visa but as of recent, things have changed.

The country is really popular for tourists and we think they know that, and that’s why they have competed with Thailand to make it easy for travellers.

When we travelled, we were only limited to 14 days of travel before requiring a visa… However, today you get 45 days of free travel to Vietnam before requiring a visa. All you need is a valid passport!!

For the visa, there are also quite a few options. The most obvious being the 90 day e-visa. As expected, it is something you can apply online or go through your travel agent to acquire and seems to be a relatively easy process. Not only does the visa extent your day by double but also it allows for multiple entries to the country.

So, if you want to nip to a neighbouring country and come back, you still have that option.

It really is that simple, you can visit for up to 45 days or get an e-visa which allows for a full 90 days. Find more information here.

Philippines

Philippines for us is one of the best countries in the world – full of beauty, wonder, and amazing people and culture. So definitely look at visiting this wonderful place!

But how do you visit here?

The Philippines allows you to visit here visa free if you are from the UK up to 30 days for business or tourist use providing you have an exit flight out of the country. This is a great opportunity to visit a large portion of the country and explore a lot of the island it has to offer.

But this country for sure could and should be visited for longer. If you want to stay longer in the Philippines you would have to apply for temporary visitor (9a) visa while in the country. This would extend your initial 30 day travel period to an extra 29 days.

Cambodia

Cambodia is an ever increasing popular tourist place to visit. It may not be as popular than the staples of Thailand or Vietnam but is just as beautiful, so how do we get there?

The visas for Cambodia is 30 days and costs either $30 or $35 depending on the type of Visa you get. This is the only real way of visiting Cambodia and you can get an extension for Cambodia travel which can only be applied for once you are in the country.

This is something you would need to complete once you are in the country.

Make sure you are also aware of the E-arrival card which is required for most foreign visitors into the country (including the UK). This is completely free but something you have to apply for and obtain at least 7 days before arriving in the country. So don’t forget this!!

Laos

Laos is simple, you NEED a visa to enter!

This visa is easy to apply and you have 2 ways of obtaining the visa. Firstly, you can get the visa online through the Laos e-visa portal. This is the safer way to apply and obtain the visa and avoids any problems when arriving in the country.

However, you can also get a visa upon arrival to Laos but please note this only includes certain location. This includes Vientiane Wattay airport, Luang Prabang Airport, and Paske airport.

To be safe, it would be worth getting a e-visa to stop and unnecessary risks but it all depends on how much of a risk-taking you are.

Indonesia

Now this is a popular location for travellers like you! Bali- one of the many islands in Indonesia- is one of the top locations in South East Asia. But don’t forget the rest of the beautiful country, which has so much to offer!

The Indonesia visa is pretty simple and easy to acquire.

Anyone entering the country would require a 30 day visa which has an easy access link here. It’s an easy online E-visa that should take you no longer than 30 minutes to apply for. As you can tell, it’s only 30 days…

if you do want to stay longer in Indonesia, then you luckily have the option to do so! However, you are only limited to a small extension… 30 days! I mean it’s not too bad but is it enough?

The cost for the visa extension is a total of 500,000 Indonesian rupiah, which is a total of £22 give or take. So pretty cheap if you ask me.

If you want to stay more long-term, then you have the option of applying for a 60 day visa. This is something you have to apply for at least a week before your flight to leave the country. This is done on the immigration Indonesia Website, and as predicted, is less likely to get accepted than the 30 day visa. But it’s worth the shot!

Singapore

If you have come to this page looking for an easy way to enter Singapore, then you are in luck. Singapore is not like many other countries in Asia, and they are no different with their entry with visas. Believe it or not but you DON’T NEED a visa to enter Singapore.

Yes, you read that right!

But unfortunately, it’s never that simple. You have no costs sure, but will be given a limited amount of time you are allowed to stay in the country. And, to be honest, it is completely variable.

Usually, for a UK national, it is anywhere between 30 days to 90 days, but there’s no guarantee what the number would be. The way you find out the amount of time you are allowed to stay is when you arrive…

Now what does that mean??

Unfortunately, the time you spend in Singapore is totally dependant on the immigration officer you meet once you arrive. As explained, it’s most likely between 30 to 90 days but you will have to cross a few fingers and hope it’s long.

But either way, who has the money to stay in Singapore long anyways??

Malaysia

Malaysia is similar to Philippines in a sense of not needing a visa to enter. But for the Philippines you are only limited to 30 days. That’s right, that must mean for Malaysia you can stay longer visa free!!

Drum roll…!

You can stay in Malaysia, Visa free for 90 DAYS!! This is shown here but wait… there’s more!

In Malaysia, if you are loving it so much, you can apply to stay for extra time there! You have to apply on the official portal of Malaysia to be granted a visa to pass 90 days. However, without applying and getting this accepted, we are unsure on the length of time the extension is, so you might have to find that one out for yourself.

But nonetheless, 90 days visa free is pretty awesome, so we can’t complain!

Visas for Southeast Asia

South east Asia is such a popular place across the world with more and more travellers each year venturing here. So before you travel, make sure to keep note of our post to relay back to when you are country hopping! Because the last thing you want to do is have to individually search for each individual Visa for every country you visit. We have done it… it takes time!

Wherever you are in South East Asia, or even if you aren’t there yet, we hope you are having an amazing time. Visit these countries, explore all they have to offer, and most importantly (for legal purposes), make sure you keep up to date with Visas and their changes.

Be aware that ALL the information of visas are as of the August 2025 and are change more than we would like. So do double check to see if anything has changed so no mistakes are made.

Thank you for viewing this blog, and make sure to check out many of our other blogs surrounding South East Asia and all things Travel

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Tag: Malaysia visa

Visas needed for popular South East Asian Countries from the UK in 2025