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Global Visa & Immigration Updates – September 22, 2026
Visa & Immigration Update
The changes that matter today, decoded for consultants by World Visa Academy
The High Commission of India in Kuala Lumpur issued an advisory on 22 September warning Indian nationals not to use Malaysia's 30 day visa free facility to look for work. The mission points to a noticeable rise in Indian arrivals under visa free entry who have been misled by unscrupulous agents selling fake job promises.
The facility covers tourism and social visits only. Using it to seek employment is a clear breach of Malaysian immigration rules, and the consequences listed run from overstay and illegal status to exploitation, detention and legal action. Anyone travelling for work must hold a valid work permit or Visa With Reference before departure.
Genuine tourists are reminded to carry a confirmed return ticket and hotel booking alongside the arrival card and a valid passport.
A tourist entry into Malaysia is not a route to a work permit issued inside the country, and any agent claiming otherwise is very likely selling a fraudulent placement. For consultants with Indian clients looking at Malaysia, work authorisation and Malaysian employer sponsorship are the two things to see confirmed before a client boards a flight, and the personal risks of turning a tourist stay into a job, detention and deportation among them, deserve plain discussion. Lead pipelines that run through Southeast Asia focused sub agents are worth a close look this week.
In two days, Immigration New Zealand switches most visitor visa applications to the enhanced Immigration Online system. From 24 September, new applications across around 20 visitor categories must start there, including the standard Visitor Visa, Business Visitor Visa, Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa, Medical Treatment Visitor Visa and Group Visitor Visa. The older system stops accepting new applications in these categories on the same day.
A handful of categories, including the Partner of a New Zealander and Child of a New Zealander Visitor Visas, stay on the old system for now, pending a separate transition.
Any client draft still sitting in the old Immigration Online system has a hard expiry. For consultants, this week is the time to audit every open file and decide case by case: submit before 7 October, or restart in the enhanced system so nothing is lost when the old portal goes dark. New visitor cases from 24 September onward belong in enhanced Immigration Online from the start, and applications on that platform are also being prioritised for assessment.
China's National Immigration Administration confirmed on 21 September a nationwide rollout of online accommodation registration for foreign nationals staying anywhere other than a hotel. Article 39 of the Exit and Entry Administration Law requires visitors in private homes, guesthouses, boat houses or their own residences to register with police within 24 hours of arrival. Until now that usually meant an in person trip to the local station. An online filing now carries the same legal validity.
Filings run through the NIA Government Service Platform website, the NIA 12367 app, and mini programs on WeChat and Alipay, in English, French, Russian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Late registration can bring a warning or a fine. Foreign nationals returning to a self owned home or habitual residence while their residence permit is valid are exempt from repeat registration.
Onboarding checklists for business travellers, students and long term expatriates heading to China now need the online registration step built in. The 24 hour clock starts at check in at the accommodation, not at the border, and hosts can file on a guest's behalf when the guest is unfamiliar with the process. Short term rentals, stays with friends or relatives, and moves into private housing all fall inside this compliance step.
The Home Office's phased rollout of mandatory multi factor authentication on the Sponsor Management System, which began on 3 September, moves through the next cohort of sponsor licences this week. Every SMS login now needs a one time passcode sent by text or email on top of the usual username and password. Licences granted on or after 9 September have MFA switched on automatically, and Authorising Officers will start receiving email alerts for key licence activity.
Student sponsors follow after the worker routes. Level 2 user roles are being phased out entirely, with existing Level 2 users either upgraded to Level 1 where eligible or deactivated.
For sponsor licence holders, the weak point is stale user data. A wrong mobile number, email address or date of birth on a Level 1 user record blocks the passcode entirely once MFA goes live on that licence, so those details are the first thing consultants will want sponsor clients to check. Level 2 users are better dealt with now than in March 2027. Phishing aimed at SMS credentials is the other risk to flag, since one compromised login can expose a whole licence to revocation.
The government of President Abelardo de la Espriella, in office since 7 August, launched its first coordinated immigration enforcement operations this week in the border city of Cúcuta. The Cúcuta Citizen Security Secretariat, the National Police and Migración Colombia are running joint document checks in streets, parks and commercial premises to identify foreign nationals in irregular status.
Local authorities say the operations target people committing crimes or breaking immigration rules, not the Venezuelan population as a whole. Since the President announced that irregular migrants would be identified and deported, visits to Migración Colombia offices have climbed sharply as Venezuelans look for legal ways to stay.
Venezuelan clients living in Colombia face a narrowing window before enforcement spreads to more cities, which makes a status review and any available regularisation route time sensitive. Those in Cúcuta, Bucaramanga and surrounding regions are better off carrying proof of status at all times while operations continue. Because checks are reaching commercial premises, employers of Venezuelan workers have their own reason to confirm every employee's residence documents are current.
The Kast administration is partially reviving a policy that lets Venezuelan nationals without a valid passport leave Chile on a safe conduct travel document issued by the Venezuelan government, as long as they are travelling to Venezuela. It is a partial rollback of a broader documentation circular rescinded earlier in the year.
Undocumented Venezuelans in Chile had struggled to leave at all, since neither Chilean authorities nor most destinations accepted expired passports for departure. The revived rule does not bring back the wider flexibility of the old circular.
The safe conduct document comes only from Venezuelan authorities and is no substitute for a passport beyond a return to Venezuela, so the current process is best confirmed with the Venezuelan consulate in Santiago before any travel is booked. For Venezuelan clients hoping to stay in Chile long term, this measure does nothing to resolve status.
No major new policy changes or announcements from the wider Middle East, Africa, North America beyond prior coverage, or the rest of Europe dated to the past 48 hours.
Deadlines to Watch
When a government warns its own citizens through an official advisory, as India's Kuala Lumpur mission did today, read it as a compliance signal for your firm too. Every client heading to that destination this month deserves a fresh check that their planned entry route matches the visa category they are actually travelling on.
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