The number of visitors obtaining visas when they arrive at Yangon International Airport in Myanmar has increased significantly.  In the first eight months of 2014, 74,503 individuals entered the country without first getting a visa at a Myanmar Consulate abroad; instead opting to obtain tourist or business visitor visas when arriving at Yangon International Airport.  According to Myanmar immigration authorities, Chinese and Japanese nationals top the list of individuals using Myanmar’s visa-on-admission process.  Travelers should be warned that even though this process was enacted more than two years ago, the majority of airlines still do not let passengers to fly to Yangon pursuant to this process for fear of paying return transportation costs if a passenger is denied admission.  As such, travelers should check airline visa requirements prior to purchasing a ticket to Yangon.

As part of Myanmar’s initiative to open up the country to foreign visitors, on September 1, 2014 authorities also started a new online “E-Visa” process for TOURISTS only.  The current fee for this visa is $50.00 and it is available to tourists via the Myanmar Consular website in their home countries.  These visas will be valid for travel to the country for a three-month period and for a twenty eight-day period upon entering the country.  Authorities indicate that the online visa system will be expanded to other visa categories sometime in the future.

Employers should monitor the travel of its employees to this region to ensure that individuals entering Myanmar do not require work permits, particularly considering the ability to enter the country as a tourist or business visitor is getting easier and faster.

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Photo of Ian Macdonald Ian Macdonald

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital

Ian R. Macdonald Co-Chairs the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice’s International Employment, Immigration & Workforce Strategies group. He focuses his practice on developing, assessing and managing global mobility programs for multinational companies on a range of challenges affecting the movement of people capital domestically and internationally, including secondment agreements, benefits transferability, local host country employment concerns and immigration.

Ian and his team work closely with companies to manage and modify, where needed, corporate immigration programs to maximize efficiency, service and regulatory compliance levels. He is experienced with the full range of business immigration sponsorship categories (visas and permanent residence), anti-discrimination rules to reduce or eliminate risk of employment litigation, employer sanction cases, and I-9 and E-Verify compliance. Ian assists clients with establishing risk-based performance standards (RBPS) and Department of Homeland Security protocol, providing risk assessment assistance to corporations subject to Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS) and assisting clients with ITAR/Export Control compliance within the immigration context.

Ian has developed strategic relationships abroad that he utilizes when working with clients to ensure compliance with foreign registration requirements. He is experienced with analyzing complex global mobility opportunities on country-specific matters to facilitate the transfer of personnel. Ian is also experienced in counseling employers on immigration strategy as well as immigration consequences of mergers and acquisitions, reduction in workforces, and furloughs.

Prior to joining the firm, Ian worked for the United Nations, various non-governmental think tanks and corporate law firms in London, Washington, D.C., New York and Atlanta.