A Common ASEAN Visa May be too Ambitious to Realize

Picture: East Asia Forum

In an article by East Asia Forum, William J Jones writes the challenges in creating a single visa for the mainland ASEAN.

Having a common visa area will demand that the six ASEAN states develop common entry rules for third country nationals, harmonise visa free entry for third countries and begin sharing data. The last of these is perhaps the most daunting. To harmonise standards is difficult enough, but the six members will also have to share massive amounts of data for background and security checks. This is likely to lead to sticking points as member states have differing visa issuance protocols for nationals of countries with enhanced security concerns. 

Member states will be wary of issuing visas across zones where lax procedures may cause crime to spread across states. For example, Thailand is struggling with visa issuance abuse by Chinese nationals, many of whom moved to Thailand after the crackdown on gambling in Cambodia in 2024. So-called ‘Chinese grey money’ has led to criminal allegations of gambling, cybercrime, drug smuggling and violent crime.   

Another hurdle will be finding a common language — likely English — for six countries with vastly different languages to process paperwork. Hidden within these two black boxes are the sticky problems of data security, privacy and bureaucratic capacity. Countries such as Thailand have problematic relationships with data security already, while Myanmar’s current capabilities are completely unknown.