The government is introducing new visa rules for Indian and Bangladeshi tourists in an effort to curb illegal immigration.

Visitors from the two countries will have to obtain a two-week pass and a return ticket before they can enter Malaysia, said the New Straits Times , quoting Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar.

"The social visit pass replaces the visas-on-arrival (VOA), which was discontinued in April," Syed Hamid said, adding the social visit pass must be obtained in advance from the tourists' home country.

Malaysia first introduced the visa-friendly programme, allowing visitors from 24 countries to stay for one month when they arrived, in 2006 to boost its tourism industry.

But immigration officials last year called for the programme to be scrapped after many visitors were found to have overstayed.

Media reports have said that most of the overstayers are Indians who remained in Malaysia to work in restaurants and on plantations.