The Malaysia’s My Second Home (MM2H) is one of the most popular golden visa scheme in Asia relaunched in 2024. The scheme offers foreigners immediate long term 10 year residence status equivalent to permanent residence status in Malaysia for a low investment. Malaysia is an important trade hub in south east asia attracts significant number of investors from China and other asian countries.
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) unveiled a revamped version of the MM2H programme on Dec 15, 2023 introducing a modified program along with updated financial requirements.
MM2H Program
MM2H scheme was launched in 2002 to attract foreigners to come and stay in Malaysia for retirement, business and tourism. The special visa scheme is promoted by the Government of Malaysia to allow foreigners who fulfil certain criteria, to stay in Malaysia for as long as possible on a multiple-entry social visit pass. Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) was introduced by the Malaysian government as a way for non-Malaysians to retire and live in Malaysia for an extended period of time.
Eligible Investments
According to Immigration department, to receive social visit pass, applicants had to satisfy the following conditions
Fixed Deposit
- Gold Residency (5 years) – RMB 500,000
- Silver Residency (15 years) – RMB 2 million
- Platinum Permanent Residency – RMB 5 million
All permits are renewable.
Conditions
- Minimum age of main applicant reduced to 30 years.
- Must spend 60 days in Malaysia annually.
- 50% withdrawal allowed after one year.
Family Members
Spouse, Children (upto 35 years and single) and Parents (60+) can be included in the application.
Social Visit Pass
Successful applicants will be granted a 10 year Social Visit Pass with a multiple entry visa which is renewable for a period of 5-10 years depending on the validity of the applicant’s passport. The Immigration Department of Malaysia is announced to introduce e-visas for approved Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) applicants by the end of 2018. Applicants can apply through registered immigration agents in Malaysia. Currently there are over 280 registered agents with MM2H authority offerings the MM2H program. Although the MM2H programmed is available across Malaysia, there are several significant differences in the application criteria, restrictions and incentives for the Sarawak version of the programme compared to the rest of Malaysia.
Rule Changes
Effective Feb 26 2019, new rules apply for MM2H scheme, after government employed new checks tightening the scheme
- Main Applicants are required to obtain Letter of Good Conduct (LOGC) from the ORIGIN or Residence country
- Criminal record certificate from origin country
- Withdrawal of fixed deposit is no longer permitted to be submitted by e-mail from March 4, 2019.
- Sales agreement of property may be submitted in the name of dependant provided they are MM2H social pass holder
MM2H Restrictions
- Participants are not allowed to work or be employed while staying in Malaysia. Persons wishing to obtain employment visas should apply directly to Immigration Department of Malaysia.
- Participants should not participate in activities that can be considered sensitive to the local people and/or a threat to the security of the country.
- This programme is open to citizens of all countries recognized by Malaysia (except Israel, Montenegro and Yugoslavia) regardless of race, religion, gender or age. Successful applicants may bring in their spouses and unmarried children below the age of 21 as dependents.
Taxes
Tax exemption is given to remittance of offshore pension fund into Malaysia. Foreign-source income is not taxable in Malaysia.
Property Investment
Any foreigner may purchase any number of residential property in Malaysia after receiving MM2H permit, subject to the minimum price established for foreigners by the different states. They start from RM500,000 per unit for most states.
Economic Impact
Malaysia MM2H program received over 1 million applications contributed over RM 12.8 billion to economy. As of 2018, there has been over 42,000 approved participants. These are the top countries applying for MM2H scheme, mostly from asian countries such as China, Japan and Bangladesh seeking permanent residency in Malaysia.
Citizenship
Malaysia does not allow dual citizenship. Foreigners who have resided in Malaysia as permanent residents for more than 10 years in the 12 years period immediately preceding the date of application and can show an adequate knowledge of Malay language, can naturalize for Malaysia citizenship.
Passport
Malaysia passport is also the best asian passports in the world, as of 2023, it had visa free access to 181 countries in the world. Malaysian nationals can travel visa free to UK, Ireland, EU schengen states, but need a visa is required to visit US and Canada. Malaysian passport is valid for all countries except Israel.
