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Launched in 2002, MM2H’s low requirements and attractive incentives have made it the world’s most popular golden visa. In 2020, investment news agency IMI described MM2H as the world’s largest investment immigration program “by a wide margin”.
However, when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, Malaysia suspended the MM2H program in August 2020 to comply with the government’s decision to ban the entry of foreigners and allow it to conduct a comprehensive review of the program.
The revised MM2H was finally announced a year later in September 2021. More stringent requirements.
The minimum fixed deposit and monthly overseas income requirements have been raised to RM1 million and RM40,000 respectively. In addition, applicants must also prove that they have liquid assets of at least RM1.5 million.
MM2H agents told CNA that the number of MM2H applications has dropped in 2022 as potential applicants were deterred by the stringent requirements and turned to a lesser-known but more affordable programme in Sarawak.
Sarawak has its own version of MM2H (Sarawak-MM2H) as it has autonomy over its own immigration policy.
At that time, the program only required applicants to meet the minimum fixed deposit or monthly overseas income requirements. In addition, Sarawak MM2H holders only need to stay in Sarawak for 15 days a year and can freely travel to West Malaysia for the rest of the time.
In October 2023, the number of MM2H applications dropped by 90%, and the federal government decided to suspend the program again pending a review.
In December of the same year, the government issued new requirements, changing the MM2H program to a three-tier program, with the most affordable Silver Tier program requiring a minimum fixed deposit of RM500,000.
While the new requirements address some pain points, potential applicants are not fully convinced, believing that the offshore income and liquid asset requirements are unclear and want to wait for the full list of requirements to be released.
The full list was only released on June 15 this year, with federal Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing saying the ministry had spent a lot of time reviewing and correcting the “shortcomings” of the previous MM2H conditions.
Offshore income and liquid asset requirements were removed for all tiers, but for the silver tier, the minimum term deposit amount was increased and a property purchase requirement was introduced.
Meanwhile, participants in all categories of the MM2H program are not eligible to apply for permanent residency – a departure from the rules announced in December that allowed platinum-level participants to apply for permanent residency.
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