The government will review the terms and conditions for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme following reports of a 90% drop in applicants because of strict the requirements.
The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry (Motac) said the decision to review the strict conditions introduced in 2021 was reached following a meeting between its minister, Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing, and Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ruji Ubi.
“Both parties have agreed for an agency under Motac, Tourism Malaysia, to promote and provide recommendations for applications via a filtering process through an MM2H one-stop centre,” Motac said in a statement yesterday.
Tiong said the application process for the programme would be made more flexible.
He added that both Motac and the Home Ministry agreed that Tourism Malaysia would promote the programme and provide recommendations for applications via a filtering process through an MM2H one-stop centre, reported the New Straits Times.
The centre will help to process applications and collate documents for submission to the Home Ministry or Immigration Department for the issuance of the MM2H visa.
News reports recently revealed that the MM2H programme saw a 90% drop in applications because of the stricter conditions.
The conditions required applicants to have permanent savings of at least RM1 million and liquid assets of at least RM1.5 million. They must have an offshore income of at least RM40,000 a month.
The previous conditions required savings of of only between RM300,000 and RM500,000; and offshore income of just RM10,000.
Back in February, Sabah came up with its own MM2H or SBH-MM2H.
Currently, besides SBH-MM2H, there are three ongoing programmes – the national Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme and the Premium Visa Programme (PVIP) by the federal government, and the Sarawak MM2H.
