Malaysia’s long stay visa programme, more commonly known as Malaysia My Second Home or MM2H, was officially put on hold last year. This programme has been so popular with foreigners looking to relocate to a country with friendly locals, decent infrastructure, reasonable costs of living, where English and Mandarin are widely spoken that I continue to receive enquiries despite the moratorium. We are made to understand from this official link the powers that be see it in their wisdom to improve the programme, hence the suspension:
http://motac.gov.my/en/media/release/temporary-suspension-of-malaysia-my-second-home-programme-mm2h
Apart from the usual questions as to what needs to be fulfilled for admission, whether these will be changed, I’m often asked if I have news on when this suspension will be lifted. Despite unsubstantiated rumours plus a press statement or two from our Minister of Tourism which have been in circulation earlier in the year which, in my opinion, contained scant details, I have refrained from making any updates at least until now.
I believe the time is now ripe for an update because I now note some important details in the statements made by the Right Honourable Minister. I refer more specifically to the post dated March 16th 2021 on the Minister’s Facebook page which was followed by reports in the press on Friday 26th March, 2021 where Datin Shukri refers to a presentation by KPMG’s Management & Risk Consulting team on a study commissioned by the Government. There is reference to the study being concluded and the recommendations awaiting our Cabinet’s approval. There is further mention of 2 possible new visas, namely: The Retirement Program (How is this different from the current MM2H I hear you ask lol) & the Residence by Investment programme. The new visa options are, in theory, great news for the various needs of our foreign guests and show a Government who is tuned in with the latest requirements of the international community. However, with waiting times of 6 months to a year for processing of MM2H in 2019, would we be able to cope? Nonetheless, after a year we finally see a light at the end of the tunnel even if practically speaking, we are awaiting the details.
The image below is taken from the Facebook page of our Minister of Tourism, Datin Shukri dated March 16th 2021.
For further reading refer also to:
