Malaysia eases rules for retirement residency visa but piecemeal announcement has wealthy foreigners holding off

JOHOR BAHRU: Malaysia’s move to ease some requirements for its retirement residency visa programme in an effort to attract wealthy foreigners has generated interest from those now qualified for the scheme, but many said they are still holding off from making formal applications.

This, they said, is because the government has yet to announce the full list of requirements for the revamped Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme.

They also question whether there will be any changes to key conditions — such as minimum offshore income and minimum liquid assets — which some say were the “biggest barriers” in the previous iteration of the MM2H scheme.

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) unveiled a revamped version of the MM2H programme on Dec 15, introducing a three-tiered structure along with updated financial requirements.

The revised guideline outlines several changes to the eligibility criteria, including the fixed deposit amount needed for the lowest-tier category as well as the minimum age of applicants, which experts say will significantly widen the scope of foreigners who qualify.

Mr Ch’ng Toh Gee, managing director of Alter Domus — a licensed agency which handles MM2H applications — told CNA that since the announcement was made he has received “thousands of enquiries” and “hundreds of potential applications”.

However, he said that the applications cannot yet be completed because MOTAC has not announced the entire set of conditions for the new version of MM2H and that the agency does not know when this information will be released.

“In the new MM2H requirements, there is no mention of minimum income, no mention of (liquid) assets, no mention of how to submit a document and where to submit and how long to get