Asia-PacificPolicy Updates

After Rejecting Up to 90% of Applications, Malaysia Freezes MM2H, Again

The Malaysian government has temporarily frozen the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa. All new applications are now on hold with no exact return date set. The Malaysian government has announced it will revise the program with the hopes of improving it while providing no further details on any potential changes or reforms.

This is the second time in fewer than two years that the government has temporarily suspended the program.

Representatives of the Malaysian My Second Home Consultants Association (MM2HCA) say 90% of the applications they submitted between September and November 2019 were rejected without any reasons or justifications. That pre-2019 rejection rates had hovered around 10% made 2019’s bizarrely elevated rates of refusal all the more puzzling.

“Our members were shocked when they suddenly received many rejection letters. There were no reasons attached for the rejections and they are not allowed to appeal the decisions. If the applications are rejected, the agents have to return the deposits to the applicants,” MM2HCA president Lim Kok Sai told the Star.



Last week, news emerged about the MM2H office in the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) closing. This prompted the Immigration Director-General Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud to announce that the MM2H office in MOTAC would no longer handle MM2H applications and that he would, instead, shift them to the Immigration Department.

“All immigration matters related to the MM2H program will be handled at the Immigration Department headquarters in Putrajaya, beginning July 6,” the Immigration Director-General declared on July 2nd. 

Though fears of the imminent closure of the program began to arise, they did not linger for long; MOTAC addressed reporters just a few hours later with updates on the status of the program.

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Preliminary reopening date set for December
Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri, the Malaysian Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, addressed reporters on July 2nd, announcing that the program would begin a temporary hiatus. The currently effective Movement Control Order (MCO), a response to the Coronavirus pandemic, would also give the government ample time to conduct a full review of the program.

“During the movement control order (MCO) period, we discovered that there is a lot we can do to improve MM2H. The government is using this opportunity to look into its activities and also the process involved in the approval,” stated Minister Shukri

The Minister went on to announce that the government’s initial plan was to reopen the MM2H by December of 2020 while highlighting the importance of the program and ensuring those present that this hiatus does not spell doom for the world’s largest investment visa of 2019.

“We’re targeting to get everything done by December. It’s not a permanent closure because the program contributes to our economy,” added Minister Shukri.

While peninsular Malaysia has suspended all MM2H visa processing, it still draws breath in Sarawak. State Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, pointed out: “In Sarawak, it is still ongoing. This is because Sarawak has its own immigration and land policies”. 

Want to know more about the Malaysia M2H program? To see recent articles, statistics, official links, and more, visit its Program Page. To see which firms can assist with applications to the program, visit the Residence & Citizenship by Investment Company Directory.

Ahmad Abbas AdministratorAuthorSubscriberParticipant
Director of Content Services , Investment Migration Insider

Ahmad Abbas is Director of Content Services at Investment Migration Insider and an 8-year veteran of the investment migration industry.

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