Malaysia has once again secured a spot among the world’s top ten retirement destinations, according to International Living’s Annual Global Retirement Index 2025. The country, which was once consistently ranked as the best place to retire in Asia, saw its position slip during the pandemic years due to border closures and sweeping changes to the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa programme. These changes led to a sharp decline in applications.

Although the MM2H visa is no longer officially promoted as a retirement visa, it remains appealing to those with sufficient financial means. Malaysia itself continues to appeal to retirees because of its affordability, good infrastructure, excellent healthcare, warm climate, and a welcoming population. We know of many people who still dream of retiring here, but the revised MM2H requirements — such as mandatory property purchases with long holding periods and significant fixed deposit commitments — have deterred a large number of Western retirees. For those with substantial assets and a willingness to relocate to Asia, however, Malaysia remains an attractive choice.

Unlike several neighbouring countries, Malaysia has chosen not to create a dedicated retirement visa aimed at this growing and economically beneficial demographic. This has been disappointing, especially as retirees tend to contribute positively to local economies without adding pressure to job markets. We had hoped for the introduction of a retirement-focused tier, but it appears the government’s priorities lies elsewhere.

CHANGING TRENDS

One concern is that the current MM2H framework, which allows younger applicants, may result in more people using the programme to live and work here — something the visa was not originally intended for (apart from the elite Platinum tier). The Philippines, for example, recently raised the minimum age for their retirement visa after finding that some younger applicants were working illegally.

We are seeing increased interest being directed towards other Asian countries with retirement-specific visas, particularly Thailand and Indonesia. Both countries are actively courting retirees, offering simpler and more targeted programmes.

In this year’s Global Retirement Index, only two Asian countries made the top 10: Malaysia at 7th place and Thailand at 10th. Both are undeniably attractive destinations, but Malaysia arguably holds the edge for many expat retirees with its widespread English proficiency and more developed infrastructure.

Malaysia’s appeal as a retirement destination stems from several key factors — affordable living costs, a robust healthcare system, quality infrastructure, a warm tropical climate, and a diverse, friendly population. It is also famed for its excellent cuisine and wide range of tourist attractions, making it an easy place to fall in love with.

Interestingly, the current iteration of the MM2H programme appears to be attracting increasing numbers of Chinese applicants, many of whom are seeking to relocate entire families due to growing domestic uncertainties. For years, Chinese nationals have been drawn to the MM2H visa, not to relocate here, but to visit, as tourist visa conditions for Chinese nationals were very restrictive. Many developers bundled MM2H assistance into their property sales packages making visits to the country easier. Now, with simplified tourist visa conditions, it seems many Chinese now wish to relocate here. 

COULD MALAYSIA DO MORE?

We believe there could be significant interest from Europeans if Malaysia were more widely promoted as a retirement destination. Many Europeans who apply already have prior experience living in Malaysia or connections here, which makes the transition easier. However, there’s little doubt that countless others could significantly enhance their quality of life by retiring here. Most retirees agree that it’s possible to live here comfortably on around €1,200 a month — an amount that would barely cover basic expenses in many Western cities. Of course, the experience is smoother for those who speak English or have a social network here — but with Malaysia’s large expatriate community, making connections is not difficult.

It’s perhaps unsurprising that many people have expressed regret over the decision to drastically alter the original MM2H programme. The earlier version was immensely popular, brought in significant economic contributions, and helped project a positive image of Malaysia globally. While some adjustments were undoubtedly needed, the programme worked — as evidenced by the large number of applicants and the glowing testimonials from participants.

Retirees, in particular, are among the most desirable participants for such programmes. They generally do not seek employment, have time to explore and appreciate the country, and often become informal ambassadors, sharing their positive experiences with friends and family back home. We believe Malaysia could greatly benefit from targeting this segment.

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After nearly a year of suspension, the Malaysian government is once again endorsing MM2H visas by stamping them into passports. This news was relayed to us by the MM2H Agents Association, as no official announcement has been issued by the Ministry of Tourism, which oversees the programme. While clarity on the new visa terms has been slow to emerge, we are gradually piecing together the updates and changes.

One significant challenge we’ve faced is the need to reapply as an agent. The government revoked the licenses of all existing MM2H agents, a decision that has caused considerable frustration, particularly for those like us who have consistently followed the rules and worked hard to support the programme’s success. We would have liked a fast-track process for previously approved agents, but this has not materialized. Our reapplication was submitted in early September, and although we are still awaiting approval, we have been advised that it should happen soon.

MM2H: A SHIFT IN FOCUS

Recent documents released by the Ministry indicate a shift in the programme’s focus. While the MM2H visa was originally designed to attract retirees, it is now being repositioned as an “economic generation” initiative. This rebranding emphasizes its potential to boost Malaysia’s property market, education sector, domestic tourism, and healthcare industry.

This change is reflected in the programme’s relatively high entry costs. Even the lowest-tier of the national MM2H visa requires a fixed deposit of US$150,000 (approximately RM670,000), and most states mandate a minimum property purchase price of RM1 million for foreign buyers. These costs make MM2H one of the more expensive residency programs in Southeast Asia, especially when compared to retirement visas offered by Thailand, Indonesia, or the Philippines.

The introduction of the Platinum Tier MM2H visa, aimed at individuals interested in working or investing in Malaysia, further underscores the programme’s shift towards economic benefits.

CONCERNS FOR RETIREES

The previous MM2H visa brought substantial economic benefits to Malaysia, especially through retirees who relocated here. According to our research, over 60% of retirees who moved here under the programme purchased homes. Being older, they often required healthcare services, which contributed to local healthcare revenue and having more free time than those employed here, were free to travel extensively within Malaysia. Most recommended the country to friends and relatives, and hosted visitors, further boosting tourism.

Interestingly, our research showed 18% who chose to rent under the old MM2H scheme earned over RM40,000 a month so would have made a welcome contribution to several of the sectors that it is hoped will benefit from the new visa.

However, the new property ownership requirements, which mandate holding a property for 10 years, have deterred many retirees. This segment was the backbone of the earlier programme, and their reduced participation raises concerns about whether the revamped MM2H can achieve the same level of success.

The education aspect of the programme also saw significant interest, particularly from South Korean families wanting their children educated in Malaysia’s English-language schools. Whether these applicants will remain interested given the increased costs and required property ownership remains uncertain.

A NEW DEMOGRAPHIC?

Early indications suggest that the revamped MM2H program is attracting strong interest from Chinese nationals, many of whom have expressed interest in relocating out of the country. Additionally, younger Russians seeking to escape the war in Ukraine have expressed interest. However, there is a risk that younger applicants may seek employment opportunities, which could pose challenges for the programme’s administration.

For retirees who find the MM2H requirements prohibitive, the newly introduced Special Financial Zone (SFZ) MM2H visa in Johor may offer an alternative. This visa appears more retiree-friendly and has a much lower cost of entry, making it a potentially attractive option for older applicants with limited financial resources.

LOOKING AHEAD

The MM2H programme’s future impact remains uncertain. While the government aims to generate greater economic benefits with the new structure, the exclusion of a large portion of retiree applicants could reduce its overall appeal. At its peak, MM2H attracted 6,000 applicants in a year, bringing billions of ringgit into Malaysia’s economy. Whether the revamped program can replicate this success will depend on its ability to attract a broader range of applicants while still maintaining strong economic contributions.

For more information about the MM2H and related visas, visit the help desk at www.MM2H.com, which can provide answers to most of your questions.

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Earlier this year, authorized agents were advised they were no longer permitted to promote the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa or submit new applications. All agents were required to re-register under stricter conditions. As a long-time agent with nearly two decades of service and no significant complaints, we found this change somewhat harsh, but it was not open to negotiation. It seems many agents are struggling to meet these new requirements and have apparently opted not to apply for the updated license. Currently, it remains unclear how many agents have applied under the new conditions. Previously, we understood there were around 250 authorised agents.

We have submitted our application to become an agent under the new regulations and are pleased to report that we have met all preliminary requirements. We are now awaiting formal approval.

CLARIFICATIONS ON THE NEW PROGRAMME

There are numerous questions surrounding the new programme. Some queries have been addressed, while others remain unresolved. A meeting scheduled for July between the agents’ association and the Ministry, intended to clarify these matters, was postponed to August. However, this was again postponed and was expected to happen in September but that too did not occur. We have now been informed that the meeting is expected to take place in November, although no explanations for the many delays have been provided.

Confusion has also surrounded the submission process, with mixed feedback about whether applications are being processed. The Ministry has now clarified that they are accepting new applications, but approvals cannot yet be endorsed in passports. This delay appears to be related to the readiness of some automated systems, though no official explanation for this has been given, and no specific timeline for when endorsements will resume has been shared.

INTEREST IN THE SILVER TIER

Feedback indicates that the Silver tier of the national MM2H visa is generating the most interest among applicants. This tier requires a fixed deposit of US$150,000. However, many potential applicants have expressed their intention not to proceed due to dissatisfaction with the new terms. Concerns include the high fixed deposit amount, which exceeds the requirements of similar visa programs in other countries.

The most significant objection relates to the mandatory property purchase requirement. Even prospective buyers are hesitant about the stipulation to hold onto the property for 10 years, especially considering the visa’s five-year validity. While the five-year visa is renewable, many applicants find this to be insufficient reassurance, prompting some to consider retirement visa options in Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines.

NOT PRIMARILY A RETIREMENT VISA?

While people are telling us the MM2H visa no longer appears to be primarily aimed at retirees, it can certainly accommodate those with the required funds. It is open to anyone over 25, which is certainly earlier than many typically plan retirement. Although the 10-year property ownership requirement exists, it allows for the possibility of selling and purchasing a more expensive property. However, we have found most older individuals tend to seek smaller living spaces and trade down.

For those who can afford it, Malaysia offers an attractive lifestyle, and current MM2H visa holders report high satisfaction with their lives here. Changes to the programme have caused some anxiety among potential applicants, but in the past, the Ministry has assured existing participants that rules will not be materially altered for those who have already joined the programme, and we hope they uphold this promise.

For more information, please visit our website at www.MM2H.com, where we provide ongoing updates and offer an e-newsletter to keep interested parties informed about the latest developments.

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The long-awaited relaunch of the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa has finally arrived with the release of the revised terms and conditions, although we are still awaiting the official start date. All existing agents and any company wishing to be a new agent must register with the ministry again. Agents’ existing licences do not allow them to assist in processing new applications.

The new conditions for agents are much tougher than before and will take most companies some time to comply. Among these conditions are a paid-up capital of at least RM200,000 while previously the requirement was RM80,000. They also require a RM200,000 bank guarantee. These measures are in response to some agents’ inability to refund clients, a situation exacerbated by the year-long suspension of the programme in 2020 and subsequent stringent new terms, which caused a significant drop in applications and a major loss of income for agents, leading many to experience financial difficulties.

Our sister company, an approved agent, has experienced minimal refunds over its 20 years of operation, with the total not exceeding RM200,000. Refunds typically occur when a client withdraws their application or if the application is denied. However, our agency experienced very few clients withdrawing their applications and our long experience with and understanding of the programme yielded an approval rate close to 100%, making refunds quite rare.

The visa seems no longer to be positioned strictly as a retirement visa, although it will still accommodate those wishing to retire in Malaysia. We had very much hoped they would tailor a visa for retirees, but it looks like they chose otherwise.

Here are the new rules for the MM2H programme which still leave many questions but gives the key requirements. We believe the property rules will be a major impediment to attracting large number of applications so we hope it is removed

The minimum age 35 to apply for the visa has been lowered to 25. It is clearly no longer primarily a retirement visa and is seeking to attract foreign investors. We had hoped they would carve out a retirement visa tailored to that audience but that has not happened,

There will be three tiers, Silver, Gold, and Platinum which have separate terms and conditions attached to each of them.

FINANCIAL REQUIREMENTS

Surprisingly, no minimum income has been set for new applicants of any tier. We were in favour of keeping it at RM10,000, but not setting any limit may cause problems.

The fixed deposit requirements have been stated in US dollars, which may mean the ringgit deposit will change based on exchange rates, which have been none to favourable to the ringgit in recent years. The deposit must be placed in a bank account in Malaysia. The amounts are stated as follows: Silver US$150,000; Gold US$500,000, and Platinum US$1 million. Previously the required deposits for this revision were stated in ringgit, which may yet end up being the required amount (RM500,000, RM2,000,000, and RM5,000,000). In the event they do fix on the USD figure, then the deposit required for the Silver tier will increase to over RM700,000, based on current rates.

There is a one-time ‘participation fee’ charged by the government for the principal applicants only which is RM1,000 for the Silver, rising to RM3,000 for Gold, and a whopping RM200,000 for Platinum. There is no charge for dependents.

PROPERTY MATTERS

All applicants are required to buy a house (the minimum value varies by tier), which they then cannot sell for 10 years. In our view, this requirement is certain to turn away many applicants. Although our research revealed over 60% of participants who relocated here purchased property, we predict many applicants will be unhappy they cannot sell it for at least 10 years particularly since the Silver tier is only given a five-year visa, albeit renewable. Participants are apparently permitted to change house for the same or higher value.

For some reason, they have specified the minimum property value each tier is required to buy. Silver tier must buy a property over RM600,000, Gold at least RM1 million, and Platinum at least RM2 million. This requirement will conflict with the limits set by some states for foreigners to buy property. The minimum purchase price for foreigners is set by each state and varies quite a bit. It is not clear which amount will take precedent, but we would think it is the state since they set property regulations. This whole property section leaves several questions unanswered like what happens if the person leaves the programme early and how soon after approval are they required to buy a house.

THE MULTIPLE-ENTRY VISA

The length of the visa varies, from five years for Silver, 15 years for Gold, and 20 years for Platinum. The visa itself will be multiple-entry, and issued based on the validity of the applicant’s passport. The maximum duration is five years, so the 15-year entitlement will actually mean three periods of five years, assuming the passport always has five years of validity. The advantage of the longer visa is that it is easier to get the extension of the visa in your passport rather than apply for a fresh visa.

Participants can bring their partner and biological children under the age of 21. Children over 21 up to the age of 34 have to be unmarried and not working. There is no age limit for disabled children.

It seems the Platinum visa allows the holder to work without seeking special permission. The rules for other tiers wishing to work have not been specified, but will certainly require them to seek approval.

One good development is that now dependent spouses will be able to assume the principal visa in the event of their death. Previously they were required to reapply in their own right which was problems for many of them.

POTENTIAL ISSUES

We see a few problems with the current revisions. The biggest groups of applicants for MM2H were people looking to retire here, along with a sizeable group that just wanted the visa as a potential escape route from their own country if it became necessary and never actually relocated here. The latter group usually came from countries experiencing domestic problems. Another sizeable group comprised parents bringing their children here for schooling. All these group still face problems with the current rules. We are also unclear on if or how this will affect existing MM2H visa holders. It is a pity the Ministry did not seek advice from the people who have been closely involved with promoting the visa for the last 20 years. 

We expect most MM2Hers will choose the Silver package, but we have two major caveats: We anticipate many potential applicants will be turned off by the size of the fixed deposit and especially the requirement to buy a house and hold onto it for 10 years. Older people will be reluctant to buy a house which they are not permitted to sell when they cannot confidently predict what the future may bring in terms of their health or financial resources.

We believe Malaysia is an exceptional country to live in, offering a vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle. One of the primary attractions is its relatively low cost of living. We think that visa regulations should align with these local realities and meet the expectations of potential residents, ensuring mutual benefit for both applicants and Malaysia. Unfortunately, the current changes in visa conditions appear to fall short of these goals, which we fear may diminish the programme’s former popularity.

For ongoing updates and immediate notifications, sign up for our MM2H e-newsletter at our website, www.MM2H.com.

The post Here They Are: New MM2H Terms and Conditions Announced appeared first on ExpatGo.

Many people have been patiently waiting for clarification of the revised terms and conditions for the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) visa. We are among those anxiously awaiting news. However, six months after the new programme details were announced (at least partially), there is still not much to tell.

After suspending the programme for about a year in 2020, while the government reviewed the terms and conditions, the government opened up applications for the visa at the end of 2021. At that time, they increased the required monthly income from RM10,000 a month to RM40,000 and also increased the required fixed deposit to RM1,000,000. Our research had already indicated this would cause a massive drop-off in applications so when local media announced a 90% plunge in new applications just over a year later, it did not surprise us.

When the current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim, came to power at the end of 2022, he indicated his government would ease the qualifying requirements of the visa. However, nothing happened until the end of December 2023, when a new three-tier MM2H programme was announced.

Unfortunately, the announcement left off some key details like the required monthly income and the start date for the new programme. We also heard that the new terms and conditions had not received the required Cabinet sign-off.

A few months later, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that the Cabinet had now approved the new terms, so many people contacted our help desk asking for more details and the start date. Unfortunately, despite being an authorised agent, we were not given any information, so of course we could not provide answers.

Like everyone else, we had no choice but to continue waiting.

FROM BAD TO WORSE

The next thing we heard was that all the agents whose business licences had expired were not getting them renewed and therefore could no longer operate. After several years of suffering from the downturn in business because of the new terms and the programme being suspended, this was too much for some companies, and they were forced to lay off staff or shut down their offices completely. We were fortunate that our own licence ran into 2025.

It was quite distressing to see such a complete reversal of what was a very successful and popular programme – one that we loved, and one which had also yielded considerable benefits to Malaysia. MM2H had even been voted the number one retirement visa choice in Asia. All that seems a distant memory now.

It’s difficult to know for sure, but it seems the government is now focused on reducing the number of agents and increasing regulation over them, rather than confirming the details of the revised programme and setting a start date.

Along with other agents who are still functioning, we can still serve existing participants, but we have been advised not to promote the visa.

EAST MALAYSIA MM2H PROGRAMMES

The Sabah government, which was about to launch its local version of MM2H (on June 1), have apparently been forced to suspend that date because their agents, who are under the supervision of the federal government, are not permitted to promote the visa. The state minister of tourism has expressed notable unhappiness with this and the forced delay in their launch.

Sarawak, which like Sabah sets its own immigration policies, also has its own version of the MM2H visa, and theoretically agents there should also stop promoting their visa, although it’s not clear if they have or not.

For our part, we have regrettably stopped promoting the MM2H visa. Now, many of the applicants who come to us asking for more details decide to go to other countries since we are not able to tell them when new applications will be permitted for the revised visa. We don’t even have an idea of an approximate time frame, and do not wish to mislead anyway, so we can only provide information once we have it and know that it is accurate.

New applications have not been accepted since the beginning of this year. It is sad to see this once-popular visa lose all its lustre and to see Malaysia lose out on the valuable contribution the programme made to the economy. We hope it will not be too long before full details of the revised terms and conditions are revealed and the new applications are once again permitted.

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