Latest / IMI Podcasts / Government Plans Further Easing of MM2H Rules as Minister Reveals 56,066 Visas Still Active

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Government Plans Further Easing of MM2H Rules as Minister Reveals 56,066 Visas Still Active · IMI Podcasts

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  SPEAKER_00: This episode first appeared as an article titled Government Plans Further Easing of MM two H rules as Minister reveals fifty six thousand sixty six Vasas still active and authored by Christian Henrik Nesheim on IMIDAily dot com.
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• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: In a bid to make its Malaysia My Second Home Residency Program more enticing and competitive, the government is considering a relaxation of several qualification requirements.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: Tourism Minister Datak Seri Tionking Sing told Parliament this week.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Here's some background.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Between 2002 and 2019, Malaysia's MM two H program was among the world's most popular residents by investment schemes, logging thousands of applicants each year.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: In late 2019, the government suspended the program pending a review.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: That review took more than two years.
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  SPEAKER_00: Upon reopening in 2021, the program had new, far stricter rules, including a quadrupled income requirement.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: These new rules became the subject of fierce criticism and drove an eighty five percent decline in applications as well as the bankruptcies of many MM two H agencies.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Those factors prompted the government to review the new terms.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: In December last year it finally revealed new Ease terms.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Those new rules, while an improvement, have not catalyzed the hoped for revived interest in the program, prompting the government to review the program's terms for a third time in three years.
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  SPEAKER_00: The proposed revisions, initially signaled in budget twenty twenty four and now under refinement, aim to catalyze further foreign investor and tourist inflows by making the program more accessible.
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  SPEAKER_00: Quote, among the conditions examined are age, eligibility, financial ability, minimum residency period, MM two H pass period, and ease of residential property ownership, end quote, Minister Tiong stated.
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  SPEAKER_00: The revamp comes as officials consult, stakeholders and industry players, though any final overhaul requires cabinet approval before implementation.
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  SPEAKER_00: Tion affirmed applicant vetting would remain stringent, mandating, quote, certificates of good conduct issued and verified by the authorities in their country of origin or current residence, end quote, to uphold national security protocols.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: With the changes, Putrajaya aims to reposition the MM two H offering within an increasingly competitive global residency by investment landscape.
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  SPEAKER_00: Advisors lawed the proposals as pragmatic realignments enhancing Malaysia's relative value proposition, particularly if coupled with expanded tax incentives and complementary enhancements to its overall expat infrastructure and lifestyle appeals.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Malaysia's program has struggled to compete with similar schemes elsewhere in Southeast Asia, not to mention with a practically identical but much cheaper version of the MM two H in Sarawak State, which exercises autonomy from the federal Malaysian government in immigration matters.
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  SPEAKER_00: For the first time since twenty nineteen, the Malaysian government has issued data on program participation.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: According to the Minister's statements in parliament, as of january thirty first, twenty twenty four, Malaysia hosted fifty six thousand sixty six active MM two H pass holders, twenty seven thousand seven hundred and fifty nine principals alongside twenty eight thousand three hundred seven dependents.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Between two thousand two and twenty nineteen, the last time figures were released, Malaysia had approved a total of fifty thousand one hundred and eight participants.
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  SPEAKER_00: The total number today is fifty six thousand sixty six.
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  SPEAKER_00: Note that the difference between the two totals is not alone enough to indicate how many MM two H participants have been approved between twenty nineteen and twenty twenty four, because many of the visas approved in recent decades will have expired in the interim.
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  SPEAKER_00: Chinese nationals comprise the largest contingent at twenty four thousand seven hundred and sixty five, followed by four thousand nine hundred and forty citizens of South Korea, four thousand seven hundred and thirty three from Japan, three thousand six hundred and four from Bangladesh, two thousand two hundred and thirty four from the United Kingdom, one thousand six hundred and eleven from Taiwan, one thousand three hundred and forty from the United States, one thousand two hundred and eighty two from Singapore, one thousand two hundred and twenty three from India, and one thousand sixty nine from Australia.
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  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for joining us today on IMI Podcasts.
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