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History of MM2H

Alter Domus (MM2H) Sdn. Bhd. has been assisting foreigners with the MM2H visa even before the programme was centralized and formalized. As we are meticulous, we have documented changes that happened to the MM2H.

The main financial requirements did not change since 2007; only small tweaks like tightening of documentation requirements and elimination of income/pension method and other changes were introduced to combat fraud. Benefits were tightened or removed for the same reason as well. Fraud, especially fake documents were prevalent even till today.

Contrary to what many believed as “MM2H changes all the time”, most of the changes happened around 2007-2009 when it was centralized, and kinks were ironed out and documentation requirements were changed to reduce abuse and fraud.

Please read on to see what changed over time. If you have any questions or comments, please write to us. Date of changes are approximate.

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Applicants above the age of 50 :
  • Individuals - fixed deposit of RM100,000 OR monthly income of RM7,000

  • With dependents - fixed deposit of RM150,000 OR monthly income of RM10,000

Applicants below the age of 50 :
  • Individual - fixed deposit of RM100,000 AND month income of RM7,000

  • With dependents - fixed deposit of RM150,000 AND month income of RM10,000
     

    1. Proving financial strength was not a requirement.

    2. Visa holders were not allowed to do partial withdrawal of their fixed deposit.

    3. MM2H was not promoted as it was run by state Immigration and Internet was still not commonly available to the public.

    4. Different state Immigration office interpreted the rules and requirements differently. It was chaotic.

    5. Sponsors were not required, and controls were not in place to ensure that the fixed deposit was not withdrawn the following day after the visa was issued. Abuse and fraud were rampant.

    6. Approval was given out quickly, usually within one month.

Before January 2006

MM2H applications were made through the local state Immigration office (for Alter Domus, that would be the Penang Immigration Office in Butterworth). The visa duration was five years (not ten). The MM2H requirements were simple and are listed below:

Below 50 years of age :
  • Fixed deposit of RM300,000

  • You can withdraw RM240,000 after one (1) year.

  • Must maintain a minimum balance of RM60,000 from second year onwards and throughout stay in Malaysia under this programme.

Above 50 years of age :
  • Fixed deposit of RM150,000 OR monthly offshore income of RM10,000

  • You can withdraw RM90,000 after one (1) year

  • Must maintain a minimum balance of RM60,000 from second year onwards and throughout stay in Malaysia under this programme.
     

    1. Proving financial strength was not a requirement.

    2. Visa holders were allowed to do partial withdrawal of their fixed deposit due to property purchase.

    3. Banks were instructed to allow withdrawal of funds only with proper government approvals.

Applications can be made through state Immigration offices and more systems are beginning to be put in place. The Ministry of Tourism has officially taken over the programme and they were tasked to promote it. The Immigration Department will only be supporting the programme. The requirements of the programme were tightened significantly. The visa duration was extended to ten years.

March 2006

All sponsors must be licensed and Alter Domus (MM2H) Sdn. Bhd. was the first company to be given the license with license number MM2H/0001.

May 2006

All applications must be submitted to the Ministry of Tourism in Kuala Lumpur. All state Immigration office will only process renewals of MM2H (for those who have applied for the program before September 2006). Approvals were given by a committee instead of an individual to prevent abuse.

September 2006

Financial strength became a requirement. It was set to be RM350,000 (above 50) and RM500,000 (below 50) for all applications. Stocks and properties were acceptable substitutes to liquid assets.

January 2007

Income method was restricted to only government pension. Employment, rental, private pension was not allowed. Each application took 4 - 6 months for approval.

 

Application coming in from sponsors are better and more complete and those from individuals are not. Thus, a lot of human resources were devoted to calling up the applicants and getting documents. That slowed down the approval rate tremendously.

 

There were a lot of abuse and fraud as applicants produced their own fake private pensions and employment income. As no sponsors were required (anyone can apply), there were a lot of cheating.

March 2007

Stocks and properties are not allowed anymore as a substitute for liquid assets. This coincided with the Great Financial Crisis of 2007/8. Property valuation was not allowed because properties were not liquid.

May 2007

  • Only sponsors were allowed to submit the application.

  • Foreigners with Malaysian spouse were not allowed to apply for this visa.

  • The time taken for approval dropped to one month. However, the number of sponsors exploded and the abuse of unscrupulous sponsors were common.

June 2007

Applicants who have bought properties worth more than RM1,000,000 before they apply for the visa were allowed to deposit only RM60,000 instead of putting in RM150,000 or RM300,000 and withdrawing the following year. They just need to show the sales and purchase agreement. It can be under mortgage or cash purchase.

2008

  • PWTC MM2H One-stop centre opened. (March 2009).

  • The fixed deposit that must be maintained at the bank after withdrawing for property purchase was increased (tightened) from RM60,000 to RM100,000 (above 50) and RM150,000 (below 50).

  • For those who have purchased a property worth RM1m or more, they can only put in the reduced amount if they prove that they have fully paid up for the property (no mortgage allowed).

  • For those above the age of 50 years old, they were allowed to work part time (subject to approval from the government). This was applicable to all MM2H visa holders (including those who have applied before this announcement

  • All 5-year visa were now made to 10-year visa.

  • Sponsors were not required anymore (reversing the June 2007 decision)

  • MM2H participants were allowed to do or own a business (officially stated in the MM2H website)

  • Foreigners with Malaysian spouse can now apply for the visa (reversing June 2007 decision)

  • The age of children as dependent is increased from 18 to 21.

  • Letter of good conduct is now a requirement.

  • MOTAC moved from PWTC to Putrajaya.

  • All applicants must have at least an income of RM10,000 per month regardless of age. For those above the age of 50, you can combine from multiple sources like pension, interest, investment returns, rental income, etc. These income sources must be verifiable. Letter of good conduct was required during application and conditional approvals were not given anymore.

2009

Letters of no criminal records in foreign languages can only be translated by ITBM in Malaysia. If translated overseas, it must be certified by the Malaysian embassy or high commission (due to fraud).

2013

Letters of no criminal records in for Implementation of "financial authorization forms" and "employment verification" forms. MM2H started to check on the authenticity of the bank statements by writing to the banks and verifying the account balance. Certification can only be done by notary public (due to fraud). Foreign languages can only be translated by ITBM in Malaysia. If translated overseas, it must be certified by the Malaysian embassy or high commission (due to fraud).

2014

Tightening the requirements for documentation, especially for banking and salary slips. Rental property - need to show title deeds that applicant owned the property (due to fraud).

2015

  • Removal of tax-free car benefit.

  • Removal of “reduction of fixed deposit during application” (i.e. if one purchased the RM1m property without mortgage before the application was submitted)

  • Government pension method was now formally removed. The MM2H committee has not been approving the government pension method since 2017.

  • Working part time (20 hours are week) was tightened to certain fields only (teaching, science, and technology, etc).

  • All the above were implemented due to fraud and abuse.

2018

MM2H was suspended after being inactive for five months due to COVID pandemic.

20 August 2020

eMM2H was launched with Ministry of Home Affairs in charge - RM1.5mil of liquid assets, RM40,000 monthly offshore income, RM1mil in Malaysian fixed deposit and additional RM50,000 per dependent. The age of children as dependent increased from 21 to 34 but must be unmarried. Parents-in-law allowed as dependents.

November 2021

MM2H Executive Lounge at level 5 of Immigration HQ (Precinct 2) Putrajaya was launched.

January 2022

MM2H was given back to MOTAC.

April 2023

eMM2H was suspended pending a new MM2H programme.

October 2023

Details of the new MM2H (3 tiers) were announced by MOTAC.

15 December 2023

MM2H One-Stop Centre was relocated back to MOTAC office from Immigration office at Level 5.

18 December 2023

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