Malaysia · Passive income
Malaysia My Second Home (2024 three-tier structure)
Reformed and open. The three-tier Silver/Gold/Platinum structure announced in December 2023 took effect in 2024 and remains in force as at July 2026, alongside a separate Special Economic Zone tier. Deposit figures below are stated in USD as the tiers are USD-denominated; property minimums are in MYR.
MM2H's defining characteristic is not its price — it is its instability. The programme has been suspended, relaunched with a roughly tenfold price increase, revised, and restructured into tiers within five years. Families who bought the pre-2021 MM2H at MYR 300k deposit found the terms rewritten under them. Nothing about the current tiers should be assumed durable.
Qualifying routes
USD 150,000 fixed deposit; 5-year renewable pass; property purchase of at least MYR 600,000 required
USD 500,000 fixed deposit; 15-year pass; property purchase of at least MYR 1,000,000 required
USD 1,000,000 fixed deposit; 20-year pass; property purchase of at least MYR 2,000,000 required; the only tier with meaningful work and directorship rights
USD 65,000 fixed deposit for applicants aged 21–49, or USD 32,000 for those aged 50+; the low-cost entry point, tied to the SEZ
The facts
- Qualifying figure
- $150k
- Total landed cost
- Silver: USD 150k deposit plus MYR 600k property plus agent, visa and processing fees typically USD 5–15k. Platinum: USD 1m deposit plus MYR 2m property. Up to 50% of the fixed deposit may be withdrawn after a qualifying property purchase.
- Timeline
- 4–12 months — Processing has been slow and inconsistent through the successive reforms
- Physical presence
- Reported at 90 days per year for applicants under 50; presence conditions have changed repeatedly across reforms and should be confirmed against the current MM2H guidelines
- Family
- spousechildren under 21 (in some tiers to 34 if unmarried and dependent)parentsdomestic helper
- Permanent residency
- none — MM2H is a long-stay social visit pass and confers no residence rights or PR pathway whatsoever
- Citizenship
- none
- Language test
- not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Not permitted — you would have to renounce
- Requirements
- Fixed deposit in a Malaysian bank at the tier level, maintained (up to 50% withdrawable after a qualifying property purchase)Qualifying Malaysian residential property purchase within 12 months of approval, at the tier minimum and subject to state-level foreign ownership floorsMedical insurance and a clean medical reportClean criminal recordMinimum stay obligations (reported at 90 days per year for under-50s)
- MM2H is a social visit pass. It is NOT residency, it does not lead to permanent residency, and it does not lead to citizenship. Ever. Advisers who present it as a 'golden visa' are misrepresenting it.
- Policy risk is the dominant risk. The programme was frozen in 2020, relaunched in 2021 with thresholds raised roughly tenfold, revised again, then restructured into tiers in 2024. Existing holders have repeatedly been forced onto new terms or grandfathered on uncertain footing.
- The mandatory property purchase within 12 months of approval is a real illiquidity trap. Malaysian residential property has minimum foreign-purchase price floors that vary by state, and secondary-market liquidity for foreign-owned units in the relevant price bands is thin.
- MM2H holders may not work in Malaysia except under the Platinum tier's limited rights. It is not a route for an active operator.
- The foreign-source income exemption that makes Malaysia attractive expires 31 December 2036 and is delivered by exemption order, which a future government can revisit. Do not build a permanent structure on it.
- Malaysian naturalisation is effectively unavailable to foreign residents regardless of tenure. Malaysia does not permit dual citizenship.