GEORGE TOWN: Industry players in the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme are raising the red flag on MM2h’s prospect following a steep plunge in applications after the imposition of tougher conditions for prospective applicants in 2021.
Zeon Properties Group business development director Ronaldo Lim, who is involved in the programme, said since the new conditions were introduced, most of his clients had put their applications on hold.
“The new requirements are four times more burdensome, and clients have given poor feedback. We’ve got 50 cases on hold due to concerns that they may not be able to fulfil the conditions.
“A client from Hong Kong since 2012, whose permit expired last year, has expressed disappointment in not continuing.
MM2H participants here have also urged the government to impose less stringent conditions to make it affordable.
German national Karl Mein, 66, who has been staying in Batu Feringghi, Penang, for the past six years, said the new condition which required applicants to have a permanent savings of at least RM1mil and liquid assets of at least RM1.5mil, was too high.
“It is tremendously high, not all of us can afford such kind of money although we live as an expatriate,” said Mein.
He said that as a participant of the MM2H programme, he was not sure whether he was affected, but was certain that he would not be able to meet the new conditions if required to do so.
He also said that he no longer had a stable income and was dependent on his savings and children back in Germany.
Another expatriate who only wanted to be known as Jo, said he was not aware about the latest ruling, but felt that it would burden existing participants.
“It might affect us badly as the latest ruling is quite expensive,” said the 63-year-old.
However, the Japanese national said that if the latest conditions were imposed on new applicants, it should not affect those already living here as part of the MM2H programme.
Australian painter, author and filmmaker Madeleine Ekeblad, 65, and her 75-year-old husband, had considered moving out of Penang when the new conditions were introduced.
Ekeblad, who had relocated from Brisbane to Penang about six years ago, said the couple had fallen in love with Penang ever since they first came here in 1975.
“We considered other options and even spent three weeks in Sri Lanka to explore the liveability there. If we cannot afford to live in Penang, then we may have to move away,” she said.
Ekeblad, who was a teacher in Australia, said she did not have a lot of savings, and hoped for an amicable solution.
The MM2H programme is aimed at attracting long-term foreign residents, but the latest conditions were introduced in 2021 after a temporary halt of the programme during the pandemic.
Applicants are now required to have savings of at least RM1mil, and liquid assets of at least RM1.5mil, when previously, they only needed savings of between RM300,000 and RM500,000.
They must also show an offshore income of at least RM40,000 a month.
