A TOTAL of 782 Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) passes were approved since the new tier categories were announced last June.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing (pic) revealed that this brought the total approved to 58,468, with 28,528 principal applicants and 29,940 dependents.
He said the government was estimated to receive an investment value of RM233.8mil (US$51.9mil) from fixed deposit accounts and real estate investment of RM222mil, he said in a written parliamentary reply.
According to Tiong, the silver category was the most sought-after with 260 principal applicants, followed by the special economic zones category with 43, gold category at nine and platinum at seven.
Last year, Tiong announced the platinum, gold and silver categories for MM2H applicants.
The platinum category requires a fixed deposit of US$1mil, gold at US$500,000 and silver at US$150,000, along with a property purchase of at least RM600,000.
Under the platinum category, an applicant has to pay a one-off RM200,000 fee, which will enable them to work and invest in Malaysia, while the gold and silver categories have a RM3,000 and RM1,000 fee respectively.
However, gold and silver MM2H visa holders are not permitted to work.
It was also reported that mainland China applicants have been steadily increasing over the years, accounting for the largest number from any country since 2013.
The remainder mainly come from South Korea, Japan and Bangladesh, with a handful from Taiwan and Hong Kong.
