KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 4,487 applications for Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) - the government’s initiative to attract foreigners to live in the country - have been approved between July last year and Nov 20 this year.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Mohamaddin Ketapi said the approval was given out of a total of 9,439 applications received.
"The approval is made by the ministry and the Immigration Department, while the Home Affairs Ministry endorses it.
The approval will normally take 120 working days,” he said, in reply to a question by Wong Hon Wai (DAP-Bukit Bendera) at the Dewan Rakyat today, on the approval of the MM2H programme.
It was reported that since its inception in 2002 up to August 2017, the MM2H programme has granted close to 36,000 MM2H visas.
A bulk of the approved applicants come from Asian countries (28,652), followed by Europe (4,291), the US (1,334), The Pacific Islands (1,019) and Africa (432).
Through MM2H, applicants would receive a social visit pass that enables them to stay in Malaysia for 10 years.
However, they must go through a screening process to fulfil the criteria, which include that they must be 50 years old and above; no criminal records, and financially stable.