‘It’s our only home’: Malaysia’s changes to MM2H visa scheme throw expats’ plans into chaos
- Existing participants of the Malaysia My Second Home programme say they can’t meet stricter financial criteria to renew visas
- The scheme, which is popular with those from mainland China, has been revised to attract more wealthy foreigners but visa agents say the new rules are too prohibitive
After Mansur and Moina Khan from Bangladesh secured long-term visas to reside in Malaysia in 2014, they bought a condo worth at least 1 million ringgit in the heart of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, and moved there in 2017.
“We invested our life savings in Malaysia,” said Mansur, who like his wife, is in his 60s and retired.
“We loved living here, its multiracial people and food. We are law-abiding visa holders and wished to spend a hassle-free retirement in Malaysia,” he added.
But for the past 14 months, they have been stuck in Dhaka, having gone there to attend to a family emergency. Despite being fully vaccinated and having made numerous appeals to the Immigration Department, the couple cannot return to Malaysia as the Southeast Asian nation has banned incoming travellers from 23 nations including Bangladesh due to their Covid-19 caseloads.
While Malaysian nationals from those places can return, visa-holders like the Khans, who are under the Malaysia My Second Home Scheme (MM2H) have been excluded.
Sweeping changes to the MM2H scheme announced last week have further upended the plans of the Khans and other long-term visa holders. The scheme, which was suspended for about a year, will be restarted in October with new rules, including a significant hike to the income criteria, with visas now valid for only five, instead of 10 years.