The Malaysian Insight

THE Malaysia My Second Home programme, which grants high-income foreigners an extendable 10-year residency, remains popular with Chinese nationals despite a change of government in Putrajaya.

Almost a third of the 38,000 foreigners who applied for the programme between 2002 and 2017 were Chinese nationals (11,386 – 29.2%), followed by families from Japan (4,545 – 11.7%) and Bangladesh (3,944 – 10.1%).

“It’s been three months, we have not seen a slowdown in the number of applications so far,” Malaysia My Second Home Agents Association (MM2HAA) president Lim Kok Sai told The Malaysian Insight.

“Whether the number of Chinese applicants will drop or not, we should wait another six months.”

The number of Chinese applicants for the programme had risen significantly after China introduced its ambitious One Belt, One Road initiative in 2013.

From 731 in 2012, the number almost doubled to 1,337 in 2013, only to dip slightly to 1,307 in 2014 and but more than doubled to 2,923 last year.

It remains to be seen whether Pakatan Harapan’s latest decision to review the Forest City project in Johor – developed by Hong Kong-listed real estate giant Country Garden – and discourage foreign ownership of luxury properties in Malaysia would reverse this trend.

To qualify for Malaysia My Second Home, an applicant under the age of 50 must have at least RM500,000 of liquid assets while those above 50 must have at least RM350,000 of liquid assets.

All applicants, including retirees, must show documented proof that they have a monthly offshore income of more than RM10,000.

Developers in Kuala Lumpur and Perak attract foreign buyers by offering to apply for the Malaysia My Second Home programme for them for free, waiving the RM10,000 application fee, Lim said.

However, there is no direct connection between the purchase of local properties and the programme.

“We are still processing applications as usual. The authorities are very strict. Those who don’t fulfil the requirements will not receive a visa,” said Lim.

Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad recently said Putrajaya will prioritise raising the Malays’ purchasing power and competitiveness rather than to encourage wanton foreign ownership of high-end properties by Chinese nationals, such as in Forest City.

He added that Chinese nationals who bought properties in Forest City would not be given permanent resident status. The mainland Chinese buyers were promised a long-stay, non-permanent visa.

The only long-stay, non-permanent visa available to the Chinese would be via the Malaysia My Second Home programme, Lim said.

MM2HAA vice-president Anthony Liew said Dr Mahathir’s remarks were targeted at Forest City and not at other property projects, so Chinese nationals were still free to apply for the Malaysia My Second Home programme.

“The Tourism Department has not issued any directive, so there shouldn’t be much impact,” he added. – September 8, 2018.