CITING political instability and poor handling of the Covid-19 situation, many Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) applicants have cancelled their passes and returned to their own countries, agents said.

The applicants were also fed-up that the programme was put on hold for more than a year following the closure of the country’s borders to curb the spread of the pandemic.

The agents said foreigners who had initially signed up returned to their home countries after selling their properties as Putrajaya reviewed and refined the programme’s policies.

Putrajaya announced this week that the programme will resume with the Immigration Department set to process new applications from October, but the move comes with 10 new terms and conditions for participation which the agents said were extreme.

MM2H agency Starcity Global Market director Florence Ten said in the past year, many of her customers have expressed disappointment over the government’s handling of the epidemic and the political instability.

“Some foreigners are puzzled as to why Malaysia is unable now to control the epidemic which it did so well when the virus first broke out last year,” Ten said.

“Some Chinese nationals have returned to China which has managed to control the epidemic at home. So they asked us to help them sell off their properties in Malaysia.”

Ten said 80% of those who acquired properties lived on their own. Some of them could not return to Malaysia to manage the properties once the borders closed.

She said at least 20 homeowners are now looking to sell their properties.

Ten said real estate agents are now providing virtual viewing of properties due to the pandemic.

Between March and April, the company held several virtual viewing sessions for at least 100 foreigners.

“We need to list the cost for virtual viewings. We gave up on newspaper advertisements four months ago as foreigners were no longer interested.

“We tried to do it again before April. I watched the property expo online, and it turned out that less than 10 people participated.”

Ten said three customers decided not to renew their leases and returned to Hong Kong. She added their children too will not return to Malaysia to continue their studies here.

The pause on the programme also prompted many Hong Kong citizens to turn to the United Kingdom for second home programmes. As a result, Malaysia has lost many potential customers.

The MM2H programme was established in 2002, with 1,087 Hong Kong citizens obtaining residence visas in MAlaysia. Almost half of them were issued in 2017 and 2018, which reflected the positive impression Hong Kong citizens had of Malaysia.

The Malaysian Insight has reached out to the Home Ministry for cancellation figures.

7 family visas cancelled in a year

MM2H consultant Kurt Tan said between 2020 and 2021, at least seven families cancelled their visas and left Malaysia. In comparison, only one or two families did the same in the seven years between 2012 and 2019.

“In just one year, twice as many people had cancelled their visas because of the pandemic which is out of control and the political instability.

He said many participants felt like they wasted two years of their 10-year visa due to the movement control orders which had confined them to their homes.

He said many had cancelled their visas saying they were going home but there could be other reasons for their leaving.

“Malaysia is also facing competition from other countries in Southeast Asia, such as Thailand and Singapore. The temporary pause of the programme has caused Malaysia to lose its competitive edge,” Tan added.

Li from Guang Zhou who is a participant of the MM2H programme said he has held on to the visa for eight years but has now cancelled it because of the change in terms.

He said the Malaysian government did not pay enough attention to applicants and it has failed to rein in the pandemic.

“My primary condition for migrating to another country is that the government there must have integrity and policy stability,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Another participant, who introduced herself as Madam Li from Beijing, said she has had the MM2H visa for nine years.

She liked the weather in Malaysia, the location, and the fact that there are many Chinese living in Malaysia.

Madam Li said her reason for leaving now is the political instability, adding the government and its policies are important factors for her. She did not elaborate.

‘Extreme’ terms and conditions

MM2H agents and consultants told The Malaysian Insight Putrajaya’s new conditions for participation are also causing would-be applicants to have second thoughts about moving here.

Malaysia My Second Home Advisory Association Anthony Liew said one of the 10 new or revised conditions for a foreigner to be eligible for the programme is that he must prove he is earning no less than RM40,000 a month.

“How can a retiree who wants to make Malaysia his retirement home prove he still has a monthly income of RM40,000? He’s already retired.

“The income eligibility requirement prior to the revision was only RM10,000.

“The new conditions are just driving applicants away. Many would-be applicants have backed down,” Liew said.

Liew said the conditions are stiff and Putrajaya had not taken into account the current state of the global economy that had been battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said the setting of a higher threshold is tantamount to a policy of keeping foreigners out.

Liew said that many applicants from Hong Kong had even complained Malaysia’s migration policy is even worse than the United Kingdom’s.

“The United Kingdom has a friendlier policy. They even lowered their threshold recently. We, a developing country, are doing just the opposite.”

Liew said his phone has been ringing off the hook with people seeking information on the new conditions.

One question asked, which Liew has no answer, is from those who are already on the programme and have been living in Malaysia for eight or even 10 years, on the shortened stay.

All we can do is explain to them that we will seek clarification and more details from the Immigration Department. Whatever details we have are also vague.”

Ten, meanwhile, said there is now fear among those in the programme that their visas would not be extended, and they are making plans to move to another country.

Ten said one of her clients from Hong Kong who has been living in Malaysia for many years is now in a quandary whether he meets the new income requirement of RM40,00 a month.

She said her client only has a monthly income of HK$22,000 (RM11,973) from renting out property.

“The MM2H does not allow programme participants to work. They definitely cannot have any more income.

“How can they now prove they have a monthly income of RM40,000?

“Now they are afraid they will be told to leave as they cannot meet the new conditions,” Ten said.

The latest Immigration Department statistics showed there are 57,478 on the programme.

Between 2002 and 2019, the programme contributed RM11.89 billion to the national coffers as the foreigners bought homes and cars and paid for their household expenditure and term deposits. – August 14, 2021.