MM2H shut down?

The announcement is distressing, to say the least. There has been a turf battle over the program for awhile which included a lot of misinformation about the procedures and rules being passed upward to Senior Ministers and politicians. For example, the idea that MM2H applicants could easily work...or gain Permanent Residency or even Citizenship on the program. This was blatantly false but believed by many.

About two years ago the Department of Immigration (under the Ministry of Home Affairs) wrested away the power of "final say" on applications and this caused long delays as they tried to develop new protocols. Beyond the delay in accepting and reviewing applications while the Ministry worked out things, some of the procedures were reported to target certain applicants for rejection. Those with former military and police backgrounds, and some from certain countries appeared to face greater scrutiny while others had more lenient treatment.

The Ministry of Tourism has always been a more "social" department and tried to make the program more successful...that's how they measure success (numbers). At the same time benefits were pared perhaps because other ministries like Customs, and Labour, felt even the small perks should not be awarded to foreigners.

The Ministry of Home Affairs is more oriented to Security (Police, Border Security, Customs, etc.). Despite the fact that one can probably count the criminal acts of MM2H participants over the last decade on two hands (and most of these are domestic in nature) there seems to be a strong suspicion that MM2H participants are "up to something". Maybe from a Malaysian perspective they think "Everyone I know wants to leave Malaysia, why do these people want to move HERE!?" For them it's counterintuitive. So there must be a surreptitious motive...setting up on-line gambling, or people trafficking, or smuggling, or flight from the law . Now the fact that people involved in criminal activities could more easily do it on a tourist visa and merely sashay from country-to-country, using locals for any continuing operations seems not to enter their heads. People paying money to agents, putting all that cash into a fixed account? Doesn't make sense to them.

All of that said...maybe we will learn more after July 7th when the turnover occurs. Sadly many people trained to assist MM2H recipients or their agents will be sent to other areas. Inexperience Immigration or other Home Affairs Ministry officials will be tasked to learn the job. I suspect there will be delays with new applications base of this and new rules will come in.

Sarawak and Sabah are not linked directly with the Peninsular MM2H and they manage an autonomous Immigration and Tourism Department. So they may be relatively unaffected. They may take this as an opportunity to attract some MM2H applicants that might have previously applied through Petrajaya.
We'll have to wait and see.

As well this could make it more difficult for those who need a letter from MM2H to re-enter Malaysia.

That kid coming across from Singapore who was an MM2H dependent returning to his family had all the letters and even have an MM2H person call the Immigration officer was STILL rejected. Maybe that incident was embarrassing to the Home Ministry as it got in the newspapers and on TV. "It's not our fault-ism" saying "we need to have better communication and they need to follow OUR rules".

Is the MM2H office accepting new applications, or they have temperately y stopped ? If yes, any word as to when they will resumed?

no1be4me wrote:

Is the MM2H office accepting new applications, or they have temperately y stopped ? If yes, any word as to when they will resumed?

They announced that they have stopped accepting new applications possibly until December.

Oh my! What a fiasco, hope they sort this out soon. I understood since the inception, this program has fetch over 40 billion in revenue to the kitty. In addition, now many agencies, and there are, may have to look for other source of income, if this prolong to this end.

Sarawak MM2H is still open...for now. But how to get in?

From what I hear they will be restructuring the program and reopening the offices in December. However, that could change. I doubt they will stop the program entirely as they like the money that it brings into the country.

Hi @AsimAlvi,
You're lucky it wasn't rejected.  About 90% were. Unfortunately, I don't think they will be releasing anything until the offices open in December. But all of this is from what I'm reading, I don't know for sure.  Just hang tight and fingers crossed.

Hi AsimAlvi....

There are several ideas about this...I'll list the possibilities from best to worst.

1) They will release the letters once the RMOC is eased and "tourists" or perhaps certain people with "business" in Malaysia can re-enter without quarantine. That would allow those with "approval" to complete the final stages in their process (Health Check and Fixed Deposit) within the 6 month period they allow to complete this.

2) They won't release them until they complete the review of the program but will "grandfather" those already approved under the old terms.

3)  They won't release them until they complete the review of the program but will require those already approved to fulfill whatever new terms they introduce.

4) They will cancel the letters not sent out and require reapplication under the new terms released in December (or later).

5) They will cancel the letters not sent out but not announce this until December-January, and require previous applicants to reapply under the new terms.

I would point out that people assume that those not yet notified have been "accepted". It seems that those that had Malaysian Addresses were notified, but those with foreign addresses were not. So amongst those that were not sent Letters there could be acceptances, but there could very well be notices of rejection.