MM2H, from the ministry's own pages
MM2H is a long-stay visa, not a property programme. That distinction matters more than anything else on this page, because it is the expensive misunderstanding: holding an MM2H pass does not exempt you from any state’s minimum purchase price, and it does not exempt you from state consent.
The figures below are taken from the four category pages on the ministry’s own portal, each showing a footer date of 10/02/2026.
The four tiers
| SEZ / SFZ | Silver | Gold | Platinum | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed deposit | USD 65,000 (aged 21–49) USD 32,000 (aged 50+) |
USD 150,000 | USD 500,000 | USD 1,000,000 |
| Participation fee (one-off) | RM 1,000 | RM 1,000 | RM 3,000 | RM 200,000 |
| Residence you must buy | A property in Forest City, Johor.The official wording is that the floor price is “subject to Johor state property acquisition policy” — no figure is given. See below. | RM 600,000 or above | RM 1,000,000 or above | RM 2,000,000 or above |
| Pass length | 10 years | 5 years | 15 years | 20 years |
| Business / investment | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Permissible |
| Employment | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Permissible |
| Renewal fee | RM 300 | RM 1,500 | RM 3,000 | RM 5,000 |
Source: mm2h.gov.my/category/sez · mm2h.gov.my/category/silver · mm2h.gov.my/category/gold · mm2h.gov.my/category/platinum. All four carry the footer “Last Update: 10/02/2026”.
Conditions that apply to every tier
- Half the deposit can be released. Up to 50% of the principal may be withdrawn after approval, for buying a residence, education, medical and tourism purposes.
- The property cannot be sold for ten years. The official wording is “Selling of the residence is not allowed for 10 years”, the single exception being an upgrade to a higher-value property. Breach means the pass is revoked.
- 90 cumulative days in Malaysia each year. For the 25–49 bracket the ministry states this may be satisfied by the principal and/or their dependants.
- A medical check-up is compulsory for the principal and every dependant after approval, at a MOTAC-appointed clinic or hospital.
- Dependants: spouse; children under 21 (those aged 21–34 must be unemployed and single while in Malaysia); medically certified children with disabilities, no age limit; parents and/or parents-in-law. Platinum may additionally bring a foreign maid.
- Incoming funds, such as the fixed deposit, are tax exempt.
- On the death of the principal the pass is transferable to next-of-kin among the registered dependants.
Three places the official material contradicts itself
What does the Forest City (SEZ / SFZ) tier actually require you to spend on a home?
So this page will not give you a number for that tier. If you are going down that route, have your licensed MM2H agent get the applicable floor confirmed by MOTAC in writing, and keep the reply.
Can you apply without a licensed agent?
The booklet passage sits among renewal and add-on procedures while item 3 addresses new applications, so the two may not be in real conflict. On the face of the words they do not agree, so both are printed.
Is the minimum age for SEZ / SFZ 21 or 25?
A rule that works against my own interest
MOTAC’s SEZ/SFZ terms document contains this sentence:
“Applicants are required to purchase houses directly from property developers and not through real estate agents or existing owners.”
It is quoted here in full because, read literally, it rules out my side of the transaction. There are at least two ways to read it: that it bars only subsale purchases, or that it bars agent-assisted primary purchases as well. I do not know how MOTAC applies it in practice, and I could not find any official clarification.
So if you are taking the SEZ/SFZ route, confirm the point yourself with MOTAC or your licensed MM2H agent. Do not treat it as settled because an estate agent told you it was. I have a conflict of interest here and I am the wrong person to interpret that sentence for you.
Source: MOTAC, “Terms And Regulations Under Special Economic Zone / Special Financial Zone Category” (PDF). The document carries no date; the URL path is 2026/01.
How to tell that an MM2H page is out of date
The programme was rewritten three times in five years and a great deal of what still ranks describes rules that no longer exist. The quickest test:
If you see a RM1,000,000 deposit or RM40,000 a month in income quoted as current, you are reading the 2021 rules.
The current rules set the deposit in US dollars (USD 32,000 / 65,000 / 150,000 / 500,000 / 1,000,000), have no income test, and make buying a home compulsory. All three together, or it is not the current version.
Where MM2H meets the property rules
Three points, because this is where most of the confusion lives:
- MM2H does not override the state floor. Silver requires you to buy at RM600,000 or above — but if you buy in Johor, the state floor for a non-citizen is RM1,000,000 per unit. Both conditions apply; you do not get the lower one. See section 2.
- MM2H does not remove the need for state consent. For land-law purposes an MM2H participant is still a foreign interest and still goes through section 433B.
- MM2H does not exempt you from the 8% stamp duty that has applied to non-citizen, non-PR buyers of residential property since 1 January 2026. See section 3.
Terms are defined in the glossary.
Six things to settle before you sign anything
- The deposit is not your down payment. After approval you may draw at most 50%, and only for a residence, education, medical or tourism. The other half stays locked until you leave the programme. Budget on that basis rather than assuming the deposit converts into the purchase price.
- Breaching the ten-year bar costs you the visa, not a fine. The official wording is “Failure to comply to any of the terms will result in the MM2H pass to be revoked”. Sell the property and your right to live here goes with it. The only exception is upgrading to something more expensive.
- Submission is over a counter, in a two-hour window. MOTAC’s booklet gives the address as the MM2H Centre, Level 1, No. 2, Precinct 5, Putrajaya, and submission hours as 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM on working days only. This is not something done online or by post.
- Changing agent requires a release letter. The booklet states that if you previously engaged an agent and now wish to proceed independently, a release letter from that agent is required before submission. Ask how the release letter is obtained, and whether it costs anything, before you sign with an agent.
- Medical insurance is compulsory under 60. The booklet’s document lists carry “Health insurance (exempt for age 60 and above)”. It is an annual cost and belongs in your holding-cost budget.
- There is a renewal fee before the programme term is even up. While the programme years are still running, the sticker is renewed every five years at a visa fee of RM0–RM50 depending on nationality plus a fixed pass fee of RM500 per year. The renewal fee in the table above is the one that applies after the maximum programme years are completed.
Two things are worth doing regardless: get a written quotation itemising what is and is not included, and check the licence yourself against the agent register on mm2h.gov.my rather than accepting a screenshot.
Questions people actually ask
Does holding MM2H let me buy a cheaper property?
No. This is the expensive misunderstanding. The MM2H property floor (RM600,000 on Silver) and the state foreign-buyer floor are two independent conditions and both must be met.
Concretely: you hold Silver and want to buy in Johor. Silver requires RM600,000 or above; Johor requires RM1,000,000 per unit from a non-citizen. You must buy at RM1,000,000 or above. The higher figure governs, not the lower one.
Can the deposit be used to pay for the property?
Half of it, and only after you have been approved as a participant. The permitted purposes are buying a residence, education, medical and tourism. The official processing time for a deposit withdrawal is three working days, and the documents include the payment receipt or sale and purchase agreement, a copy of the pass, the deposit certificate and the bank’s lien confirmation letter.
Is the ten-year bar really absolute?
The official wording is “Selling of the residence is not allowed for 10 years”, and the only opening is upgrading to a higher-value property. Breach means revocation.
Read it alongside the capital gains position in section 4: a foreigner pays 10% from the sixth year onwards and never reaches 0%. So when the ten years are up and you do sell, there is still 10% to pay.
How long does an application take?
I could not find an official processing time for a new application. What is verifiable are the client charter times MOTAC publishes for the subsequent procedures:
Renewal (five-year extension) 30 working days; adding a dependant 30 working days; permission for a dependant to study 14 working days; deposit withdrawal 3 working days; termination 3 working days; transfer of endorsement 1 working day.
If an agent guarantees a timeframe for the initial application, ask them to put the source in writing. I could not find one.
What gets an application refused?
I could not find an official list of refusal grounds, so I am not going to give you one.
What is verifiable are the stated baseline requirements: age (25 and above for Silver, Gold and Platinum; 21 and above for SEZ/SFZ), the medical examination, and security vetting through Immigration and the Home Ministry. Why applications fail in practice I have no first-hand information on, and the “nine most common rejection reasons” lists circulating online are not something I could verify.
If the rules change again, will the new ones apply to me?
I do not know, and I am not going to guess. The programme has been rewritten three times in five years — 2021, 2023 and 2024 — and none of those were small changes. How existing participants were treated at each rewrite is something I could not find official transitional provisions for.
This is a six-figure decision locked in for ten years, and the stability of the rules is an unknown. That sentence is itself information; please put it in your risk assessment.
What this page cannot do
Everything above is the general rule. General rules do not decide your unit. Tenure, state, price and developer have to be read together before there is an answer, and all four have to be checked one at a time.
One more thing worth saying plainly: I am not a lawyer and I am not a tax adviser. This section collects the official material, dates it and cites it so you know which questions to ask. Before you sign anything, have your own solicitor confirm it against your contract.
If you want a specific development checked, WhatsApp me or send an email.
Louis Koh · 11 years in Malaysian property
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