Malaysia's 20-year visa program to be reviewed following limited applicants

With only two applicants approved so far, the premium visa program had not matched the target set, Malaysia’s home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said as cited by New Strait Times.

The minister said there were no plans to suspend the program for now and he hoped to make improvements to it, adding that canceling it would be the last resort.

The premium visa program that allows foreigners to stay in Malaysia for up to 20 years was announced in September last year with the hopes of drawing rich investors to settle in the country, similar to the Golden Visa initiatives in Singapore and Thailand.

To be eligible for the program, foreigners are required to have at least 1 million ringgit ($220,000) in their bank account and are only allowed to withdraw 50% of that amount after a year for the purchase of property or to pay for medical and educational expenses.

In addition, they must have an offshore income of 480,000 ringgit a year.

Successful applicants are allowed to bring their spouses, children, parents, in-laws and domestic workers as dependents.

However, they will have to pay a one-off 200,000-ringgit participation fee, and a one-off 100,000-ringgit fee will be levied for each dependent.