MM2H 2026 requirements by tier: the practical checklist

The MM2H 2024 reform replaced the old single-tier programme with four distinct tiers, each with its own financial bar, visa length, and design intent. By 2026 the framework has settled enough that we can publish a clean year-stamped requirements page — one a family can actually act on, not the brochure version that leaves the practical questions unanswered.

This is that page. Each tier below shows the headline numbers, the qualifying conditions, the dependents framework, and the operational details that come up in our consultations week after week. If a number changes mid-year we'll update this post in place rather than rewriting it elsewhere.

At a glance — the 2026 numbers

Tier	Fixed deposit	Property min.	Visa length	Min. age	Stay req.	Work rights
Silver	USD 150K	RM 600K	5 years	25+	90 days/yr	None
Gold	USD 500K	RM 1M	15 years	30+	90 days/yr	None
Platinum	USD 1M	RM 2M	20 years	30+	90 days/yr	Yes
SEZ Johor	RM 500K	RM 500K (SEZ zone)	10 years	21+	90 days/yr	SEZ industries only

The 90-day annual presence rule applies to every tier — counted as cumulative days inside Malaysia per calendar year, tracked by immigration entry-exit records.

Silver — the accessible entry tier

Headline numbers

• Fixed deposit: USD 150,000 placed in a MOTAC panel bank
• Property minimum: RM 600,000, anywhere in Malaysia
• Visa length: 5 years, renewable
• Minimum age: 25
• Right to work: none

What Silver is actually for

Silver is structured as the accessible long-stay residency tier. It works well for:

• Retirement-age families looking for a comfortable, long-stay base without working in Malaysia
• Younger families piloting a relocation before committing to higher tiers
• Singles or couples without immediate family relocation, who want optionality

What's often missed in the Silver brochure

• The USD 150K fixed deposit can be partially withdrawn after 12 months for approved purposes — property purchase, children's education in Malaysia, medical expenses — with the balance maintained at the minimum.
• The RM 600K property requirement is a minimum, not a fixed figure. The property does not have to be purchased on day one — it can be acquired during the visa period under specific conditions. Most families purchase early to lock pricing.
• Silver applicants can include spouse + unmarried children under 21 + parents/parents-in-law as dependents. This is unchanged across tiers.

Gold — the longer-horizon family tier

Headline numbers

• Fixed deposit: USD 500,000 in a MOTAC panel bank
• Property minimum: RM 1,000,000, anywhere in Malaysia
• Visa length: 15 years, renewable
• Minimum age: 30
• Right to work: none (employment pass needed separately if working)

What Gold is actually for

Gold is the tier for families with a clear 10-15 year horizon. The longer visa removes renewal friction during the children's school years and reduces the cumulative cost of the application work.

Typical fit:

• Families with school-age children who will go through Malaysian or international school in Malaysia
• Pre-retirement professionals planning to phase out work over a decade
• Families with multi-generational planning — parents joining adult children's household

What's often missed in the Gold brochure

• The Gold deposit can also be partially withdrawn after 12 months, on the same conditions as Silver. The absolute amount available for withdrawal is larger.
• Gold is not a path to permanent residency. None of the MM2H tiers convert into PR. Families who specifically want PR need a different track.
• The 15-year visa renewal at year 15 is not automatic — it's a fresh review, with the financial and presence requirements re-tested.

Platinum — the HNW tier with work rights

Headline numbers

• Fixed deposit: USD 1,000,000 in a MOTAC panel bank
• Property minimum: RM 2,000,000, anywhere in Malaysia
• Visa length: 20 years, renewable
• Minimum age: 30
• Right to work: yes, in approved categories

What Platinum is actually for

Platinum is the only standard MM2H tier with work rights baked in. This makes it the natural choice for:

• HNW families where the principal applicant intends to continue working — typically as a director or senior executive, often for a Malaysian or regional operation
• Investors planning to establish or operate a business in Malaysia
• Families who want the longest possible visa horizon (20 years) and the operational flexibility of work rights without juggling a separate employment pass

What's often missed in the Platinum brochure

• "Work rights" is not unlimited. Approved categories cover director / executive / professional services / specific investment activities. Day-trading on a beach is not work rights; running a regional ops office is.
• The USD 1M deposit + RM 2M property = roughly USD 1.5M total committed capital before any other living costs. This is the right tier for some families and overkill for others — being honest about which is your situation matters more than the brochure ranking.
• Platinum dependents include the same family structure as Silver/Gold, but the higher financial bar means the dependents' education and lifestyle expectations also scale up. Plan accordingly.

SEZ Johor — the geographically-anchored tier

Headline numbers

• Fixed deposit: RM 500,000 (ringgit, not USD) in a MOTAC panel bank
• Property minimum: RM 500,000, within a gazetted SEZ zone
• Visa length: 10 years, renewable
• Minimum age: 21
• Right to work: yes, but only in approved SEZ-zone industries

What SEZ Johor is actually for

The Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone (JS-SEZ) tier is the newest MM2H pathway, designed for families whose centre of life will be in southern Johor — typically because of proximity to Singapore. The financial bar is lower in absolute terms (RM 500K vs. USD 150K+), but the geographic constraint is real.

Typical fit:

• Singapore commuter families wanting a Johor-anchored household
• Post-2020 Hong Kong relocators choosing Johor over KL or Penang
• Forest City / Iskandar Puteri property owners formalising long-stay residency
• Senior staff being deployed by Singapore-based parent companies into SEZ-zone operations

We have a dedicated SEZ Johor explainer for families considering this tier specifically.

What's often missed in the SEZ Johor brochure

• The property must be inside a currently-gazetted SEZ zone. The zone list has expanded since rollout — verify against the latest MOTAC and SEZ-authority gazette at the time of your application.
• The lower minimum age (21) makes SEZ Johor the only tier accessible to families with a sub-30 principal applicant.
• "Work rights" here means SEZ industries only — not anywhere in Malaysia. Working remotely for a Singapore employer from a Johor home is the typical pattern.

Dependents — common across all tiers

The dependents framework is consistent across Silver, Gold, Platinum, and SEZ Johor:

• Spouse of the principal applicant
• Unmarried children under 21 (extendable through tertiary education in specific cases)
• Parents and parents-in-law of the principal applicant or spouse

Each dependent is added to the principal application — they do not file independently. No additional fixed deposit is required per dependent.

The 90-day annual presence rule

Every MM2H tier requires 90 cumulative days per calendar year inside Malaysia. Some practical notes:

• The 90 days is cumulative across multiple entries, not a single 90-day block.
• It is tracked by immigration entry-exit stamps. There is no separate logging requirement.
• Days spent in Malaysia by dependents do not count toward the principal applicant's 90 — each visa holder has their own 90-day target.
• Failing to meet 90 days in a given year does not automatically void the visa, but does trigger a review at renewal.

This rule is the most important behavioural change from the pre-2024 MM2H — the programme is now designed for families who actually live in Malaysia, not for dormant visa holders.

Application timeline — what to expect

For a clean profile (all documents in order, no flagged background items), the typical end-to-end timeline is 3 to 6 months:

Phase	Duration	What happens
1. Document preparation	4–8 weeks	Income, tax, banking, family, and health documents assembled and translated where required
2. MOTAC submission	1 week	Application filed by your licensed agent
3. MOTAC review	8–12 weeks	Conditional approval letter (CAL) issued on approval
4. Fulfilment	4–8 weeks	Fixed deposit placement + property purchase + medical check
5. Visa endorsement	1–2 weeks	Sticker issued on passport

Faster timelines happen — we've closed clean files in 10–12 weeks total — but families should plan around the 3–6 month window and bring patience to the queue stage.

Switching tiers later

A common question: can I start on Silver and upgrade to Gold or Platinum later?

The short answer is no, not in-place. A tier change requires a fresh application under the new tier's track, with the new tier's fixed deposit, property, and processing. In practice this means choosing the right tier at the outset matters more than the brochure suggests — we walk through this in detail at the consultation stage.

SEZ Johor is its own category: you cannot convert a Silver/Gold/Platinum visa into SEZ without re-applying, and vice versa. Each track is independent.

Where the requirements may shift

The MM2H 2024 framework has been stable through 2025 and into 2026, but specific operational details — panel bank list, SEZ-zone gazette, accepted property types, document checklist — do shift quarterly. Before any major financial commitment, confirm:

1. The current MOTAC panel bank list (your agent should be able to provide this)
2. Whether the property you have in mind currently qualifies for the tier (SEZ-zone status, property value benchmarking, freehold/leasehold considerations)
3. The current Ministry-of-Health-approved medical examination centres for your geography
4. Any tier-specific updates issued by MOTAC in the past 90 days

This post will be updated when the headline numbers or rules change. Last reviewed: May 2026.

Where to go from here

If you know which tier fits your family, book a consultation and we'll walk through the application work end-to-end.

If you're not sure which tier fits — most families aren't, at first — read our tier comparison piece or bring your family situation to a consultation. The right tier depends on five things: timeline, family composition, work status, property plan, and where in Malaysia you intend to live. Thirty minutes of conversation usually clarifies it.

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Anthony Liew (劉榮發 / 刘荣发) is President of the MM2H Consultants Association and founder of WellHome MM2H, a MOTAC-licensed agent (MM2H0591). WellHome has served 1,000+ families from 50+ countries on Malaysia long-term residency, property, and education planning.