KFH boost for 'Malaysia, My Second Home' scheme

KFH boost for 'Malaysia, My Second Home' scheme


By BUSINESS TIMES

KUWAIT Finance House (Malaysia) Bhd (KFH) and the Tourism Ministry have introduced a financing programme aimed at "Malaysia, My Second Home" (MM2H) participants.

"The KFH MM2H Hijrah-I programme is designed to provide participants full access to all banking and other financial facilities required during their stay in Malaysia," KFH managing director K. Salman Younis said at the launch of the new programme by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

External products and services including accommodation, education, medical as well as vehicle services will also be packaged into this programme.

"MM2H Hijrah-I's participants will benefit from the hassle-free services, before and after their application have been approved," Salman said.

Apart from the Tourism Ministry, KFH is collaborating with other local and foreign companies especially for education and property under this programme.

"We have established a joint venture with a South Korean property developer to sell two en-bloc condominiums to South Korean tourists in Malaysia. We also plan to promote this programme in other foreign countries where we have opened our KFH branches," Salman said.

KFH will help MM2H participants to expedite the process of obtaining visas.

"The Government will try to approve the visa application (of MM2H participants) within a month as we know that they need to do various security check-ups in order to stay in this country," Tengku Adnan.

He said last year, 1,728 foreign nationals have been accepted to participate under the MM2H programme, mainly from China, Bangladesh and the UK.

The ministry's target is to attract 100,000 under the MM2H programme by 2010.

There are two categories under the programme: Participants aged below 50 years and those above 50 years. A foreign national is required to provide a deposit of between US$75,000 and US$150,000 (RM257,250 and RM514,500) to participate.

"They can withdraw their money after a year's stay in Malaysia with approval from the ministry," Tengku Adnan said.