After Motac cancels MM2H licenses, Sabah aims for its own foreign residency process

KOTA KINABALU, June 6 — Sabah is looking to bypass national Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) licensing process and come up with its operating procedure for the state’s iteration of the programme after the federal government ordered all the cancellations of all licensed agents.

Expressing displeasure, Sabah’s Tourism, Culture and Environment minister Datuk Christina Liew said that the “abrupt disruption” has caused much inconvenience to the state, forcing it to delay the launch of the much-anticipated version of the MM2H programme initially scheduled for June 1.

In a statement today, Liew said that the state wrote to the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (Motac) to explain its initiative and plans to inaugurate the Sabah-MM2H programme last June 1.

“We requested a review of Motac’s decision to suspend the operations of licensed agents, especially the Sabah agents, some of whom still hold valid licences approved and issued by Motac.

“Failing which, my ministry will appoint and authorise state representatives to process the applications of potential applicants for the Sabah-MM2H programme,” she said.

Liew said the state had the vision to launch its own state MM2H programme on June 1 but Motac issued a circular on May 27, calling for the ceasing of operations of all its licensed MM2H agents, including those in Sabah and Sarawak.

She said Sabah wrote to Motac on May 28 to explain all its preparations for inaugurating the Sabah-MM2H programme by June 1 and requested a review of the decision.

On May 31, Motac replied to the state in a circular stating that no one can process new applications for the Sabah-MM2H programme until further notice.

“We were ready to roll out the Sabah-MM2H programme on June 1st, and many were looking forward to submitting their applications. We had already finalised the criteria for the programme three months ago.

“We were surprised when Motac suspended the operations of all licensed agents in processing new applications, with immediate effect.

“This unfavourable move has adversely affected our progress and intended launching of the programme as planned,” said Liew.

She said that her ministry had already engaged with the relevant departments and agencies, such as the Immigration Department, police, and Home Affairs Office on coordinating all the workflow to ensure Sabah-MM2H applications can be processed as smoothly as possible.