MM2H and choosing a school in Malaysia

What MM2H is, in published figures

Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) is Malaysia’s long-term residence pass for foreigners, administered by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC). As relaunched in June 2024 it has three tiers — Silver, Gold and Platinum — with fixed deposits of US$150,000, US$500,000 and US$1 million respectively, a mandatory property purchase of at least RM600,000 / RM1 million / RM2 million held for 10 years, and pass durations of 5, 15 and 20 years. The minimum applicant age is 25.

Two qualifications matter for school planning. First, state-level foreign-ownership floors can override the tier minimums — in Kuala Lumpur, for example, foreigners generally cannot buy below RM1 million regardless of tier, so the Silver tier’s RM600,000 floor is not usable in the most-demanded locations. Second, Sabah and Sarawak run their own separate programmes with their own rules; the federal tiers above do not cover East Malaysia.

Demand is documented: 7,650 MM2H applications were lodged between October 2024 and August 2026, 50.3% of them from China (Deputy Minister of Tourism, September 2026). Foreign students in Malaysian international schools reached about 30,000 in 2024, of whom roughly 8,000 were from China (Ministry of Education figures reported by Nikkei Asia, May 2025).

What this means for choosing a school

Your pass tier does not restrict which school your child can attend — schools admit on their own criteria. What the programme changes is where you can live and what you must buy, which in turn decides which school clusters are practical. Most relocating families concentrate on the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur and Selangor), Penang and Johor — the same clusters where this directory’s coverage is deepest.

• Check the school’s fee basis, not just its headline fee: Malaysian schools bill per term (usually 3 a year), per semester (2) or per year, and many publish separate Malaysian and international prices. This site shows both prices and the school’s own billing basis on every page.
• Budget for one-off charges: application, registration and refundable deposits are substantial at many schools and are itemised in the first-year total on each school page here.
• Confirm the student-pass and guardian arrangements with the school directly. Schools routinely support student passes for enrolled children; a parent’s own status (MM2H or otherwise) is a separate immigration matter that the school cannot settle for you.
• Treat any agent who bundles “free” school placement with a property purchase with care: the placement advice is paid for by someone. School data here is never sold and no school can pay to be listed or ranked.

A note on certainty

MM2H was suspended in 2020 and relaunched with materially different rules in 2024. Rules can change again; the figures above are the published rules as reported in October 2026, not immigration advice. Verify your own position with MOTAC or a licensed MM2H agent before committing to a property purchase — the property holding period is 10 years.