Malaysia Investor Visa — PVIP

The financial condition has two limbs. On income: the applicant must show onshore plus offshore income of RM 40,000 a month, that is RM 480,000 a year, evidenced by the latest three months of bank statements; or, as an alternative to proving cash-based capacity, a total net worth of at least one billion ringgit.

On deposits: the applicant must open a fixed deposit account of RM 1,000,000 with a licensed bank in Malaysia, with no withdrawals allowed on the principal. All documents must be translated into English by the Institute of Language and Literature, or by a Malaysian Embassy or Consulate General abroad

A pass of up to 20 years, exempt from any minimum stay, allowing work, business, study and the purchase of residential, commercial or industrial property. The income condition may be replaced by total net worth of at least RM1 billion.

What is granted is a long-term residence pass with a multiple-entry visa, not permanent residence. The programme sets no age limit, and holders may make active investments in permitted fields.

The holder may bring a spouse, children, parents, and a domestic helper from their home country under the existing rules on foreign domestic helpers. The range of dependants is recorded in the dependants cell of this page.

Every application must go through an agency appointed by the Immigration Department of Malaysia; applicants cannot file directly. The list of appointed agencies is published on the department's portal.

The status can be ended at the holder's own request. The principal applies for discontinuation at the programme counter, or at the nearest Malaysian mission if abroad.

The pass is granted for up to twenty years with Multiple Entry Visa facilities, and is renewable. Dependants have a flexibility option: shortening the term from twenty years to ten years brings the participation fee down to RM 50,000, half the original RM 100,000 rate.

A dependant may join the programme before entering Malaysia, provided the endorsement is secured within six months of the conditional approval.

On the fixed deposit, a partial withdrawal of 50 per cent is permitted after six months from the date of the first PVIP endorsement, but only for three purposes — purchase of real estate, medical and educational — and only with a letter of recommendation from the Immigration Department

The programme exempts holders from any minimum staying requirement, and sets no age limit on participants.

A holder may work and carry out lawful business activities in accordance with Malaysian law, may study, may purchase real estate for residential, commercial or industrial purposes, and may conduct active investments in permitted fields.

Every application must go through an agency appointed and registered by the Immigration Department of Malaysia; the list of appointed agencies is published on the Department portal.

For those staying in Malaysia for one year and beyond, the Department accepts the Certificate of Good Conduct issued by the Malaysian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The definition of dependant covers four groups: the spouse of the principal; children below 25 years of age, whether biological, stepchildren or legally adopted; a disabled child regardless of age, with a letter of confirmation from a medical specialist or general practitioner; and the parents and parents-in-law of the principal.

The principal may additionally bring in a foreign domestic helper from their country of origin, subject to the existing foreign domestic helper regulations. Marriage and birth certificates must be translated into English and attested, or certified as true copies, by the respective Embassy, High Commission or Consulate General in Malaysia

The status this programme grants, whether a visa or a residence permit, does not replace the holder's passport. The holder still travels on the passport of their own country, so the figure below belongs to the Malaysia passport and becomes the holder's only once they are issued a Malaysia passport.

According to the Passport Index of Prosperous Intelligence, on data dated 30 September 2026, the Malaysia passport reaches 194 destinations without applying for a consular visa in advance. The figure combines three forms of entry and does not count an e-Visa that must be obtained beforehand:

It is therefore a measure of how easily the holder travels, not a count of visa-free countries in the narrow sense.

For comparison, on the same source and the same method of counting, the Vietnamese passport reaches 44 destinations. The two lists of destinations do not nest inside one another, so the difference is an indication rather than a list of places newly opened.

Prosperous Intelligence dates its data and advises checking with the destination’s official authorities before travelling.

The programme carries no tax regime of its own, so a visa holder position is settled by general tax law, and that law measures days of presence rather than the class of visa held.

The governing provision is section 7 of the Income Tax Act 1967, as interpreted in Public Ruling No. 6/2011 of the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia, dated 16 May 2011.

One sentence in that ruling belongs ahead of any figure, because it blocks the commonest misreading of a long-stay visa: citizens of Malaysia are not automatically tax residents, and the rules governing residence status still apply.

The ruling sets out four sets of circumstances, and an individual falling within none of them is a non-resident. The first, under section 7(1)(a): presence in Malaysia during the basis year amounting in all to 182 days or more, and those days need not be consecutive.

The second, 7(1)(b): presence of less than 182 days where that period is linked by or to another period of 182 or more consecutive days in the preceding or the immediately following basis year.

In that calculation periods of temporary absence count towards the period, provided the individual was in Malaysia immediately before and immediately after the absence.

The third, 7(1)(c): presence of 90 days or more in the basis year where, in three out of the four immediately preceding years of assessment, the individual was either resident under section 7 or present for 90 days or more.

The fourth, 7(1)(d), is the most counter-intuitive: an individual is treated as resident for a basis year if he is resident for the immediately following basis year and had been resident for the three immediately preceding basis years — so a person can be tax resident for a year in which he was never physically in Malaysia at all.

One counting rule is worth remembering: presence for part of a day counts as a whole day. The cell should be read within its scope: the source explains how tax residence is determined; it does not give rates, does not define the charging scope of income, and says nothing specific about PVIP holders

Participation fee of RM200,000 for the principal and RM100,000 for each dependant. A dependant who opts for a 10-year term instead of 20 years pays RM50,000, half the original rate.

The principal's fee is paid in two parts: RM2,000 at online registration and the RM198,000 balance. There is also a pass fee of RM2,000 a year.

Visa fees and the security bond depend on nationality. For Vietnamese passport holders, the department's table sets the single or multiple entry visa fee at RM13 and the security bond or bank guarantee at RM1,500.

The RM1 million fixed deposit with a licensed bank in Malaysia allows no withdrawal of principal. Six months after the first endorsement of the pass, up to 50 per cent may be withdrawn for property purchase, medical or educational purposes, with a letter of recommendation from the Immigration Department.

All documents must be translated into English through the Institute of Language and Literature, or through a Malaysian embassy or consulate-general abroad.