also called my second home · second home programme
A category of residence programme, found across Southeast Asia, that grants a multi-year stay to foreigners who park a large deposit or buy property rather than work locally.
A Second Home visa is a residence programme, common across Southeast Asia, that gives you a multi-year stay in return for parking a big deposit or buying property, rather than working locally. It sounds like a golden visa and gets confused with one, but the terms differ sharply even between neighbouring countries using the same name. It is a lifestyle-and-money route, so it usually will not let you work locally and it locks your deposit away for years.
You compare Second Home schemes and assume Malaysia's works like Indonesia's because they share the name. When you read the fine print, the required deposit, the length of stay and whether you can touch the money are all different, and the plan you built for one country does not fit the other.
Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia all sell versions under this banner, and the terms, deposits and rights differ sharply between them despite the shared name. It is a lifestyle-and-money route, so it rarely lets you work locally and the deposit is locked up for years. Compare the specific country's scheme, because Second Home means something different in each.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These grant residence without working locally, in exchange for wealth, income or a purchase.
A golden visa is granted for a qualifying investment, and second-home programmes across Southeast Asia work the same way through a deposit or property: Malaysia's MM2H, its higher-income PVIP, Cambodia's CM2H, and the Cambodia E-class long-stay visa.
A non-lucrative visa is for people who can support themselves without working, and a retirement visa is the version for retirees showing a pension.
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