Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia has introduced aPremium Visa Programme (PVIP) to attract wealthy foreigners to investand reside in the country for a period of 20 years, according to the country's Home MinisterDatuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin.

The ‘Residency Through Investment’ programme, the first ofits kind introduced by the Malaysian Government to drive the country’s economicgrowth, will be open for applications from October 1, he was quoted by local media as saying.

Hamzah said PVIP targets business tycoons from allcountries except for Israel and those that do not have diplomatic ties withMalaysia.

He said participants of the programme will be givenbenefits in the form of visa approval for up to 20 years, permission to study,permission to purchase real estate for residential, commercial or industrialpurposes, and make active investments in permitted fields.

Hamzah said in order to ensure that the PVIP does notundermine national security and the country’s sovereignty, his ministry has seta control policy, including the introduction of a ceiling on the number ofparticipants - comprising principals and dependants - to not exceed 1%of the total number of Malaysian citizens.

The programme is open to all participants of all agecategories with proof of having an offshore income of at least 40,000 RM, equivalentto about 8,900 USD per month.

Among the other conditions is to have a fixed savings accountwith a deposit of at least 1 million RM, with no withdrawals allowed onthe principal value for the first year, while up to a 50% withdrawalfrom the principal value will be allowed after that for the purchase of realestate, or health and education purposes.

Hamzah said his ministry targets at least 1,000participants in the first year of the programme./.