View of landed homes in Malaysia.
While the common route for overseas Singaporeans is to rent homes in their adopted countries, those who can afford and are legally allowed to own homes or land overseas can take advantage of property immigration visas in the following countries.
1) Malaysia
The Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) scheme makes immigration easier with the MM2H visa, which is open to Singaporeans. It requires each applicant to have a monthly income of over RM10,000 (S$3,406). Applicants under 50 must have liquid assets of above RM500,000 (S$170,337), while those over 50 must have assets of above RM350,000 (S$119,457).
If you have bought Malaysian residential property worth RM1 million (S$340,674) or more, you must produce proof of ownership and full payment of the property. It must also have been purchased within five years of your MM2H visa application. For complete information, visit the official MM2H website (bit.ly/NSv5ng).
2) Philippines
To qualify for an immigrant visa to the Philippines, you must be married to a Filipino, a former citizen of the Philippines who is now a naturalised citizen of another country, or a former Philippines PR. There is also the Special Resident’s Retirement Visa (SRRV), for which you must be at least 35 years old to qualify.
If you are legally married to a Philippine citizen, you may construct a residential unit on a parcel of land owned by and / or registered in your spouse’s name. Natural-born former Filipinos who are SRRV holders may each own a maximum of 5,000 sq m of urban land and 3ha of agricultural land. The full details of this visa are on the Philippines government website (bit.ly/15HCpe5).
3) Spain
Like in Malaysia and the Philippines, property in Spain is significantly cheaper than in Singapore. For example, €1.35 million (S$2.02 million) can buy a four-bedroom villa with a private swimming pool in a prime location (all properties are freehold). This is seven times cheaper than the average four-bedroom Sentosa Cove bungalow.
Asian buyers of property costing a minimum of €500,000 (S$747,217) can apply for the “golden visa”, which allows them to stay in Spain for five years and travel freely within Europe on the Schengen Visa. Singaporeans who want to migrate to Spain can take this route as it gives them time to get used to the local culture and language and to find employment in the country.
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