As of August, 22,320 foreign nationals have been allowed to stay in Malaysia under the 'Malaysia, My Second Home' programme (MM2H).

Tourism and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz said they were from 22 countries, including China, Japan, Bangladesh, United Kingdom and Iran.

The majority were from China (4,187), Japan (2,880), Bangladesh (2,603), United Kingdom (2,016) and Iran (1,266), he said in a written answer to a question by Lim Lip Eng (DAP-Segambut), distributed at the Parliament lobby Tuesday.

Yesterday, Lim had asked for statistics on foreign nationals who migrated to Malaysia under MM2H since it was introduced in 2002, and the proposal to increase conditions for participation in the programme.

Mohamed Nazri said the ministry had no plans to change the criteria for MM2H in the near future.