JC3

The following may not help you much Chocolate Orange I'm afraid (good luck anyway), but others may wish to note:

MM2H participants are allowed to withdraw part of the required Fixed Deposit from the second year onwards (RM50,000 for aged 50 years and above) / (RM150,000 for aged 50 years and below) for approved expenses related to house purchase, car purchase, education for children in Malaysia and medical purposes. They have to maintain the balanced RM100,000 (for aged 50 years and above) / RM150,000 (for aged 50 years and below) of Fixed Deposit until they terminate from MM2H Programme.

Also (separate from MM2H) I think Master & Ph.D Student Pass holders are allowed to bring their dependents during their study period in Malaysia (i.e. spouse, children, mother and father).

Anyone forumers know if this 'privilege' is also possible for younger students?

JC3

SushiFan

This is not entirely correct. If you are here on an MM2H visa and wish to work part time you need prior approval from the Government before you can start your work. You can find the application procedure on the Government MM2H website:
Apply For Part Time Job - MM2H Official Portal
(apparently are MM2H holders below age 50 not allowed to apply for a part time job)

ChocolateOrange

Oh dear. Well, the MM2H clearly isn't an option for us then.

We might have to look at re-entering the country every 90 days then! We will need to do some more research then because I am not sure we could rent a house or send the kids to school without a visa?

We are just in our infancy of trying to work this out but sadly we have to make a decision within the next 3 weeks. It doesn't give us a lot of time!

Harlow Lad

Try six months to 1 years in Singapore just to settle down first. We been doing the rat race on the bridge since 2013. Sadly last xmas period was the worst disaster traffic mayhem ever. Having said that the rest of the year was alright apart from occasional holiday seasons.

ChocolateOrange

I just don't think we can afford to live in SG. Too expensive. 5 of us on 1 mediocre salary. School fees there are excessively high - which would take over half our wage. $60k+ on school fees!! That's 176k rn. That's a ridiculous amount of money.

We don't want to be in the position where we're working just to live.

He won't be commuting every day, only 160 days a year as he's got a post which requires a lot of SE Asian travel. We thought the shuttle: KTM Train from Johor Bahru to Singapore JB Sentral - Woodlands 2016 Times Fares

Gunnar45

I think there is an option to get a visa as a caretaker for a young student.
I met an Australian couple some months ago who told me they had their minor aged son studying here in Penang and consequently got a visa as custodians.
With such a visa I think one is free t travel in and out unhindered....
Maybe an idea would be to try o get some info from one of the schools?

Harlow Lad

Yes JB will work fine for you guys. Bear in mind that you need a car here. Forget about the public transport here in JB. He need to get drop off & pickup at the train station. As long as you don't intent to drive your Malysia car in to Singapore you'll be fine. Only the EP holder are allow. Hope this info help.

Harlow Lad

Don't forget to produce a marriage certificate. It's a very conservative country. I don't think they practise civil partnership here.

ChocolateOrange

Thank you so much for all of your help

Marriage cert + copy + cert copy is all ready lol. We had to do that for Australia.

Will look at edu visas too

Gunnar45

Looking at your other thread regading unresponsive school, why not write to several schools and ask about edu visas, not necessarily only in JB...
At least one of them should respond.

bakedbean

As Gunnar says, get on to some schools and ask about visas. Best of luck

Also noted that you don't want to Work to Live but, assuming that you have no income coming in right now, this is an option. And, who knows, once you are here, other opportunities/paths may open up. Asia is a growth area and if your husband is travelling other things may come up for the future.

bakedbean

How's it progressing, ChocolateOrange? Are you coming here?

ChocolateOrange

Hi BakedBean,

We are hoping for a contract by the end of this month. HR have been dragging their feet somewhat because there've been a few stumbling blocks. It transpires there's no room in the SG office for him so his contract would need to come from HK with him working from home in Malaysia. However we've had to employ a tax person in KL because we'd be subject to a double tax treaty. That's all been sorted so we're expecting a contract within the next few weeks.

However, now that we definitely know there's no room in the SG office for him, should we stay in JB? Effectively we can be based anywhere in the world (except Aus/NZ) so we're wondering if JB is the best place?

SushiFan

Be careful which location you select if "working from home in Malaysia" implies that you need solid and/or high speed internet connection.

ChocolateOrange

Yes it does imply that. I've heard that internet can be hit and miss?