NeonHippy

I'm a Brit living in the UK and about to retire. My wife and i have decided for a variety of reasons that we would like to resettle in Malaysia and after a quick tour down the west coast of the peninsula this summer have picked on Penang. We are about to start our application and are gutted that MM2H.info has shut down. There was so much useful info there. I've decided to note on this forum how we go about the application for others to follow. I will try and post details of each step followed by a comment on the outcome. If successful that will be it but if we get a challenge at any stage I'll post details of how we solved the issue.

Someone will probably tell me this should be a blog but I haven't figured out how to do that and I'm not sure blogs are as visible as posts.

NeonHippy

Ok where to start. The application form would seem a good place but there is one piece of information that will take time to get and that is the Letter of Good Conduct so I'll start there.

If you google LGC in the UK you will find your local constabulary will have a message that they do not issue letters of good conduct. You do get two other options though. The first is known as a Subject Access Request (SAR) and the application form is available from your local constabulary. It costs £10 and can take up to 40 days. The alternative is a ACRO Police Certificate. The form can be downloaded from http://www.acro.police.uk/police_certificates.aspx. The cost here is £45 but only takes 10 days. This is the mandatory route for a visa for a number of countries and probably the one that will be needed for the Malaysian Authorities. It is the one we have chosen to apply for. If anyone has managed to get MM2H with a SAR please let us know.

JC3

Hi Neon Hippy,

That's a great idea and will be helpful to many people I'm sure.

Pick of Penang (a Brit) did something similar a couple of years ago and his blog has some very useful tips on applying for MM2H - See:

Pick of Penang

Good luck with your application

JC3

bakedbean

Great initiative Neon

I think the problem with blogs AND forum posts is keeping the info up to date. Rules change, bloggers get bored and bugger off to somewhere else, etc etc. so that's great to get up to date info from someone doing it now (Neon). That was another plus for my2home with newbies always posting about their visa experiences.

NeonHippy

Thanks JC that is a very useful link with the kind of detail that I am hoping to post. As BB says things do get out date and I certainly found some of the links are now broken so I feel this is worth doing again.

One snippet in the blog that is relevant to post #2 is that the SAR will be accepted by MM2H. So applicants who plan ahead can save money but in my case the timing doesn't work so I'm happy to pay the extra and get my LGC quicker.

NeonHippy

NeonHippy

With the LGC application in the post the next thing to think about is the application letter. I've looked at a few examples and they seem to vary from very brief to nicely detailed. I prefer to put as much detail in as I can to ensure that MoTour understand what I want, how I've tried to meet their requirements and for any variance why I believe I am offering an equivalent alternative. I've attached a redacted copy of my application for others to use as a template. It should be obvious from what is left the kind of thing you need to write to fill the spaces Key points are

• Address the letter to MoTour
• Briefly describe who you are are what you are applying for
• State the criteria you are applying under
• Describe why you want to live in Malaysia
• List anyone else coming with you and those not coming
• Describe how you will meet the income and savings requirements
• Summarise your finances in an easy to read table
• Sign the letter and give your passport number
• Optional: List the enclosures

Given the poor interest rates in UK bank accounts these days few will have £70,000 languishing in the bank but MoTour should accept shares (ISAS) as a liquid asset. But it doesn't hurt to state this explicitly.

teejaydee

It is likely that I shall soon be applying for an mm2h visa, so I will follow your progress with much interest.

One question: Is there a need to supply a birth certificate (either original or certified copy)? I do not have my birth certificate so if it is needed I could be in trouble. Presumably MoTour need to check your age, but perhaps they do this from other documents (e.g. passport).

bakedbean

Great stuff Neon

Another good place to get info on applying is on the Joy-Stay website. Actually an agent, but worth looking at the site even if you are doing DIY. Here's a link:
Malaysia My Second Home

JC3

Hi NeonHippy,

I read your draft application letter. Here's some suggestions:

1. Avoid the detail. Keep it very simple. Remember it will be read by someone whose first language is not English.
2. Do not say anything negative, it may create unnecessary alarm.
3. If you intend to buy a house, apartment, car etc in Malaysia, say so. Malaysia wants you to spend your money here.
4. Add a table detailing your financial capability to your cover letter, e.g. that lists your Liquid Assets, Fixed Assets, Current Annual Income, Current or Future Pension Income (show all values in sterling and RM). Whilst this is optional, I think it can help to quickly illustrate you are wealthy enough to support yourself in Malaysia which is basically what they want to know.
5. Remember the MM2H visa is available to people who are still working in their home country and possibly just want a second home in Malaysia, it's not only for retirees who plan to live in Malaysia full time. So you can use your current salary (if still working) to help meet the criteria now.
6. Add your 'phone number so MM2H staff can call you with any questions if necessary.

Good luck

JC3

NeonHippy

Hi TeeJayDee, attached is the current checklist from the official web site. My reading of this is that you do not need to include your birth certificate only for accompanying dependents under 21. I presume to prove they meet the dependents criteria. Also the list includes your parents if they accompany you to demonstrate that they are over 60.

Don't forget also that if you are bringing your wife as a dependent you will need to include a certified copy of your marriage certificate. Good luck if you do decide to go for MM2H

NeonHippy

You can always get a copy of your birth certificate from https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/

NeonHippy

Thanks JC3 I will revisit my letter with these points in mind.

teejaydee

Many thanks for your response NeonHippy. I agree with your reading of the birth certificate requirements. I am surprised they do not want the birth certificate of the applicant, given the two paths (over and under 50) towards the mm2h visa. I would have thought they would wish to be sure an applicant claiming to be over 50 was indeed over that age. They are presumably happy to take the date of birth from the applicant's passport as proof.

Thanks also for the link to the source of replacement birth certificates. I think I should get one anyway, as it is useful to have in case it is needed for other purposes.

NeonHippy

Document Certification

Our police checks came back last week, so it was time to get everything printed out, collected and checked prior to getting the required documents certified. The purpose of certification is to verify that any copied material is a true copy of the original. So in theory if you submit original bank statements or payslips they do not need certifying. However the MM2H website clearly states that certified copies of bank statements and payslips are required so I would suggest that to avoid any confusion you get these documents certified even if they are the originals.

But in this internet age everything is stored on line so I didn't have actual originals of my bank statements or payslips. Fearing this might be a problem I emailed MOTAC who quickly replied stating a stamp on the bank statement or a letter from the bank would be helpful. HSBC were less than helpful, suggesting that I get my GP to verify their bank statement as it is their policy not to certify statements. A demand to see the manager eventually got me a letter stating that the attached documents were my last three statements and that it was not bank policy to certify them.

HR were kind enough to stamp my payslips so that just left the printout of my investments which comprise the bulk of our savings and are needed to meet the RM350,000 for three months criteria. This I thought might be troublesome so I prepared to go armed with the login details on my phone to demonstrate to the person certifying the documents that they were a true record.

Now a frequent comment about MM2H is that the rules keep changing. Earlier posts that I have read implied that certification could be done by a UK solicitor but that is certainly not indicated by the current MM2H information. If you are in Malaysia then certification can be done by a range of professions but the only one listed for The UK is the Malaysian consulate in London. I decided to play safe and plan a trip to London. The address is 45 Belgrave Square, Westminster, London SW1X 8QT. When you get there the bit you need is down in the basement between House numbers 45 & 46 (see photo).

You need to visit the consulate in the morning to register your documents for certification. Aim to arrive around 10:00. Go down The steps and head for the reception desk. You need to sign the register and then sit down and wait to be called by the receptionist. This person's role is to triage the visitors so eventually your name will be called and after ascertaining that you require certification of documents you will get a ticket with a number. What they don't tell you is that the four lanes are for different purposes and they each have a different number sequence. Imagine my surprise having seen the ticket display click from 15 to 16 and then be handed ticket number 405! It was actually only a short wait from 404 to our being called. Proceed down the hall to your allocated booth. You will need to hand over the ticket before the clerk will talk to you. Each document to be certified will cost just £3 so the total cost is not high but they only accept cash so be sure to go to the ATM first. You will need a copy of your passport certified along with a copy of each dependant's passport. If any of the passports are less than a year old you will also need to get a copy of the old one certified. The clerk will check each copy against the original so don't forget to take your passports. You also need to get copies of all the documents pertaining to any dependants certified. That is marriage certificate for spouse, birth certificates for children under 21 or parents over 60. Again be sure to take the originals for comparison. Finally you need copies of the last three payslips, current account bank statements showing the salary pass through your account and a statement showing the equivalent of RM350,000 in liquid assets for at least three months. My fears over this last one were soon dispelled when I handed over the money. At this point your original documents will be returned to you along with a slip of paper giving you a time to collect your certified copies. This will be in the afternoon, in our case 3:30 to 4:00. This whole process only took about 30 minutes.
When you return in the afternoon, there is no need to get a ticket just return to the same counter and your documents will be returned with a stamp on every page.

bakedbean