Registering a company
 

Salam all

I've been in Malaysia for just over a year now and soon my studies at college will be finished. I'd love to stay and set up a company here but I am unsure of how to do it and what restrictions there are on foreigners such as myself setting up shop. Sadly, most of my friends here are locals and thus don't know themselves so I'm stuck.

My main issue is that my visa is attached to my college, once my course finishes so does it. Thus my main concern will be how do I issue myself one via a company. I'm not keen on shuttling back and forth to Singapore or Thailand... not just for the inconvenience but also the legal issues.

I am a British citizen, though I haven't been back 'home' for three years odd now, if that helps in any way.

Any help at all will be greatly appreciated.

Jack

Re: Registering a company
 

Salam to you too.

I'm afraid I don't know the answer to your question. Maybe someone else can help out hopefully. I would've thought they'd be pleased for someone to open a business. Best of luck.

Re: Registering a company
 

Thank you, I'm sure there must be someone here.

One of the reasons I'm choosing to stay put is that Malaysia is one of the most open countries to new business, Indonesia comes out slightly ahead. Given the sad state of affairs back home I think getting a foot in the door in Asia is wise, plus it's much cheaper here for impoverished students :-D

How knowledgeable are you on visas? If the worst comes to the worst is shuttling back and forth to Singapore or Thailand a good idea? I remember living in the UAE having to make the occasional trip to Oman when siblings visas ran out but they used to bar you after your third entry. I assume Malaysia operates along the same lines; maybe turning a blind eye once or twice.

Jack

Re: Registering a company
 

Probably not a good idea doing visa runs if you intend to work. You'll need some kind of work permit. Anyway... we shall await some other responses. Don't blame you wanting to escape ol' Blighty though. We'd had enough in 2005 and I think it's got worse still now.

Re: Registering a company
 

Friends of mine have been advised that 'this is the last time we'll stamp your visa' when doing the visa run more than 3 or 4 times.
But I've read many posts on here?? and elsewhere where posters reckon they've had no problem doing it for years.

Not worth it imo if you intend a long stay.

Re: Registering a company
 

hello Jack,

I'm a local KL guy. I do not know of any restrictions for setting up a company, only your passport is required. But i do know it costs slighty more for expats, perhaps there is a gov-gov beaurocracy, that's why, maybe tax purposes.

My advise would be to do it using a properly registered company secretary. There are many such companies providing company registration and they do all the paperwork, which would otherwise be quite a headache.

Also, these service companies i mentioned above usually have several pre-registered companies, of random names, and these you can acquire and begin business almost immediately ( within days ).

Hope this helps.
Ta.
~ Jalil ~

Re: Registering a company
 

Good info Jalil and welcome to BE :) It's nice to have some info from a "local"... very helpful :thumbup:

Re: Registering a company
 

A simple search produced the following link:

http://www.readycompanies.com/Business-Visa.htm

Re: Registering a company
 

What type of company are you setting up, will you be employing locals or just setting up on your own?

You are far better off doing things legitimately and my advice would be to research it thoroughly.

If you go the route that Jalil suggested it will be a company with an SDN BHD moniker on it, the following wiki page carries this quote:

"Malaysia uses Sdn. Bhd. (Malay: Sendirian Berhad), meaning "private limited", which is the equivalent of an incorporated entity in the U.S."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorpo...%28business%29

This route will be more expensive as you will be liable to pay yearly company secretary fees and these cannot be avoided.

The other alternative does not require you to secure the services of an exterior company secretary is setting up a private enterprise. This is easily done by locals and can cover a multitude of business opportunities, however I am unsure of the possibilities for a foreigner to do the same.

I would advise you to go to an official government department that deals with business start ups, unfortunately I am staying in Penang & I don't know the correct address for your location.

I would try to avoid the services of a middleman as these guys often say they have inside knowledge on many things & they try to charge you an introduction or administration fee for services rendered that you could do yourself much more cheaply with a bit of research & legwork.

I imagine KL is the same as Penang with many foreign owned restaurants, why not try to visit one & see if you can glean some info from the owners.

Whatever you do I wish you luck.

Re: Registering a company
 

Just did some minimal research online & it appears that the Enterprise route is only for Malaysian citizens.

Re: Registering a company
 

Thank you all very much, it's starting to come together now.

I do agree with TopHattedCat, you could probably do it yourself much cheaper. I know that locals are allowed to set up for a few hundred and it's very easy. Us 'foreigners' who have made our homes here have a tough time. That said I also agree with Jalil that having someone to do the paperwork for you is probably worth the cost.

I did find these guys who seem to be quite open about what they do and don't seem to hide any charges:

http://www.companies.com.my/packages.asp

That said it is far cheaper than the 'off the shelf' one Davita found so I have my suspicions that they may rack up the charges to me later on. I also found other 'off the shelf' companies that were cheaper as well. If anyone knows someone who can recommend me someone then that would be useful. I'm sure that as long as they are registered members of the regulating body then it'll be fine.

Also, in answer to TopHattedCat's questions; yes I will be looking to employ people as well as myself but right now it's mostly for the visa.

Again, thank you all, anything else you find will be very helpful.

Jack

Re: Registering a company
 

@bakedbeans

thank you for the welcome. i take it the quotes on the word local is an honour :) thank you again.


when i was doing business with my american partner, he frequently travelled to singapore and jakarta, doing his rounds, and this keeps his visa alive. he never had any problems, and so i guess business people should not have any problems if you stick to the known rules.

in Kuala Lumpur or Klang Valley, there are lots of people some from countries i cannot even pronounce, so visa should not be a problem. overstaying i think is a problem in probably any country in the world, so you want to avoid that.

PM me your nature of business, i may be keen. we can meet if the business fits into my dream and you are game. if not, then it's alright, i do what i can to help in return for good treatment i received while living in UK many eons ago.

what i miss most, is British humour ! not to mention fish & chips of course.

Re: Registering a company
 

I've emailed a company sectary asking my questions and will report back here. Looks like my initial outlay to have it all done will be about 2k plus.

Jalil, I don't mind sharing some of my ideas here if that's alright. I'm also quite happy to pay you in British humor :-D And fish and chips... dory doesn't quite cut it like cod does...

I've always been a strong believe in enterprise that helps people while at the same time not being adverse to actually earning money via helping the helpless.

When you were in the UK you may recall seeing enterprises like Big Issue which work with the homeless to get them a wage by selling magazines. The homeless people earn a commission for every mag they sell or buy the magazines at bulk prices and keep the profit. They are looked after to some extent and are helped to enter the job market proper by biulding back their confidence.

I think that there is a huge issue with homeless here and, frankly, the government doesn't do enough nor do people. You may remember the headline in The Malay Mail where the government made the comment that they couldn't help homeless people becuase they were mentally deficient and thus not their problem. This is of course not true and I think that the homeless etc here are an 'untapped' workforce.

There is a project that works with former drug addicts and get's them to run a night market and I think something similar could work well for the homeless. There are plenty of high demand low skill jobs for them, food stalls spring to mind, that they can't enter themselves becuase a) they have no money for start up and b) no one will take a look at them.

Oh, to make it clear, I am completely against 'exploiting' such people! Yes, I'll pay myself and yes, I'll try and make money but I'm not talking slave labor or anything here! If you like, I believe in charity through enterprise and helping people help themselves :-)

That's just one of my ideas, I have more if you want to contact me. I'm also free for meet ups etc. In fact, anyone reading can send me a message to my email. But regardless, your help has been very useful to us all.

Jack

Re: Registering a company
 

Somewhat orf topic but as you have mentioned it, I rather like dory in fish n chips.

Re: Registering a company
 

That sounds just about the right figure to start a Sendirian ( Private ) Berhad ( Limited ) or Sdn. Bhd. company.

I would put a ball park figure of about 3k to start going a small business, the other 1k is for name cards, stationaries, lipsticks and what not. Unless you're a maniac about logos and stuff like that, nowadays, these designs are easily self made and the printers can take from your pc into a real world cards and letterheads within the hour.

Good Luck Captian.


It sounds very good. I was a bit cautious not to ask for you to divulge your business ideas in public just in case you might have some plan to take over giants like Dunlop or Nestle for example, alas, it is just a social service business you are planing. Still, i like it very much, and so i will be in touch with you pretty soon.

Thanks Much.