BEVS

Congrats from me too. I'd share a few in lieu of BB being there but far to far away in New Zealand.


One day perhaps for all of us.

bakedbean

You want to retire to Penang?

NeonHippy

The provisional letter will come with a set of standard clauses that are all covered in the mm2h.gov.my Web site so should not hold any surprises but to precise them, you will have six months to complete the requirements in section 3 and go to Putrajaya to collect your visas. The social visit pass will be issued for the duration of your passport upto 10 years. You may not participate in any political cal or sensitive activities and after 1 year you may withdraw RM50,000 of the RM150,000 fixed deposite. And of course you must not commit any crimes.

In section 3 there is a list of each of the fees and documents required to be presented when you go to Putrajaya. I will cover each of these in separate posts as and when we complete them.

First up is the fixed deposit. And the first question to be answered here is which bank to use? This can be confusing as each will display their rates and charges in different ways and with different bands for interest rates etc. So unless you have a very tight reign on how you use your money it is impossible to predict which will be cheapest to use whilst paying the best interest on funds you hold with the bank. But as a general rule you will get slightly better interest rates from malaysian banks than you will the international banks. So if your money is not based in the UK one of the national banks may offer slightly better deals.

On the other hand if like me you are emigrating after spending most, if not all, of your working life in the UK and your savings and pension are UK based then picking a UK bank that operates internationally will be a better bet as it can make moving your funds a bit easier in some circumstances. When we looked into choosing a bank a couple of years back there seemed to be two to choose from. These were HSBC & Lloyd TSB. We chose HSBC and this seems to have been a good choice as I have not come across a L/TSB bank in Penang whilst there are three branches of HSBC on Penang Island (interestingly there is a branch of RBS right next to the HSBC branch in Georgetown so if you are an RBS customer already that may be another option).

In the UK I could never see the advantage to being a premier customer with HSBC but with banking needs in two countries it starts to make more sense. As you will need to keep RM100,000 in a fixed deposite account (RM150,000 initially) you are already half way there as you only need RM200,000 to be a premier customer in Malaysia.

So with your provisional letter in hand go to HSBC. Branches in Georgetown, near the airport and over by Butterworth are set up for premier customers, do not use the branch in Tanjung Tokong next to Island Plaza. I can recommend the Georgetown branch. The relationship managers there are fully used to MM2H and the requirements. Ours suggested without prompting that we should put our MM2H FD into two separate accounts of RM100,000 and RM50,000 to make it easier to withdraw the second part after 1 year. She was also very comfortable with setting up a third FD of RM50,000 so that we have established the requirements for premier customer earning 3.x% interest and we only need to keep a minimal sum in the premier account for day to day living. To get to the bank take a bus to Jeti and head away from the bus station into Georgetown until you get to Beach Street (Lebuh Pantai), turn right and you will find the HSBC Bank on the corner with Lebuh Downing.

The following working day you will be able to pop back in and collect your debit card, security device and the a/c number. Your relationship manager will walk you through the process of activating everything. Also remember to ask for the swift code so you can transfer money into your account.

The one downside to banking with HSBC is that there are few HSBC ATMs around and you will be charged by the other banks if you use your HSBC debit card in their ATM to draw cash. Once settled I will probably open a local account with a small sum of money just for ease of access to cash.

NeonHippy

For this next section I am deeply indebted to Pick of Penang although as it turns out some of the information in that excellent blog is now out of date so I will explain changes here. The reason for recommending HSBC in Georgetown is that everything else you need to do is in either the immediate vicinity or a short bus ride away.

Having visited HSBC to activate your account, exit through the door in Lebuh Downing, turn right towards the post office which is on the same side of the street as HSBC. You need to go through the second entrance, queue for a counter and buy a RM10 stamp which is fixed to the ST form. It is a good idea to fill in the forum in advance as your signature needs to be witnessed. Oops missed that one but our ever friendly relationship manager came to the rescue. Filling in the forum is a bit of a challenge and sadly the link that pick of penang gives to the now defunct mm2h forum run by Scott no longer works. The form seems to be the same one used for both individual application and application through an agent and makes much more sense if read from the perspective of an agent. It is also very repetitive. Here are the answers I wrote, if this proves to be wrong at a later date I will post an update. Fill the blanks in the following way:-
"Social Visit Visa", your name, your address, your name, RM1500 (may differ depending on your nationality), "Social Visit Visa, your name, your passport number, your address, your name,"Social Visit Visa", your name, RM1500, leave blank, date, "Penang", "Penang", your signature, witness details.

With the completed form now with a stamp attached you need to go back up Lebuh Downing and turn right along Lebuh Pantai. Proceed almost to the end of the road and opposite the immigration building is the chamber of commerce. Go up to the forth floor and explain to the receptionist that you want to get your form chopped. The receptionist will direct you to a bench where you fill in another buff coloured form. It is in Malaysian but the receptionist will help you. With both forms ready the receptionist will give you a ticket. Wait for your ticket to be called and proceed to the displayed counter number. Hand both forms over. Your SB form will get chopped (stamped) and handed back to you.

Your next stop is a clinic for a medical. The clinic mentioned by pickofpenang is no longer there but if you return back along Lebuh Pantai past the HSBC bank there is a clinic on the right hand side of the street directly opposite the Malaysian Tourism Office. They will perform a medical and fill out the form for you. The cost is just RM 60.

Finally you will want to organise medical insurance. I will deal with that in the next post.

montakute

Hi NeonHippy,
Great info. Here are the notes from the old my2home site on how to fill in the security bond form (this format worked for me in Nov 2014):

Where's it is a condition of the issue of a MM2H SOCIAL VISIT PASS to me the said NAME OF APPLICANT (PRINCIPAL) of ADDRESS OF APPLICANT (PRINCIPAL) IN MALAYSIA that there furnished by me / on behalf of the said NAME OF APPLICANT (PRINCIPAL) security in the sum of (RM ......) as a guarantee that I / the said will comply with the provisions of the above Ordinance and of any regulation made there under and with any conditions imposed in respect of or instructions endorsed on such MM2H SOCIAL VISIT PASS pass.

Now I, NAME OF APPLICANT'S SPOUSE NRIC No SPOUSE'S PASSPORT NO of ADDRESS OF SPOUSE IN MALAYSIA do hereby bind myself that I / the said NAME OF APPLICANT (PRINCIPAL) will comply with the provisions of the above Ordinance and of any regulation made there under and with any conditions imposed in respect of or instructions endorsed on such MM2H SOCIAL VISIT PASS pass. And in case of my / the said NAME OF APPLICANT (PRINCIPAL) making default therein, I hereby bind myself to forfeit to the Government of Malaysia the sum of (RM ......) Which I do hereby deposited with the Government of Malaysia vide Receipt No ..........

Dated this ..... day of ...Signature of the abovenamed..Etc.
Witness signature, etc.

Another thing from the old my2home site: the OP originally did the form wrong but ... "When we went to immigration, we were told that we hadn’t filled the Security Bond correctly. No matter, said the lady at the desk, while she whitened out the “wrong” portions, handed me an Instruction Sheet (sample form with generic filled in portions), and had me write the “correct” things on the whitener!" The thing he had done incorrectly was not specifying the spouse's name and passport in para 2. Nice to know that it might be ok if not done perfectly.

We received the Instruction sheet referred to above with the Conditional Letter of Approval.

We initially put our Canadian address in both address fields but the Hasil/Tax office told us to put a Malaysian address for the spouse's address. So we put the address of our hotel in KL as the spouse's address.

NeonHippy

Thanks Montacute. I wish I had this info yesterday. Hopefully they will let me correct it at immigration but for the cost of a Rm10 stamp I might just do it again.

Kjarkata

I have now got the MM2H conditional approval letter. As part of next step, I need to fill in the security bond form (applicable to direct applicants) and I am not sure how to fill it correctly.
1- I do not have an address in Malaysia, the sample form indicates address of applicant/sponsor/witness "Address in Malaysia". Can I give the address of the KL-hotel where I shall be staying, should I also maintain the name of the hotels as well.
2- Can my wife sign in place of sponsor, I donot have a sponsor and have applied directly.
3- In KL, from where can I get the medical form signed by the medical clinic
4- Any recommended insurance companies
5- How to get around from KL to MM2H immigration office located at Putrajaya, MALAYSIA

Appreciate and thank you for all the advise I can get on how to complete the next steps.

montakute

Hi, Congrats on your conditional approval! Here are my answers based on our experience Nov 2014:

1- Yes. We used our KL hotel address. We used the street address and did not indicate the name of the hotel.

2- Yes your wife can sign in place of sponsor. See post# 35 above in this thread for details how to fill out the security bond form.

3- I found a clinic via google maps - I searched nearby our KL hotel for 'klinik'. I called a couple in advance to confirm they could do the report, their opening times and price. We were staying in KLCC and Klinik Wisma was nearby. 20 minutes to do report, cost per person: MYR 70, closed 1 to 2pm, walk-in, Address: Wisma MCA,163, Jalan Ampang, +60 3-2171 1868. Take your passports.

4- Our goal was to get/pay the minimum required so we used Pacific Insurance Berhad and got Medi-Major coverage. You can find their premium charges on their website ::: The Pacific Insurance Berhad ::: KL office phone +60 3-2176 1188. Go to level 5 at Menara Prudential, you can simply walk-in. Assuming you do not have a current illness/disability, you should have your insurance within an hour (unless you go at noon-time because staff takes a lunch break). Use your hotel address for this also. Take your passports!

5- If you are downtown KL, consider calling Putrajaya Taxi 03 8888 4000 to take you. They were much cheaper than the taxi from our hotel. From KLCC it was 30min-45min one way. Our taxi driver was willing to do some local fares in Putrajaya and then come get us. So we checked with immigration to see how long it would take and arranged a time for the taxi to come pick us up again. Although immigration is open until 5 pm, arrive well before 4:30 since they cannot process any payment after around 4:30pm and check other open/closing/lunch times of course.

bakedbean

Montakute

....and Welcome to the forum and Congrats, Kjarkarta

Kjarkata

Montakute/Bakedbean, thank you for the valuable information, much appreciate it.

Kjarkata

Good Day,

I am an HSBC premier customer and am planning to open the bank account in KL for the fixed deposit and obtain the necessary documents from them. I would appreciate help & guidance from any one who had gone through the account opening process with HSBC KL.

In addition I do not have an address in Malaysia, would this be at issue or will I be able to use my current address which I have maintained at HSBC premier account.

Davita

I did just that with HSBC KL a few years ago and an hour before going to get the MM2H visa. The Premier Section assisted me to open the account; internet global transfer the funds from Canada HSBC; gave their best exchange to MYR and fixed the deposit in 2 parts with any interest going into a separate account.
I also added a third FD which, coupled with the 2 liens to the Malaysian MM2H plan, gave KL HSBC the Premier status for global service, as it was less than the Canadian requirement.
We were staying at a hotel (but they filed my Vancouver address) and we left Malaysia the next day.
I still maintain the account but have transferred the Premier status to Jakarta and liquidated that 3rd FD. At least that's what I called it....my wife called it shopping.

NeonHippy

I also bank with HSBC but until a couple of weeks ago I did not have a premier account. I walked into HSBC in Penang and asked to open a premier account We were assisted by a relationship manager who opened a premier account for us and as soon as the money was transferred from my UK account she opened two FDs for the MM2H (RM100000 & RM50000) and I created a third for another RM50000 to ensure that we were established as premier customers. If you are in Malaysia this is a very quick and simple process. But check out the branch before you go as, certainly in Penang, not all branches of HSBC have a premier centre. You can open the account with your current address, during the account opening process simply choose to have all statements and correspondence sent via email only. You can always change this and give your Malay address at a later date.

However, if you are still in your home country your current relationship manager should be able to help you. At least in the UK HSBC advertise that they will open accounts for their premier customers in other countries free of charge. This may take a bit longer but at least you will be able to arrange it from the comfort of your armchair and have one less thing to worry about when you go to KL for your MM2H pass.

Note - you will need a letter from the bank for each of the MM2H accounts stating that the money can only be withdrawn with authorisation from MoTAC. This might be a bit harder to arrange from home so establish this is possible before opening the account from home. Or request that the letters be held in the branch until you are able to call in to collect them.

Tom747

Hi fellow MM2H mates,

Just got my Status approved. Well actually already back in December, but it was well into February when I found out. It took several emails to and phone calls until finally someone responded and when they investigated they found out the the conditional approval letter was sent out early February but came back a few days later, as the house number was combined with the zip-code in the address....! Anyhow, it should be on ist way once again now.

Thanks NeonHippy for the helpful information. What is the Advantage of HSBC Premier versus a normal customer? Is it worth while to deposit some extra cash in Malaysia?

Does anyone have experiance with rapatriating funds out of Malaysia? Is it pretty straight forward or are there restrictions and if yes what are they?

Davita

With Premier account you can e-transfer funds from any HSBC Account to any other...free of charge. You can then set-up different currency accounts in the recipient branches and get the relationship officer to email when he/she sees an appropriate exchange rate to transfer to the local currency....or set up an auto buy/sell exchange rate.
It is called Global View, where all HSBC accounts world-wide are shown on one page for comparisons....and transferring from one to the other is simple navigation.

I've used ATM's in Jakarta to draw money from Malaysia...but you have to accept the ATM's exchange rate as the money comes out in IDR...I'd think it the same whichever country's ATM was used.
My preference would be to use the Global View transfer and, as above, exchange to that local account currency when you 'like' the rate.