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Old Nov 6th 2014, 7:12 am
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Hi folks, first time poster so please be gentle with me.

Me 48 and girlfriend (of 25 years, just haven't got round to it yet...) who is 45 would love to live at least part of the year in Malaysia. I will hopefully be retiring in my early 50's so I would love to start getting some info sooner rather than later.

We have been to Malaysia numerous times KL, Langkawi, KK, Perhentian Islands all on holiday and while we probably prefer Thailand we see Malaysia as a far safer option long term as we get older. Malaysia IMO is certainly more stable.

I have saw the MM2H and there's an awful lot to consider whether it would be suitable for us. My initial thoughts are this. When we retire ( and I know this is years away, but may come sooner) we would fly to KL then look to rent somewhere and this is where I get bogged down.

Can you get a short term rental? Say 6 months?
How easy is it to get?
What's the desposit?
Where in KL?
Would Penang be cheaper or more desirable?
Malacca?
KK?

Is it just a case of going online (which I certainly will do of course) and doing tons of research or just literally just stepping into an agent in KL

Sorry if this post is a bit long winded and vague but any help and info will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
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Old Nov 6th 2014, 9:02 am
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Default Re: Newbie

Hi and welcome to the forum - the Malaysia members are especially gentle so no problems there!

If you haven't already done so I would read all through the "Why retire in Malaysia thread:-

http://britishexpats.com/forum/retir...laysia-716186/

It has lot of intesting information including members views on the very question you ask. I think I even posted my first impressions somewhere in this thread.

Good luck - IVV
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Old Nov 6th 2014, 12:45 pm
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Hi and welcome and yes we will be gentle

As IVV said, have a good read through existing topics, especially in the Retirement section. Actually, I'll shift this topic into the Retirement section, if that's ok.

Yes MM2H is a good visa and it gives you many options. You don't have to live here full time. Some of us do, but you'll find plenty of folks who are doing 6 months here and 6 months elsewhere (UK, mainland Europe, Aus). And you can always change mind later and chuck in the visa and get your deposit back, if it doesn't work out. As you are 48? Might be better to wait till 50 though and do the lower Fixed Deposit amount.

You mentioned Penang and Melaka.....well best just to check them out and see if you get a good feel for the places.
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Old Nov 8th 2014, 5:49 am
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Thanks BB

I know it's a little way off, but time does seem to fly these days doesn't it. The MM2H looks a great visa (bit of a minefield mind) and I think at present we would like to divide our time between the UK and Malaysia, the obvious being summer in UK and winter in Malaysia. How easy is it to take 6month rentals in Malaysia?

Many thanks
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Old Nov 8th 2014, 8:44 am
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Hi and welcome. You can find some useful info in the malaysia forum if you search for 3 months rental (sorry I couldn't figure out how to paste a link).

You can also find good deals on 'short term rentals' if you google those words combined with 'penang'. As a brit just about to retire and take up the mm2h visa I suggest you also take a look at a thread that has been on here recently about taxation. If you can sever most of your ties in the UK and spend no more days than is allowed for your residual ties you can escape taxation on your pension and savings. The hmrc website has good help on residency, domicile and taxation. You may well find that the tax saved will cover rental on a 12 month contract so your malaysian abode will be essentially free.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 7:43 am
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Default Re: Newbie

Originally Posted by Geordie Nomad
When we retire ( and I know this is years away, but may come sooner) we would fly to KL then look to rent somewhere and this is where I get bogged down.

Can you get a short term rental? Say 6 months?
How easy is it to get?
What's the desposit?
Where in KL?
Would Penang be cheaper or more desirable?
Malacca?
KK?

Is it just a case of going online (which I certainly will do of course) and doing tons of research or just literally just stepping into an agent in KL

Sorry if this post is a bit long winded and vague but any help and info will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
I have the impression that most expats in KL work there, and that, like in most large cities, it is more expensive place in which to live than a smaller community.

I do not know enough about Malaysia to judge which is "better", but even if I did, it of course comes down to personal values and preferences. Malacca would be too small for me.

As for KK, and anywhere else in Sabah and Sarawak, to live there you need a different visa, which is possibly harder to get insofar as it requires sponsorship from someone else there.

In contrast, the regular (conditional) MM2H visa for West Malaysia seemed easy to get; we did it ourselves and it was accepted (conditionally on the deposit, health coverage, etc) just a month after we applied. The hard part for us has been setting up the fixed deposit from abroad; HSBC has been a spectacular failure by wasting months of our time until near the deadline and (repeatedly) failing to deliver (but we partly chalk that up to the chilling effect on HSBC of the US Government recently fining HSBC tens-of-billions for money laundering and threatening to remove HSBC from the US financial markets & payments system). As we are running out of time, we gave-up on HSBC and we scrambled to find two very responsive banks out of reach of Uncle Sam: OCBC, which is a first-rate Singaporean bank that is probably more safe than any major bank in the West but requires a minimum initial deposit of MYR300,000; and Bank of China, which *remotely* opened our bank account in Malaysia in one day with minimal documentation and information (just scan of passport & our MM2H approval letter, and a one-page form requesting name, address, phone, occupation and self-declared income).

Based on our experience, get an early start on setting up your bank fixed deposit for MM2H and be prepared to make more than one trip to Malaysia for it, or else go with a bank we mentioned above. The HSBC Premier International "Global View" system sounded like a great, convenient way to arrange our bank account & FD in Malaysia, but as I say, HSBC has taken months and thus failed us. It is also a very invasive process compared to OCBC or BOC, even though we're already HSBC Premier clients in Canada. No, we are not money launderers or Americans or tax dodgers, all of which HSBC seems uber-paranoid that anyone might be.

Rentals... we'll be looking too, soon. I've been told that rentals aren't hard to find, probably because of the Malaysian construction boom and recent overbuilding, plus expats are very desirable because they're perceived to be better-than-average tenants and take better care of the rental.

Good luck with the mm2h application and hunting for rentals.

Last edited by montakute; Nov 9th 2014 at 7:49 am.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 9:22 am
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Default Re: Newbie

Not sure if you are American, Montakute, but as a British and French couple we got the MM2H deposit organised at HSBC within a week. HSBC split the deposit into 2 separate accounts, RM100K and RM50K so I guess it could also be split between 2 separate banks. They did this because you can later use RM50K for approved expenses - house/car/medical.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 10:09 am
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Not American; I think HSBC won't accept Americans, at least not anymore.
I am Canadian and I'm already an existing HSBC Premier client in Canada.

The problem isn't setting up the FD, as we never even got that far with HSBC.

Rather, the difficulty is opening an HSBC account in Malaysia through the HSBC Premier International Desk. We were initially told it would take two weeks, but it turned out it's a matter of months (and still not done) not a couple weeks. If you didn't do this recently, it may have since changed. I understand that HSBC is now run by lawyers, not bankers, since the US DOJ decided to take down HSBC for alleged money laundering.

Last edited by montakute; Nov 9th 2014 at 10:13 am.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 11:56 am
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Default Re: Newbie

Originally Posted by InVinoVeritas
so I guess it could also be split between 2 separate banks.
I don't think you can do that. Also (new rule this year) you cannot switch your FD to another bank now. So, eg if you place FD with Maybank, you are now stuck with Maybank for the life of the MM2H visa. Bummer.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 5:20 pm
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Default Re: Newbie

Originally Posted by montakute
Rather, the difficulty is opening an HSBC account in Malaysia through the HSBC Premier International Desk. We were initially told it would take two weeks, but it turned out it's a matter of months (and still not done) not a couple weeks. If you didn't do this recently, it may have since changed. I understand that HSBC is now run by lawyers, not bankers, since the US DOJ decided to take down HSBC for alleged money laundering.
I also was an existing Premier customer (France) but it only took a week to open an HSBC Premier account in Penang. This was only in Oct 2013, so I'm a bit mystified by your experience. Glad you found a way around it though.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 5:24 pm
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Default Re: Newbie

Originally Posted by bakedbean
I don't think you can do that. Also (new rule this year) you cannot switch your FD to another bank now. So, eg if you place FD with Maybank, you are now stuck with Maybank for the life of the MM2H visa. Bummer.
Probably not then. There are just too many rules, though I still think Malaysia is less rule-bound than Europe.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 6:34 pm
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Originally Posted by InVinoVeritas
I also was an existing Premier customer (France) but it only took a week to open an HSBC Premier account in Penang. This was only in Oct 2013, so I'm a bit mystified by your experience. Glad you found a way around it though.
This is with the KL Main branch of HSBC, but don't know if that's where the holdup is since the HSBC process is very opaque.

Banking has changed enormously since Oct 2013. You now have FATCA adopted globally (July 2014) and, in the case of HSBC, the landmark US action against it (which is highly significant because the US controls the global reserve currency and payments system). Many more banking changes are coming soon because through the G20, OECD and other forums, most countries in the world have agreed to new banking regulations to gradually take effect between 2015-2017, similar to the EU Savings Directive but on a global scale. The net effect is that in many countries banks are becoming increasingly concerned about the accounts of non-residents or foreign nationals.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 6:39 pm
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Default Re: Newbie

Originally Posted by bakedbean
I don't think you can do that. Also (new rule this year) you cannot switch your FD to another bank now. So, eg if you place FD with Maybank, you are now stuck with Maybank for the life of the MM2H visa. Bummer.
Bummer indeed because some banks will probably fail or experience bail-ins in the coming years.

If you cannot switch your FD, and your banks goes under or does a "bail-in" of your deposit, then what happens? With your FD gone, is your MM2H visa canceled? Will you have to buy another FD elsewhere with new funds to satisfy the requirement?

Last edited by montakute; Nov 9th 2014 at 6:42 pm.
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Old Nov 9th 2014, 6:41 pm
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^^ I do not mean to change the subject or hijack this thread, so please consider my post(s) above just a rhetorical question.
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Old Nov 10th 2014, 11:56 am
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Aren't deposits up to a certain amount protected in Malaysia?
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