gerryliston

Thanks very much Hovite. I'm staying at Peak Vista.
​​​​​​​​I don't yet qualify for private messaging but I did locate a Damai agent and made contact yesterday. Compared to KL agents he seems more expensive and does not offer 100% refund if unsuccessful, but I guess the KK market is less competitive. I'll go and see him and also the Immigration Department and decide next week.
I hadn't planned on applying for MM2H until I got some minor hassle coming in this week, so I haven't got all the necessary documents with me and will have to try to assemble them from here. So I think an agent is likely to be the better choice.

Hovite

Hi Gerry, sorry to note you have had some hassle.
I was told that there are about 10 agents listed for Sabah but only 3 are active and there is not enough MM2H work to make a living so yes, it may be one factor why the rates are a little higher. I think you are right concerning the use of an agent. I wish you success.
Regards
Alan

gerryliston

Thanks again Alan for your advice and encouragement. I'll post how I get on. Kind regards Gerry

SushiFan

By now you have posted 3 messages. I believe that by reaching this level you are able to send private messages to other forum members.
Good luck with your MM2H application.

hamski

Could anyone kindly recommend a decent, reasonably-priced international tax advisor in Kota Kinabalu?
Ideally, the advisor would be very well-informed on investment matters.
Many thanks,
Andy

StillSearching

In Sabah, you can't apply without an agent.
There is a list of agents here:http://www.mm2h.gov.my/index.php/en/...istered-agents

Only 5 of them replied to me. Here is the range of prices:
ASIA DREAM (MM2H) SDN BHD
RM8,140

BORNEO HERITAGE (MM2H) SDN. BHD.
RM8,000

RIENDSTAR (MM2H) TRAVEL SERVICES SDN BHD
RM10,000 + RM5,000= RM15,000

LEISURE AVENUE (MM2H) SDN BHD
RM11,000 (50% refund)

MY LIVING HOPE (MM2H) SDN BHD
RM7,800 (full refund, paid as 50/50)

We talked to all of them. Three agents said that they don't think that our case will be successful because our passports are stamped in KL. Only one agent found right angle to our case and we've got our mm2h within one month.

You need to apply with all the documents collected. What country or countries are you collecting your documents from?

gerryliston

Thank you for the list of agents. I saw Leisure Avenue today. My case is not complicated and they were confident of approval within 3-4 weeks of submission.

I wasn't originally intending to apply on this trip and didn't come properly prepared with documents from the UK. However it seems I can get most on-line, but will need a get a friend to send on my annual pension statement which I left behind. I should have everything ready to apply next month.

The agent said however that once approval is granted, I have to go back to UK to get it from the Malaysia High Commission in London, then come back within 6 months for the various final formalities - i.e. even if I can submit all my documents from here and get permission while I'm here, I'll still need to make a trip to and from the UK. I'll need to explore whether there is a way around this if permission is granted while I'm still here on my 90-day tourist visa.

StillSearching

We were in west Malaysia while waiting for the approval in Sabah and didn't need to go out of Malaysia.

gerryliston

Thank you. Did this require paying Immigration a 'Journey Performed' fee, which if I can do it in KK would be much cheaper than a return journey?

StillSearching

No, we didn't pay for it; our MM2H paper states "-" for Journey Performed Visa.
We only payed RM720 for Social Visit Pass Fee for two of us.

RedApe

Still Searching: OK I'm a bit confused. The Annual Visa Fee is RM90 isn't it? So a ten year visa is at a minimum RM900. But you have two persons...so shouldn't your total be RM1800....unless your eligibility is less because of the term of your passport.

So did you both have 4 years? RM90x 4 = RM360 X 2? That would be RM720.

Re. The Journey-Performed Fee...it should not be charged for UK citizens or most Commonwealth nations. In fact, except for a limited number of Commonwealth states (e.g. Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh which require visas upon entry) it should not be charged at all. Gerry, being a UK citizen, should not be required to pay the fee.

Sometimes US Citizens get charged, sometimes not. Apparently there are two separate directives (lists) on this. In one, the US is listed as a requiring visa before entry for purposes other than tourism...in another it states US travelers are visa-exempt. However, I got charged the fee. Sarawak Immigration stated I needed a one-time single entry visa, not a tourist pass, before entering Malaysia. I didn't have one (I came in on a tourist pass). Hence the fee. In fact, they didn't tell me I would be paying this fee until at the very last moment (at the payment window) so I did not have the directive that states that US citizens were exempt.

StillSearching

Hi RedApe,
Our MM2H letter states only two fees:
3.1 Social Visit Pass Fee =RM 720.00
3.5 Fixed Deposits Certificate for MM2H = RM 150,000.00
We applied with passports from a Commonwealth nation.
Our visa is for 4 years. This is because our passports are valid for 5 years and MM2H is issued only for full years. (You helped me to understand this.) You are correct in your calculations:
RM90x 4 = RM360 X 2=RM720.

In Sabah, they issue MM2H stamp only for 5 years, as I was told. Then you need to stamp it again.

To transfer the endorsement from old passport to new passport, you will need these following documents:

1. old passport copy (Biographical and MM2H visa page)
2. new passport copy (all pages)
3. approval letter copy
4. updated fixed deposit statement from the bank
5. form imm. 55/ 25

BTW, it looks like many officers at MM2H desk in Immigration don't speak English. They needed to call for one English-speaking officer to answer my question. He told me that I "better learn speaking Malay". I found that it was rude of him. I am not planning to become a citizen here and it is already good enough for them that we spend our money here. One of the reasons why we decided to live here is that there are two main spoken languages here, Malay and English, and we don't have to learn Malay. However, not many in the government offices are speaking English.

RedApe

Sabah was impacted much more by the Malayanization programs that took English out of the schools more than Sarawak. The North Borneo Company really didn't encourage building schools...but the Brooks did (in fact several of the oldest schools in Malaysia -dating to the mid 1800's- are in Sarawak). Still there is a generation that had very little English...only post Middle School. There are several major languages here in Sarawak...the official language is Bahasa Malay...but the locals speak Bahasa Sarawak Malay. Then there is Iban which has some similarities to BM. There are about 4 Bidayuh languages nd hordes of tiny ethnic languages (Melanau, Kelabit, Kenya, Kayan, etc.). And all the archaic Southern Chinese languages (Hokkein, Hakka, Teochew, Fukkien) which are being lost there as the push for Mandarin as a single language is on...plus they teach Mandarin in the Chinese vernacular schools. So BM and English are largely the languages of public discourse.

I think most of the civil servants in Sabah are Malay or Suluk, and they think everyone SHOULD speak their language. And they need not learn any other language. The Malays in Sabah are mainly derived from Brunei...those in Sarawak are mainly originally from Sambas (in West Kalimantan) or even from Sumatra. There's a historical tension there...native trade in Sarawak went mainly to Singapore. That of Brunei...eastward was as much to Manila, the Sulu islands, and China as it was to Singapore. Sabah also had the notorious MyKAD scandal in which Identity Cards (and the citizenship) were sold to Indonesians and Muslim Philippinos in the hope of skewing Sabah to the UMNO and diminishing the Chinese and Kadaszan votes.

Oh I notice that they don't require the sponsor for renewal. In fact...I have it from two reliable sources that one actually CAN apply for Sabah M2H without an agent.


It does help to speak a bit of Malay, especially if you got out back-country or out to some of the islands..,.,and just for reading shop signs. But in KK English is widely spoken I found. Get a phrase book and learn some of the more common phrases. It's not a difficult language (pronunciation is quite close to English and "pasar (bazaar) Malay" is largely understandable without all the prefixes and suffixes You may invert the adjective and noun (Malays call them "man big" rather than "big man"). People always appreciate it when some "orang puteh" has bothered to learn even a snippet of BM.

StillSearching

Very interesting about the languages. Many thanks!

Yes, it worked and they got the majority in the government. There are political tensions because of it, because of racial discrimination. And Chinese families don't produce as many children in order to fight this tide.


Wow, that's great for Sabah! But you would need at least an interpreter for an interview since the government officials don't speak English.


- Agree. It is always a good idea. It is easier with the free tools like google.translate and youtube videos.

Laoman

Hi all, something i would like to ask, if i want to purchase a house in Sabah under the MM2H, What is the lowest price to purchase to achieve the requirment ? i can't find in this in the official website. Thanks