MM2H Reactivated- With Changes

[ndt]

BTW, Thailand is overhauling retirement/investment/elite visa and likely coming up with more streamlined 4 pathways including digital nomad type visa with more clarity on taxation and possibly removing 90 days reporting requirement for all categories..

[ndt]

Second Home is usually people's plan B ... Don't think any direction is evolving. I suspect people need to give this some time to settle and see how it is practically implemented.

I have a feeling there is going to be strong pushback from certain sectors and/or political stir (lobbying, coalition bargain etc) and eventually things will normalize once dust settles or bit long wait till new Govt forms.. Either way, harm is already done with this move and hard to win trust of international community from here on..

[xhkge]

I have a feeling there is going to be strong pushback from certain sectors and/or political stir (lobbying, coalition bargain etc) and eventually things will normalize once dust settles or bit long wait till new Govt forms.. Either way, harm is already done with this move and hard to win trust of international community from here on..

Trust was a major reason I originally chose Malaysia over Thailand - a longer visa, less silly rules and requirements etc. Maybe what we're seeing now is just political rhetoric, as you allude, but you're also spot on about the harm already being done, especially for us old fuddie duddies who have little else to do than worry about this stuff

As someone else pointed out, in south east asia there is usually always a "solution" but as you age your tolerance for chasing down this stuff and staying abreast of the latest changes tends to diminish. For some at least - others seem to relish it as a topic of daily conversation

Without diverting from the topic at hand too much: anecdotally since COVID came along a lot of people I know who planned a retirement outside their "home" countries, in some cases vehemently saying they "would only go home in a box", seem to be changing their tune. And lest we seem to be picking on Malaysia too much, there's brexit and it's stressful effect on many folk's retirement plans in Europe. We certainly live in interesting times.

[ndt]

As someone else pointed out, in south east asia there is usually always a "solution" but as you age your tolerance for chasing down this stuff and staying abreast of the latest changes tends to diminish. For some at least - others seem to relish it as a topic of daily conversation

Spot on, cant help but correct it a bit by expanding to South (east) Asia..

[Morrison]

Second Home is usually people's plan B ... Don't think any direction is evolving. I suspect people need to give this some time to settle and see how it is practically implemented.

So basically the program has delivered what it promised, just that some thought they can make it Malaysia, and only Malaysia.

[xhkge]

So basically the program has delivered what it promised, just that some thought they can make it Malaysia, and only Malaysia.

Yes. The temporary cancellation of the program and recent quadrupling of requirements (just as many of the first folks to join the program are coming up for their first 10 year renewal) just reinforces this point: MM2H is basically a tourist visa with some perks and you must be ready and willing to leave when your visa expires.

The tax savings on vehicle purchases and ability to withdraw your deposit to pay for either a car or property were very good perks. Perhaps it was these, in addition to the aforementioned "buy a property and get residency" scheme pitched at PRC buyers was what put some politicians noses out of joint.

Whether the new scheme is still attractive only the individual can decide. For the younger crowd, there seems to be a lot of talk around the world about offering similar schemes to digital nomads - the bone of contention always seems to come back to what we talked about in the previous MM2H thread...tax.

Too much uncertainty in the world now to invest in these 2nd home schemes for me, especially if they require a substantial upfront commitment - so I won't be renewing. Besides, I have enough to worry about keeping my HK PR valid, without also worrying about trips to Malaysia to abide by the new rules.

[ycchai]

Apparently there's an article on SCMP yesterday on this issue. Must be the complaints from one of you guys

Wow 10k ringgit for filling in forms, I should be in that business. NDT is right, just let the dust settle. Malaysia is like HK, govt decisions can be U turned in a split second

[ndt]

Bit speculative but relevant.. Timing of suddenly reactivating MM2H and setting up crazy requirement during political turmoil looked suspicious enough, now with this it increasingly seems it could have been desperate last minute attempt to impress/buy support from UMNO, who knows!! Cant think of any other reason for the Govt which has practically failed on every policy matters including Covid to suddenly reprioritize MM2h overnight when survival was the only thing on mind.. Either way, third-world banana republic type move..

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/break...tion/6/178897/

[shri]

And we have a new govt in place...

Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah has named Ismail Sabri Yaakob as the new prime minister, the palace said in a Friday statement.

Ismail will be Malaysia’s third prime minister in three years.

Malaysia gets a new prime minister — the country's third in 3 years

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/20/mala...ndroidappshare

[xhkge]

I hope the "reactivation" means I can leave the scheme and get my money back without having to visit, although I did manage to extract most of my deposit

To answer my own speculation: I recently found out the Malaysian government did indeed amend the rules so that people can leave the scheme without visiting Malaysia. I'm not sure exactly when this change occurred, but it was sometime after the COVID lockdowns began.

If you have a valid MM2H visa you need to visit the Malaysian embassy to have it cancelled, but in HK that's easy enough.

It's good news for those who find the requirements of the new scheme difficult to meet, or have simply changed their mind about the scheme due to the pandemic or changing life circumstances.