MM2H Program
May 15th 2011 14:58
:
RETIRED AWAY
If anyone is seriously thinking of retiring and moving to a new country they should spend a great deal of time researching where they want to live. Since I am an American I will address this to residents and citizens of the US, however, this information applies to anyone living in the west.
I have lived here for almost three years and I have only met three Americans who have retired here in Malaysia. I have met a few other Americans here, but they are employed here. Most of the westerners who have retired here are from the UK, with scattered numbers from The Netherlands, and other countries of Western Europe. There are a great many people retired here from Australia. Japan and Korea is well represented here. I think the main reasons why there are few Americans here is that it is so far from the US and most Americans know little or nothing of Malaysia.
Usually when Americans think of retiring overseas they think of Latin America or Europe, completely forgetting about Asia. I would recommend that if anyone is thinking of retiring abroad they should give Malaysia a closer look. A lot of westerners automatically think of Thailand as the perfect retirement spot, but it is extremely difficult to retire there. A foreigner cannot buy a landed property there, but he can buy a condo. The retiree also would be required to report to the local police station on a monthly basis to verify his whereabouts. There is no long term visa arrangement for retirees in Thailand.
On the other hand Malaysia offers the Malaysia My Second Home program for foreigners who wish to retire in Malaysia. There are two categories for this program. One is for over those over 50 and the other for those under 50 years of age. I will address the over 50 crowd. An applicant can either apply for the Fixed Deposit option, where 150,000RM must be deposited in a local bank as assurance you can aford to stay here. After a year the applicant can withdraw money, up to a certian amount, from this account for education, medical or housing purposes. The other option is to prove a monthly income of 10,000RM to support yourself.
The program offers a few incentives to entice applicants. One is to allow the applicant to purchase an imported car duty free. Imported cars here are outrageously expensive because of the import duty imposed tp protect the local auto industry. An imported car will cost about 3 times as much as it would in the US. If you sell your car at a later date you still must pay the import duty, however. There is a 1 year time limit. from the date you receive your visa, to purchase a car. Locally produced cars are good, but don't expect many safety features. I was unable to buy a car within the 1 year time frame, so I couldn't take advantage of this incentive. I bought a Toyota with all of the safety features and I will be able to sell it in the future, without paying any duty.
One of the other incentives is the purchase of property. Foreigners are allowed to buy multiple properties, as long at they meet the minimum purchase price. Here in Penang that price is 350,000 RM. It is higher in some of the other Malaysian states. I must point out that if you buy a brand new house, the price may sound very attractive, but the problem is that when you buy a house or condo here it is nothing but a shell. You still have to pay a good deal of money to make it liveable. I was lucky when I bought my condo, as it was fully renovated and partially furnished.
My greatest incentives for retiring to Malaysia were the weather, the food, the culture and the low cost of living. Even though the dollar is down I can live a lifestyle here that I could never afford in the US. I could only touch upon some of the aspects of the MM2H program and would encourage anyone who was interested or who has questions to visit the official MM2H website:[LINK=http://www.mm2h.gov.my/]
I have lived here for almost three years and I have only met three Americans who have retired here in Malaysia. I have met a few other Americans here, but they are employed here. Most of the westerners who have retired here are from the UK, with scattered numbers from The Netherlands, and other countries of Western Europe. There are a great many people retired here from Australia. Japan and Korea is well represented here. I think the main reasons why there are few Americans here is that it is so far from the US and most Americans know little or nothing of Malaysia.
On the other hand Malaysia offers the Malaysia My Second Home program for foreigners who wish to retire in Malaysia. There are two categories for this program. One is for over those over 50 and the other for those under 50 years of age. I will address the over 50 crowd. An applicant can either apply for the Fixed Deposit option, where 150,000RM must be deposited in a local bank as assurance you can aford to stay here. After a year the applicant can withdraw money, up to a certian amount, from this account for education, medical or housing purposes. The other option is to prove a monthly income of 10,000RM to support yourself.
One of the other incentives is the purchase of property. Foreigners are allowed to buy multiple properties, as long at they meet the minimum purchase price. Here in Penang that price is 350,000 RM. It is higher in some of the other Malaysian states. I must point out that if you buy a brand new house, the price may sound very attractive, but the problem is that when you buy a house or condo here it is nothing but a shell. You still have to pay a good deal of money to make it liveable. I was lucky when I bought my condo, as it was fully renovated and partially furnished.
My greatest incentives for retiring to Malaysia were the weather, the food, the culture and the low cost of living. Even though the dollar is down I can live a lifestyle here that I could never afford in the US. I could only touch upon some of the aspects of the MM2H program and would encourage anyone who was interested or who has questions to visit the official MM2H website:[LINK=http://www.mm2h.gov.my/]
Kuala Lumpur Twin Towers
Kuala Lumpur
A view from Penang hilltop
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