Cheaper properties now available to foreigners in Penang

Following my recent article on property purchase by foreigners (https://samchoong.com/2020/06/03/purchasing- property-malaysian-secondary-market-foreign-purchaser-needs-know/), it was reported on June 11th, 2020 that the Penang state government is lowering the price threshold of properties foreigners are entitled to purchase. Here is the summary of the price threshold of properties available for purchase by foreigners in Penang (island): The current […]

Police Permit for inter-state travel within Malaysia during this Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO)

Inter-state travel in Malaysia, whether by road or by air, requires consent during this Conditional Movement Control Order period. https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2020/05/20/air-travellers-need-permit-too I’ve just accompanied a foreign client to the police station in Pulau Tikus (Note that only the Police Station in charge of the area where you reside will process this application), Penang, to assist in […]

MM2H Holders Permitted to return to Malaysia!

Weekends are sacred. Time to catch up with family and to recharge. Some “me” time and I’m looking forward to hitting the Tanjung Bungah Market to source ingredients for my latest attempt at baking the banana bread! Still, this piece of news came in through Whatsapp this morning, I have reconfirmed this with MM2H and […]

Malaysia My Second Home MCO Updates for MM2H holders & applicants

Today marks the first day we officially return to the office in Penang and I must say I have mixed feelings. My surfer and biker friends often talk about retirement or taking time off to ride the mountain passes of Leh & Ladakh in Northern India or surf uncrowded waves in Sri Lanka or other […]

Can Malaysian MM2H Holders return to Malaysia during this Covid period?

Here’s another question that crops up frequently over the past weeks especially for holders of Malaysia’s long stay visa known as Malaysia My Second Home or MM2H for short. Unfortunately nothing concrete yet as to whether holders of MM2H visas who are currently abroad can return to Malaysia. Currently Malaysia focusses its efforts in dealing […]

Tech Entrepreneur Pass or Malaysia My Second Home?

It’s been a momentous few months, starting with a seemingly innocuous virus a few thousands of miles away towards the end of 2019. It was very easy then to momentarily commiserate with the Chinese, dismiss this as a problem on the other side of the world and to get back to our lives. And get […]

Sam’s take on MM2H (Malaysia’s long-stay visa for foreigners relocating or retiring to Malaysia) and how it has impacted Malaysia, and Penang in particular.

Malaysia’s long-stay visa, the MM2H visa, has proven to be immensely popular with foreigners wanting to make Malaysia their second home. So much so that applications started to pile up and some applicants found themselves waiting almost a year for approval. To add to the frustrations, it was officially announced that the financial criteria to […]