Moving To Malaysia

If you’re not a lawyer (and perhaps even if you are), the Malaysia My Second Home security bond form is possibly the most confusing part of the whole process. It is a horribly-worded piece of legalise with a lot of spaces for you to fill in but not, at first glance, much clarity on exactly what you’re expected to write. At least it’s in English 😉

You can download the blank form from the MM2H web site and complete it by hand, or use a PDF editor to complete it on-screen (there aren’t actually fields for you to type into, but a decent editor should allow you to add text boxes in the right places).

On the plus side, when you receive your conditional approval letter, it includes instructions that go a long way to clarify what’s needed, which actually as it turns out isn’t all that difficult.

You’ll need a witness – the form asks for their NRIC (National Registration Identity Card) number and address in Malaysia, which implies that they should be a Malaysian citizen, but the instructions state that the witness can be a relative or friend of the applicant, hence presumably not necessarily Malaysian. I’m not sure what you would put in the NRIC field if your witness does not have an NRIC – passport number probably – or whether it’s acceptable for the witness’ address to be outside Malaysia. To avoid complication, I had a Malaysian friend act as my witness. If you don’t have any local friends, you could perhaps ask the doctor doing your MM2H health check.

Here’s how it goes. The words in upper case are the bits you write in; anything in [square brackets] is where you should provide the corresponding details; anything not in brackets should be entered literally as I show it here. I’ve added line breaks just for clarity.

Whereas it is a condition of the issue of a SOCIAL VISIT PASS 

to me / the said [YOUR FULL NAME] 

of [YOUR ADDRESS, either in Malaysia if you’re already here, or otherwise your address in your home country]

that there furnished by me / on behalf of the said [YOUR FULL NAME again]

security in the sum of [AMOUNT - they’ll tell you how much, e.g. for UK citizens it’s 1,500.00 RM]

as a guarantee that I / the said will comply with the provisions of the above Ordinance and of any regulations made there under and with any conditions imposed in respect of, or instructions endorsed on such SOCIAL VISIT pass. 

Now I, [FULL NAME OF WITNESS]

NRIC [WITNESS’ NRIC NUMBER]

of [WITNESS ADDRESS IN MALAYSIA]

do hereby bind myself that I / the said [YOUR FULL NAME yet again] will comply with the provisions of the above Act and of any regulations made there under and with any special conditions imposed in respect of, or instructions endorsed on such SOCIAL VISIT pass. 

And in case of my / the said [YOUR FULL NAME once more] making default therein, I hereby bind myself to forfeit to the Government of Malaysia the sum of [AMOUNT as entered previously]

which I hereby deposited with the Government of Malaysia vide Receipt No [LEAVE BLANK].

Dated this [DAY, e.g. 10th] day of [MONTH] at [YEAR] in the state of [STATE, e.g. WILAYAH PERSEKUTUAN if you’re applying in Kuala Lumpur].

Signature of the abovenamed [YOUR SIGNATURE]

Signed and executed by the abovenamed [YOUR FULL NAME for the final time]

In my presence

Signature of Witness: [YOUR WITNESS’ SIGNATURE]

Fullname of Witness: [FULL NAME OF WITNESS again]

Address of Witness: [WITNESS ADDRESS IN MALAYSIA again]

FILE REF: [LEAVE BLANK]

Once you’ve done that, take the completed form to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN – Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri Malaysia). In Kuala Lumpur this is at Menara Olympia on Jalan Raja Chulan. It’s open from 8am to 1pm and 2pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday and 8am to 12:15pm and 2:45pm to 5pm on Fridays – but note that the payment counter closes at 3:30pm, so get there well before that. You’ll need cash to pay the stamping fee (10 RM at the time of writing), but note that you will not be paying the actual security bond here, so no need to take cash for that.

Go to the fourth floor and right in front of the entrance you should see a bunch of computer terminals. Once one is free, sit down at it. There is an instruction card, but it’s only in Malay. Here’s a photo of it I snapped on the way out (click to enlarge):

Here are the key words and phrases translated:

• Klik: click
• Pengisian borang: form filling
• Simpan: save
• Maklumat pembawa: bearer information
• Pemilik dokumen: document owner
• Tambah surat cara: add a cover letter
• Isikan maklumat dokumen: fill out document information
• Tambah pihak pertama: add first party
• Seterusnya: then
• Tambah pihak kedua: add second party
• Isi maklumat pihak: fill out party information
• Simpan maklumat pihak: save party information
• Simpan maklumat surat cara: Save the instrument
• Simpan maklumat doket setelah mengisi kesemua maklumat dokumen yang ingin disetem: Save the docket, after filling out all of the information you want to stamp
• Semak No. Kad Pengenalan adalah betul: check the identity card number is correct
• Ambil dan tunggu sehingga No giliran anda dipanggil: take a numbered ticket and wait until you are called

A few others you may encounter:

• Individu: Individual
• Wakil: Representative
• Syarikat: Company
• Firma: Firm

There’s a full instruction manual here but hopefully you won’t need it. It probably would be worth taking along a friend who speaks Malay though – I did, and even between us we struggled with the process. Definitely have Google Translate or similar handy on your phone.

However, broadly what you’re doing is creating a new ‘instrument’, for an individual, in which you are the first party and the second party is the Immigration Department of Malaysia. The document bearer / owner is you, as far as I can tell (at least, that worked for me…), and you use your passport number as the ID (this is used later to retrieve the instrument).

Once you’ve done all that, vacate the computer and go back to the entrance (literally a few steps away) where you should find a ticket dispenser next to the door. Take a numbered ticket (there are three options – you want Counter Service (Perkhidmatan Kaunter).

Now wait until you are called – keep an eye out for your number on the LCD displays above the counter. This will tell you which counter to go to. Annoyingly, the ticket numbers do not appear to be in any sort of sequence, so there’s no way to know where you are in the queue or how long the wait might be. In my case though it was fairly quick – about five or ten minutes.

Your first call will be to a counter where you must hand in your signed security bond form and show your passport. You will then be told to wait again until called.

Your next call (about five minutes later in my case) will be to a different counter, where you pay the 10 RM stamping fee. Take cash. Again, you will then be asked to wait until called.

Your final call (again about 5 minutes or so later for me) will be to another counter, where you will collect your stamped form. Keep this safe and add it to your file of paperwork for your trip to Putrajaya when you collect your visa.

You do not pay the actual security bond at this point. You will do this at the Immigration Department when you go to Putrajaya – which hopefully you are now ready to do!

The immigration office is on level 10 of the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) office building (the same place you went to initially submit your Malaysia My Second Home application).

You’ll need to sign in at ground floor reception, but before you then turn right and head to the lifts, you may want to instead turn left and go round the corner to the little general store behind the cafeteria.

That’s because, even though the instructions sent with the conditional approval letter make no mention of it, you will need photocopies of two pages from your passport – the personal particulars page, plus whichever page has your most recent Malaysia entry stamp. You only discover this once you reach the front of the queue at the Immigration office upstairs. I sense they like to keep us on our toes by always leaving out one vital detail… 😉

Anyway, if you haven’t had the opportunity to prepare this until now, the shop has a photocopier and will charge you about 40 sen per sheet.

All told, you will need to bring with you:

• Original and copy of your conditional approval letter (the original will be returned to you).
• Originals and copies of your Fixed Deposit certificates (you will likely have two as the bank you place your money with will probably recommend splitting the required deposit in two separate accounts, to make it easier to withdraw part of it after one year should you wish to). The originals will be returned to you.
• Original and copy of your bank’s letter confirming that your Fixed Deposit(s) cannot be withdrawn without permission from the Ministry of Tourism. They will keep the original and return the copy to you.
• Two copies of proof of medical insurance (e.g. cover letter, payment receipt and policy summary/certificate – they do not need to see the full policy document). One copy will be returned to you.
• Original RBII health check form, signed by a doctor. They will keep this.
• Original stamped security bond form. They will keep this.
• Photocopies of the personal particulars and latest Malaysia entry stamp pages of your passport. They keep these.
• Enough cash to cover your security bond and visa fee (the exact amount will depend on your country of citizenship and the number of years remaining on your passport – e.g. in my case, the bond was 1,500 RM, and the visa fee was 720 RM, as I only had eight years remaining validity on my passport.

On arrival upstairs on level 10, go to the desk just outside the waiting room and ask for a ticket – it’s a standard numbered queuing system. However, if like me you arrive later in the morning (let’s say, oh, anything after 7:31am – I arrived at about 11:45), you may be told there are no tickets left… Apparently there is a daily quota. 

In theory you have little option but to go away and come back the next day. 

However, I somehow managed to get allowed in and sent directly to one of the desks – must have been something I said… Although to be honest I didn’t say much at all – I just smiled and asked what the process was, and whether any more tickets would be available after lunch. 

I was told to “go to desk 1”, which I duly did, as it was unoccupied. I don’t know whether anyone else was waiting for it – I may have queue jumped, but if I did, no-one complained. Evidently a smile goes a long way 🙂

I fully expected to be told to go away and come back tomorrow. But instead, the lady behind the counter (very friendly and helpful)  asked what I was there for, and I explained that I wanted to collect my MM2H visa. She took my paperwork and briefly went through it – which was the point at which she told me I needed the passport photocopies. She helpfully directed me downstairs and told me to come back to her once I had them.

About ten minutes later I was back upstairs. I waited briefly while she finished dealing with someone else, and then again sat down at her counter. 

The process from there seems to be (if my experience is typical):

• They check your documents and, assuming everything is in order, ask you to take a seat in the waiting area. They will retain your passport and some of your documents at this point.
• A while later (about ten minutes in my case, but other people seemed to be waiting a lot longer – though possibly they were at different stages in the process or had more complex applications), I was called to a different counter at the opposite end of the room. Here you will be asked to pay the security bond and visa fee, and given a receipt – keep this safe, as you will need it should you ever decide to leave the MM2H programme and want to get your security bond back.
• You will then be asked to wait again, hopefully not for too long. In my case I was told it would be about 5 minutes, and it more or less was. Perhaps seven or eight.
• You will then be called to a different counter, where your passport will be returned to you, compete with your MM2H visa (social visit pass) endorsed on the first available blank page.

And that’s it. Welcome to Malaysia, your second home! 🙂

It all seemed to go very smoothly and quickly for me. I don’t know whether that’s typical, or whether I somehow managed to jump the queue at each stage. I certainly didn’t try to, or intend to – I’m British after all – we don’t do queue jumping 😉

The waiting room was maybe half full when I first arrived, and gradually emptied out as lunchtime approached. So presumably it hadn’t been that busy of a morning – although that seems at odds with them having run out of numbered tickets. 

Perhaps I was lucky and caught the tail end of what had been a huge rush. Or maybe the others in the waiting room, at least a few of whom I gathered had been waiting all morning, had more complex matters to deal with. 

Or perhaps I got fast-tracked – I can think of at least one reason why that might be, for which the polite way to put it would be that maybe my country of origin (and perhaps the fact that unlike everyone else in there, I had taken the trouble to dress reasonably smartly) indicated I would be fairly quick and easy to deal with… I couldn’t possibly comment, of course 😉

Anyway, all done in under an hour! Very friendly and efficient service, on the day at any rate.

In total, the whole process, from first application attempt to getting my passport endorsed, took exactly one year and one week. It was originally supposed to take three months, but everything got slowed down due to some well-publicised issues arising from changes to the verification process on their side. I don’t know what the wait time is now – hopefully more or less back to normal, but I’d recommend asking when you apply, and keep an eye on the local press (or periodically Google for MM2H-related stories) to set your expectations.

Overall, a relatively straightforward process, notwithstanding a couple of curveballs along the way, even if it did take a lot longer than originally anticipated.

I hope you have found this blog useful, and that your application (if you decide to make one or already have one in progress) will go smoothly. Good luck! Thanks for reading, and welcome to Malaysia when you get here!