Collate your supporting documents

The Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) application form should be completed online. But before doing so, you’ll need to collate various items of evidence and documentation. Details can be found at:

http://www.mm2h.gov.my/index.php/en/apply-now/where-to-apply/apply-direct-with-us

I’ll comment on these as, from my experience, it may get slightly confusing…

1. Letter of Application: This is a straightforward letter from you to the Malaysia My Second Home Centre at the Ministry of Tourism, explaining why you want to join the MM2H programme, and how you will support yourself in Malaysia. To give you an idea, here’s what I wrote for mine.
2. Your resume: again, straightforward. Present your curriculum vitae as you would when applying for any job.
3. One copy of the MM2H application form: given that there is a link to this form directly opposite in the right-hand column of the page linked above, and an instruction in the text to “please refer to ‘downloads’”, you might assume that you need to download this, print it and fill it in by hand. Don’t. You MUST fill it in on-line, which you can do here (select New Application to get started).
4. Three copies of the Social Visit Pass application form: again, this can be downloaded from the list of documents linked on that page, but again, don’t. It forms part of the main application form that you’ll complete online – you’ll just need to print three additional copies of that page once you’ve downloaded your completed application (from point 3 above).
5. Four coloured passport size photographs: straightforward and (in the UK at least) easily available from photo booths at pretty much any train station etc. If you’re applying while in Malaysia, as I was, you may find them trickier to obtain – photo booths don’t seem to be so common. A decent camera shop should be able to sort you out, and also provide you with a digital copy as well as the hard copies you’ll need for your application. I used the Canon place on the top floor of Pavilion shopping mall.
6. Copy of passport/travel documents (all pages) with certification on the pages with personal particulars: all pages means literally that, including blank / unstamped passport pages. One key thing to note here is that, as I discovered when I went to Putrajaya to submit my application, contrary to what the web site said at the time (looks like they have since updated it), a Commissioner for Oaths is not sufficient to certify a true copy – I ended up having to get it re-done by a Notary Public. You will be charged a fee per page – from memory it was about 13 RM each.
7. Letter of Good Conduct: this, it turns out, is (for UK citizens anyway) a standard Police Certificate (criminal record check), which you can obtain online from the Criminal Records Office – for a fee, of course 😉 I was actually very impressed with the service. As it turned out, I needed mine in a hurry as I made a last-minute decision while in Malaysia to get on with my application, with only a week or so to go before flying home; I paid the extra to have it couriered to me and it arrived very quickly, within a few days.
8. Self declaration on your/your dependants’ health conditions: again, this is part of the application form you’ll complete on-line, so no need to download it separately.
9. Certified copy of Marriage Certificate (if accompanied by spouse): this wasn’t relevant to me, but I would assume it would, as above, need to be certified true by a Notary Public or similar, but not by a Commissioner for Oaths.
10. Certified copy of Birth Certificate/legal documents: again not relevant to me, but I would assume as per Marriage Certificate if relevant to you.
11. Certified copy of latest 3 months’ bank statements, to indicate financial capacity to support stay in Malaysia, and:
12. Latest 3 months certified copies of pay slip / income statement / pension slip: this is where it got complicated for me, and perhaps may be for you also.

I run my own business, which pays me a combination of salary and dividends. It also contributes to my personal pension. As a result, I don’t have a simple ‘income’ where I can show a bank statement to prove I earn £x per month. Nor do I have payslips as such. My end of year P60 returns would show a very low income as they only reflect the salary part of my remuneration, not the total package.

On top of that, for historical reasons dating from the days before bank transfers were instant, I have various different current accounts that my remuneration, and any reimbursed expenses, go through before reaching my main day-to-day account (which, just to make matters even more complicated, I had recently switched to a different bank…)

There’s also the minor issue that your salary now is ultimately irrelevant as, once you are living in Malaysia on an MM2H visa, you are not allowed to take employment here – so your income is likely to change (perhaps you’ll start drawing your pension, or you’ll live on savings, or rental income, or whatever).

My solution, on the basis that what they want to see is that you have some wealth behind you, was to submit copies of:

• Three months’ worth of bank statements for three current accounts;
• Three months’ worth of bank statements for my savings account;
• Three months’ worth of bank statements from my company current account;
• Three years’ worth of P60 End of Year Tax Certificates;
• My latest valuation reports for my investment accounts.


For all of those, I downloaded and printed out PDFs from my online banking etc (I don’t have paper bank statements). On the bank statements I added annotations to show my salary, dividends, reimbursed expenses and pension contributions going out of my company account, and arriving at my various current accounts (or in the case of the pension contributions, highlighting them on the valuation report).

I then had all of the printouts certified (notwithstanding that this is a little strange as the person doing the certifying of course doesn’t have any original copies to compare against…).

I also included a brief explanation in my cover letter.

All this was happily accepted when I came to submit my application.

13. Authorisation letter, to verify the financial documents, job and salary with the relevant parties: this (yet again) is part of the main application form you’ll fill in online, as above.

On top of that lot, if like me you run your own business, you should additionally prepare a letter, on your company headed paper, confirming your employment and remuneration details. This isn’t mentioned on the web site, but I was advised on my first visit to Putrajaya that it would be needed. 

So basically I wrote a letter ‘to whom it may concern’, confirming that I work for the company that bears my name, signed be me, on headed paper with my name on it… But that is apparently exactly what they wanted.

I don’t actually have pre-printed stationery (I don’t think I’ve sent a physical paper letter or invoice for years!). I just have a Word template set up with my logotype etc on it, so I wrote the letter using that and printed it off in colour on regular inkjet printer paper.

 In terms of the actual wording, I just wrote two paragraphs:

To whom it may concern, 

I confirm that [my full name], passport number xxxxxxxxx, issued by the government of the United Kingdom, is an employee and Director of this company, [company name], having been appointed on [date]. 

This being a one-man company, he is the Principal Consultant and only employee. He receives monthly remuneration of [amount] paid as part salary and part dividends. The company additionally makes contributions to his pension of [amount] each year.

Regards, 

[My full name] 

Director

That lot will probably take you some time, but once you’ve got it all together, you’re ready to complete the application form online.