Why not let MM2H expats work?.

[rjnpenang]

Why don´t the Malaysian goverment let MM2H expats work?, my wife was born in Penang, studied nursing in the UK but now has a British passport, result; not allowed to work, all that experience wasted. Also, with our apartment costs we have invested nearly a million RM in Malaysia, surely we could get something more back than a cheap car.
An example, we moved to Spain 25 years ago and within a few years employed up to 14 people paying over 5,000 Euros a month in Social Security, why not let us do the same in Malaysia with the proviso we only employ the locals?.
I suspect it may be too much paperwork for the goverment, mind you if I was a penniless Bangladeshi I could always get a sponsor/job.

[Bevdeforges]

I don't know anything about the visa categories for Malaysia, but it's very common around the world to not permit a spouse or any dependents accompanying a working visa holder to work. One US expat group tried to get legislation passed in the US to allow dependents to work only if their home countries would allow US trailing spouses to work in their countries. But no one was really interested. (I suppose it is seen as just a further complication of the already pretty complicated visa laws in the US.)
Cheers,
Bev

[rjnpenang]

Sorry Bev, but you misunderstood me, I am not on a working visa, both of us have the MM2H visa, I was just bemoaning the fact that if we had wanted to work we could not despite one of us being born in Malaysia and having invested so much money in the country. Regards Robert

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by rjnpenang

I was just bemoaning the fact that if we had wanted to work we could not despite one of us being born in Malaysia and having invested so much money in the country.

When I worked in Germany, my secretary was German born and married to an Austrian national. On marrying him, she had automatically gotten Austrian nationality and had to give up her German nationality.

A few years later, they moved back to Germany because her husband had been offered a job in our plant. The Germans would not give her a work permit, despite her having been born in Frankfurt. Our plant manager pulled some strings and arranged to get her work permission by offering her a job in the same plant with her husband. It does seem really silly that they wouldn't allow her to work otherwise - but government regulations generally have nothing to do with common sense.
Cheers,
Bev

[viv.destiny]

You're right. The restriction on working under MM2H visa does seem silly especially when many successful applicants are highly-qualified individual. But you may work part-time now or volunteer. If your wife wishes to work, the best thing to do is to apply to the Human Resources Ministry seeking special approval for her to work in Malaysia because of her special expertise. If successful, she will be issued a work permit or Employment Pass. She may re-join Malaysia: My Second Home Programme at the end of her work permit.

You should call up the MM2H centre of Motour for consultation.

[synthia]

The MM2H visa is not a work visa at all. It is the Malaysia My Second Home visa, and is, I think, pretty much intended as a retirement visa. The idea is to bring peoople into the country who have money and will spend it. If those on retirement visas, especially those with no age restrictions, were allowed to work, it would be like giving blanket work visas to anyone with some money or a regular pension income. That would take jobs away from locals.

If someone has given up or lost their citizenship in a country, they don't have any more rights than any other foreigner.

[oddball]

Originally Posted by synthia

The MM2H visa is not a work visa at all. It is the Malaysia My Second Home visa, and is, I think, pretty much intended as a retirement visa. The idea is to bring peoople into the country who have money and will spend it. If those on retirement visas, especially those with no age restrictions, were allowed to work, it would be like giving blanket work visas to anyone with some money or a regular pension income. That would take jobs away from locals.

If someone has given up or lost their citizenship in a country, they don't have any more rights than any other foreigner.

Well said Synthia,had the POs intended to work,they should have applied for the correct visa,is that not why there are a varience of visas to different countries ?
Colin

[Walter C]

You are right mate ! Most of them (MM2H applicants) are professionals and very capable in contributing toward building better society and country. Can't help it at this moment unless some of minister within the authority can amend/relax this ruling. We have more foreign workers (or perhaps illegal emigrants) working in this country which created so many social problems and yet some real good samaritans being deprived off the working opportunity simple because of the laws....sighhhh.

[Mick-1]

Originally Posted by oddball

Well said Synthia,had the POs intended to work,they should have applied for the correct visa,is that not why there are a varience of visas to different countries ?
Colin

As foreigners, Are we not allowed to start a business and be fully active in it? I saw on one web site promoting MM2H that we could do this.

[Dave O'Dottu]

Originally Posted by rjnpenang

Why don´t the Malaysian goverment let MM2H expats work?, my wife was born in Penang, studied nursing in the UK but now has a British passport, result; not allowed to work, all that experience wasted. Also, with our apartment costs we have invested nearly a million RM in Malaysia, surely we could get something more back than a cheap car.
. . . .
I suspect it may be too much paperwork for the goverment, mind you if I was a penniless Bangladeshi I could always get a sponsor/job.

It has nothing to do with paperwork. The logic is crystal clear. Governments want your money going to them, they don't want their money going to you. The reason they offer the Malaysia second home deal is precisely to get retirees to invest assets but not work.

But a lot of countries have arrangements whereby you get a work permit if you set up a company with a minimum amount of investment. This implies you may need to withdraw your assets from MM2H status and shift into business investment status.

A local lawyer will know what type of arrangements you can make. They may know how you can simply change status by signing a few papers and re-registering your property as business investment. Since I see you live in Penang, I would suggest looking for a Malaysian lawyer, rather than a Chinese or Indian one in this case, and one allied with the strongest political party. You can buy an aristocratic title in Malaysia, called Datuk, so you can probably buy anything else.