Is your visa and therefore your time secure in Malaysia due to current and future changes in policies?
Recent postings in this topic reminded me of a situation I will pass on to people--even on the chance I was the last person to know because all of you knew it already.
In this case we are referring to the Long Term Social Visit Pass and I dont know if and how other visa types are affected.
Last August I renewed my LTSVP and rightly expected to get a five year term. I only got three years because Immigration said thats the new maximum and that I could expect more changes should I renew next time.
The issue in this post isnt about how to extend terms but how to deal with your life on such a short leash. When you, as spouses and family are here in Malaysia and make plans for children, jobs, buying cars and houses and common things of living, having a five year visa is not that much time when you consider the work involved and that it might not even be renewed after the first time. With three years, you are on the edge of not being able to make any plans at all. If you got your visa today and proceeded to install your life here, could you be prepared to undo it all and leave in just 36 months?
I dont know what is in the mind of the government except as to what is well known, that the door is closing to expats in general and in that vein they may be shortening the visa times to discourage expats from trying. In this light, a two-year work pass could be treated differently because there is at least an assumption on the governments part that the expat may be leaving after a company project is complete. But clearly, as to being able to NOT work and stay here, that is a main topic throughout ASEAN. By shortening or even eliminating the visa class altogether, it then forces an expat to stay out until they may qualify for another type of visa, like MM2H.
I took my last visit to Immigration as a warning. Should you, too? Im not sure but it would be unwise take any visa for granted. Instead, develop a Plan B and live lightly until a time comes something happens to make an expat feel more secure. Is Permanent Residency a possible Plan B? In theory, yes, but I have never met anyone who had achieved it. My own Plan B is to begin reducing my life with a plan to leave. How to put down and roots in such an insecure environment? A LTSVP is often seen as a permanent solution when in fact its only a small watering hole in the long march through the desert.
On a related front, there is no group of people more INsecure than the FSSG, a group of expat women who for example, lost their husbands through death or divorce and faced the inability to stay in the country because there is no longer a spouse to sponsor them. They lobby the government hard for help and policy revision but the government is already overwhelmed with spouse-fraud cases and therefore not keen to help those who may have legitimate problems like children in school, medical problems or house mortgages to pay.
If anyone has different or better information please bring it forward!
Is your visa safe?
Interesting, I have a few years left on my 5-year spousal visa and my lovely wife feels I should work my tail off to learn Malay before then so that I can apply for a PR at that point. But like you I've not seen anyone get a a PR in less than 20 years and typically only
after having several children born in Malaysia. I my case I moved to Malaysia in my late 50's and my only children are grown and living in the US (from my first marriage). I don't see getting issued a PR after just 5-6 years living in the country, so not really pushing hard on it. I haven't worked out plan B yet, my wife simply suggests that I get remarried if something happens to her. Not really a plan in my opinion, and knowing that without a PR my VISA would be terminated if something happens to her.
I 'might' qualify for MM2H, but that's also a moving target, who knows what the requirements will be 5-10 down the road. Right now the only way I'd qualify is to take a chunk out of retirement savings, pay massive US taxes on the large withdrawal and place in an account paying very little. But the amount required in FD and monthly income seems to change every cycle.
Right now I'm almost 62 years old, in pretty good health but had a minor stroke last year (found the cause and about 80% back to full capacity) and could live another 20-40 years. (my grandmother lived until she was 102) My wife has high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and other issues so who knows. But I could easily find myself in my 70's. 80's or even my 90's being forced out of the country, losing my home (which is in half my name), all ties to friends and extended family and looking for a place to settle down.
To be honest I have not started looking at real plan B, but am keeping the vast majority of my assets back in the US and will delay filing for Social Security as long as possible just in case my only option is to return back to the US at some point. But may very well look elsewhere as well. I remember running into an older gentleman (in his early 80's) that was flying from KL to Bali. He basically lived out of a suitcase staying 2-3 months (whatever the Visa limit was) in each country and moving on. No perm home, most his valuables in a storage locker back in the US. An international version of Jack Reacher 
That could be me in time.
So a LOT to consider when I look at the scope of things.
You could also look at countries Thailand, sri Lanka, Philippines, who offer retirement programs
Not sure about Indonesia
If need be they're all options.
Iskandar, you really understand this well and we are on about the same level and wavelength. There are definitely problems.
Your post is very good and correct. It made me think. And Im sitting here thinking. Hmm. When I came here I really didnt know the future, I thought MAYBE five years max and i'd be gone. I never thought of Malaysia as Plan A. Later, when it began to be Plan A, and when you have rightly said MM2H is a moving target, I realized its ALL a moving target and never once has it been in an expats favor, whether the job or income was high or low.
An extremely bad thing about the visas, even PR for that matter, nothing is fixed or grandfathered. I DID THINK IT WAS. I thought that about everything, that if you got in early, evolving situations later wouldnt affect you. Dead wrong. Im not a spring chicken either and how are people supposed to plan, like for MM2H, if at 89 years old they are abruptly kicked? I'll tell you one thing, the govt does NOT care how you think about this when at 89 years old you are being wheeled on a stretcher to the airplane at KLIA. Ive been in the Immigration Enforcement office to witness expats pleading sound, legitimate and fair cases to staff, only to be told, "Too bad. I regret your situation. You must leave immediately." Not expats who broke the law but who have desperate problems like a spouse dying or children dying or something important and big. "Too bad. Get out."
Maybe I was wrong to suggest a Plan B, maybe I should be suggesting the re-evaluation of Plan A's. Ive been out of US so long I cant imagine going back, im committed to a life abroad. But I have to land somewhere where, among other things, I feel SOME security in not being kicked out, especially at the end of life. Yes, MM2H can and does change and there is zero assurance of anything. Thats a painfull pill to swallow when someone has made a big investment, like buying land and building a house, or some other type of large commitment.
YES, lets be straight serious. You are 95 and your Malaysian wife dies. You will be kicked. And where would you go then? Where could you possibly go? I wonder two things. 1) How many expats thought about this in MM2H, that policy changes could end it? 2) Would the government even honor a Life Contract if there ever was one? Doubtful. I think Philippines offers a Life Contract but again, what happens in policy changes? In Malaysia, and sorry to digress, for the past 12 months I have been trying to get a task done in government. A lot of paperwork in it. THREE times in 12 months they changed the rules and I had to start the process all over again. The first paperwork-application wasnt honored in a grandfathered way, as one might think. Ive had upteen calls, letters and office visits and they simply do not care what you think. You start again or forget it! When will my task end? They can keep me prisoner for decades in frequent policy changes. And thats just an application!
Im not a troll for another country so i wont say names, but i've found one country offering citizenship within two years of arrival and at the moment anyway, im working on making such a move. We'll see. I dont know. But Ive lost faith here for the very reasons of your post (but I knew it too) and urge expats to tread slowly in their plans and not to commit too easily on something that happens to be OK at the moment. It can change. Is that also true of other countries? It has to be explored and examined and thats what Im doing. But Malaysia? It refuses to commit to me so how can I commit to it?
CVCO... Your post got me also thinking
Thank you
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