Long term stay in Penang

You need some sort of visa to live in Malaysia. The most likely will be MM2H (Malaysia my 2nd home)

Www.mm2h.gov.my

It requires a minimum offshore income (equiv. of RM10k per month*) and proof of liquid assets. The amount depends on age (RM350k* for over 50s or 500k* for under 50s).

If accepted the main applicant has to place a Fixed Deposit (RM350k if under 50  or 150k if over 50). This does earn interest but is locked into holding the visa.

Its valid 10 years and renewable

It takes about six months to apply and finalise if accepted.

It would be tricky to try and remain or keep entering Penang during application phase because of strict tourist immigration. However it is possible to rent property without a long term visa.

* these have to be shown as monthly deposits and ongoing balance in a current account or other type of holding

Thankyou for your info.

Currently approvals for Mm2h seem to have stopped and according to newspaper reports there are 3000 applications in limbo

Ok many people ask the same question and the general answer is no.

The govt seriously frowns on those coming to malaysia as online nomads. Its not even a legitimate category of employment. If you work here or have a company, you need first a workpass, and to be planted in a business address, a physical office that the immigration or other authorities can visit. For an office, in the case of self-employment in which you are a visa-ed director of a registered company, you need first  to create that company and then to pay a verifiable salary and pay taxes.

As tourists or otherwise, the govt doesnt care that you are supported outside, it would never check or verify an AU income because it only cares what taxable salary is generated HERE. Also, by the same token, you cant work from home. People do but its not legally allowed. Therefore, you cant get a visa to come and work online in a business from home, there is no such visa.

As Gravitas began, MM2H is one way, and there are other kinds of visas available, too.  Please check the govt immigration web site to see if you fall into any other possible visa category.

As it is then, according to your plan, you would be coming on the free AU visa and conducting an illegal business from home, and then required to do visa runs to Thailand or other places before the expiration of the free visa the renewal of which is only allowed a certain number of times.

I think that covers it. Its a popular question that has been answered already many times in this forum and the answers are not becoming more favorable as times goes along. 25 years ago, YES to your question; today, NO.

One more as i think of it, there was a fellow who had an online business and wanted to stay a while here, then Vietnam, then Thailand and he wanted to do so on the basis that he was a spender and therefore a contributor to the economy. The govt doesnt care about that at all (just in case you were thinking of that question).

Thank you for your reply.
You have confirmed for us the decision to NOT stay in Malaysia in spite of us having investments in Australia that provide us with a substantial income.
We will most certainly be able to stay in a country that we can invest our money in... via the purchase of a business...etc
The online capacity was for us initially... until we had decided on whether to invest our capital in that country.
So.. again... thank you for your "input".

Footnote... being an Aussie... obviously has it's advantages....as in... 3 month "FREE" visa😜
Yep... did my research!
Try not to have a "chip" on the proverbial shoulder.. just sayin!!😣

You can own a business in Malaysia quite easily too which provides immigration status.

A Labuan offshore company requires just rm250k paid up capital to obtain the EP. Also SDN BHD companies owned 100% by foreigners can be set up, as well as JV joint ventures with local Malaysians.

There is a new entrepreneur visa as well. So lots of choices to invest in Malaysia.

Teaching online would not require a EP as long as the clients are offshore and you are paid outside Malaysia. Most Aussies have offshore income often from online sources of some kind and live in Penang on mm2h.

Thank you so much for  that info!!! 😊

http://malaysiabizadvisory.comWww.simplyoffshore.com

It's not really feasible to live in Penang on 90 day tourist visas unless you plan to exit and go elsewhere for at least 1 month after about the second 90 day stint.

Immigration in Penang frequently issue Do Not Land decisions if it is perceived a person is trying to live here without some sort of longterm visa

That's good about online teaching not requiring an EP. I've been doing it several years now. But of course it doesn't help with getting a visa. I already have a LTSV being married to a Malaysia, but would have to use MM2H or some other method to obtain a visa for a long term stay.