COVID-19 and expatriation in Malaysia

We are awaiting the acceptance of our MM2H visa, having filed it last August.  We left Penang  in December, as our 3-month visa was expiring. Our plan was to travel for 6 months and then return to Penang in June and spend another 3 months, hoping our visa would be approved before the end of that time, which would have been over a year's wait.  However, the best-laid plans .........  We are now in Spain and arrived just before the lockdown, which is currently in place until the end of April.  We are lucky to be in Costa del Sol where there is litte virus.  However, our plan to return to Penang in June is very questionable.  We do not know when we will be able to leave Spain or return to Penang.  We just have to wait it out and see what happens.  Luckily, our 3-month visa here is being extended for the length of the lockdown, so that is not an immediate problem.  In terms of the time frame for approval of MM2H visas, we have been advised by our agency that the time frame will, of course, now be longer, although no estimate has been given.  So who knows what the future holds!

Hi all,

No i dont want to back my country now. cause its very risky to movement in current situation. its better for everyone to stay at home and keep safe.

Hi All,

I have decided not to go to my country, as this outbreak is spreading very quickly and easily. My suggestion to everyone is to stay safe and calm where ever you are,

Regards,
TK

After the Malaysian government said "far cough" to expats and MM2H visa holders I have decided to not apply for a MM2H visa. After a decade in Malaysia I moved for work to Korea as Money far better and the weak RM (and poor Malaysian economy before the pandemic), but wanted to buy a retirement property in Malaysia, but now the government can stick MM2H where the sun don't shine.

I arrived on 16th January and after a minor hiccup had my MM2H visa application accepted in early Feb then, I was taken ill (intestinal problem) and spent most of the rest of February in hospital. Thankfully, that has cleared up now after the brilliant work of an outstanding surgeon ( I hope he reads this!). Then the Movement  Restriction order kicked in and I've been staying with my Malaysian wifes family ever since. Emirates have cancelled my return tickets to the UK but my visa is automatically extended until 14 days from the date the MRO is lifted. I fall into a high risk category, being 60 with asthma and having had surgery which weakened my immune system, so decided not to put myself at risk travelling home. I love Malaysia and would be happy just to stay here. Unfortunately, my plan also includes settling my affairs in the uk so I do have to go back until my MM2H is approved.

Hi It is me Hadas Teklu M,  I live in Jade Hills (Kajang) area & by now I lived about 2 years in Malaysia  & I have a plan to travel to the UK  (London) as my husband live & works there. I have two young children who attend in a local British International School but currently we stayed at home since 17/2/2020 till now & I have no idea when this covid-19 restrictions will last.  Currently my movements are restricted & in fact my husband registered with Malaysian Tesco store & he orders food for us to be delivered to my Condo -flat.  I hope this give you some ideas as to how i live with my two children locked at home. 

Thank you
H T Mengesha

Nemodot wrote:

After the Malaysian government said "far cough" to expats and MM2H visa holders I have decided to not apply for a MM2H visa. After a decade in Malaysia I moved for work to Korea as Money far better and the weak RM (and poor Malaysian economy before the pandemic), but wanted to buy a retirement property in Malaysia, but now the government can stick MM2H where the sun don't shine.

I somewhat share your sentiments about the Malaysian government.  To me, how it is handling this crisis will show me if Malaysia is up to the task.  Believe me, that first bulletin about telling wives to not nag husbands but do wear make-up while at home while humorous was not a good omen.

I am starting to love it here in San Francisco even more....

I cancelled my MM2H and left Malaysia in 2015 and have no regrets at all. I am kind of envious of Nemadot moving to South Korea too. I currently live in Indonesia and the reaction to the handling of the coronavirus also seems to have a lot of criticism. Some countries such as South Korea, Japan and Taiwan have been handling the pandemic better than many other countries.

Agree, but to my understanding Taiwan does not have a retirement scheme and I don't think I would survive on English alone in those 3 countries you mentioned.  I guess we will just visit the inlaws in Malaysia ever so often.  Now, I plan to finish up the MM2H process since I am more than halfway there.  I should have known, even my malaysian wife prefers San Francisco to being back home....

I am living in KL 4 years already. My family left KL early March 2020, so they managed to enter home country without being quarantined.
Since I am employed here, I have continuous work going on remotely (via telecons). Though, even before COVID-19, I was always working from home. So, for me, nothing much changed.
Only point - I am not sure when my family will be able to return back to KL (hopefully before September 2020)
Thanks for business continuity and on-going operations, I will extend mt work visa till end of 2022, so apparently I do not have any plans moving out of Malaysia
I heard that some of my friends are leaving Malaysia once MCO finishes. They are expats in international oil&gas companies. Looks like O&G companies will lay off almost 80% of expats worldwide

Oil and Gas exploration companies tend to lay off people when oil prices  fall and when the cost of exploration becomes uneconomical. The cost of drilling a well remains the same but if the calculations show that the projected price of oil or gas drop too much then it becomes uneconomical. Anyway, expats are one thing but still there are local staff who are not expats.

I have called Kuala Lumpur my home for the past 20 years and sadly at this time, I am not able to enter back to KL from Australia where i had visited for a short holiday.
My original flight  home was on the 19th March and sadly the MCO came into place on the 18th.

I am currently  not with the people whom i had come to visit (they are in another state), I am  in Melbourne, alone, renting an  apartment for the unknown duration, whilst of course still incurring all my rent/bills back home in KL and missing my own surroundings terribly.

To say i am disappointed  that "residents" have not been allowed to re enter and go into self isolation or quarantine like Malaysian citizens is an understatement. I believe measures are necessary to keep this virus at bay, however I feel very displaced and rejected by a country that I have called home for such a long time.   My friends are my family!

Hoping we can all get back to "normal" soon.

Take Care.

I arrived in Penang on 29/1/2020 to lodge all the MM2H papers that had been han ging over my head because Immigration could not understand my financial affairs. My plan was to do a visa run upto to Thailand. I have everything I need here, car , apartment etc.
But now stuck here as like you I am in a high risk group.
So now stuck in my apartment unless I can hitch an ocean journey back to Australia!
I dont think that there is much possibility that the MM2H will be attended to and taking a flight back to Australia in these circumstances is tantamount to suicide esp when they lock people up in recirculating airconditioned hotels !

Good luck every one-- its gunna be the closest thing to jail I have experienced

So sorry to hear that,we just pray and hope all this covid 19 crisis ends soon and you get back to Malaysia,i know the worry and the pain in it since i almost experienced the same...

I was supposed to join a company in KL this month. Due to MCO, I could not travel. Waiting for the lockdown to be lifted. It's been said the company cannot onboard me virtually as I have to be physically available in Malaysia to start working legally. Not sure if this rule still holds true in the current situation. But I am tensed and anxious of the delay in joining. Not sure if there are any expat who was expecting join at this time frame and how their companies have onboarded them or delayed their joining

Hello,hope you have been well,now good news for you,you can now come back to Malaysia,try check on it....all the best and stay safe.

Hello Everyone,

I've lived in Japan for over 15 years and debated whether to retire here or in Malaysia.  Long story but Malaysia became my first choice and I applied for the mm2h visa last November.  I had just given notice to my employer and got rid of 1/3 of my furniture in preparation of moving to KL in May when the MCO was announced in mid-March.  Like others I'm just waiting. 

Footnote:  I lived at the actual epicenter when the Northridge earthquake hit in 1994 and was working in downtown Seattle (Washington Mutual Building) when in 2001 that city experienced it's biggest earthquake since 1949.  [The day before my colleague from San Francisco was visiting and he asked me if Seattle experienced earthquakes and I told him only minor ones.  ]   And of course I was in Japan when the 2011 Tohoku earthquake occurred.  I know Malaysia doesn't experience any earthquakes of size but you may not want to live in KL after I arrive.

dwhitedurango wrote:

We are awaiting the acceptance of our MM2H visa, having filed it last August.  We left Penang  in December, as our 3-month visa was expiring. Our plan was to travel for 6 months and then return to Penang in June and spend another 3 months, hoping our visa would be approved before the end of that time, which would have been over a year's wait.  However, the best-laid plans .........  We are now in Spain and arrived just before the lockdown, which is currently in place until the end of April.  We are lucky to be in Costa del Sol where there is litte virus.  However, our plan to return to Penang in June is very questionable.  We do not know when we will be able to leave Spain or return to Penang.  We just have to wait it out and see what happens.  Luckily, our 3-month visa here is being extended for the length of the lockdown, so that is not an immediate problem.  In terms of the time frame for approval of MM2H visas, we have been advised by our agency that the time frame will, of course, now be longer, although no estimate has been given.  So who knows what the future holds!

If you don't mind, could you please let us know when you do get your mm2h approval?   I heard that some people who applied in July received approval in late January, and that the ministry actually stopped the approval process the first week of February.  I'm three months behind you btw.

Hello!  Sorry to have taken so long to answer your post, but I missed it the first time and only caught it when I was deleting emails from my phone.

It was very good to hear that people who filed in July were receiving approvals in January.  We were told it would be a year's wait, so that is very good information.  Since we filed in August, we should not be too far down the list when they resume processing applications.  The agency that filed our application for us said that there had been some changes to the process but did not explain further.

I will make a note of your user name and keep you up to date if we hear anything.  Currently, we are still in Spain.  Spain will be opening its border to tourism in July, but no idea when Malaysia will open theirs.  Hopefully we will be able to return to Penang in August.

Thanks for answering my post--I will keep in touch with any new information.