Some new changes to the program (18/07/07)

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Just read this over at Allo:

http://www.alloexpat.com/malaysia_expat_forum/latest-announcement-for-mm2h-program-17-aug-2007-t18678.html#153004

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Here's the post by aubella that BB refers to above:

"We had another quarterly meeting for MM2H agencies this afternoon, and please find below the latest update:

1) If you are a property investor who owns a property in Malaysia that is more than RM 1 Million in market value, you will only need to place RM 60,000 as Fixed Deposit for MM2H program.

2) We can now arrange for your MM2H visa to be endorsed at state immigration office, as long as we indicate in your MM2H application which state you intend to reside in.

3) The application process is currently under review, it seems that the government is trying hard to improve the efficiency of the approval process. One example is that Home Ministry may consider to cut short the security check processing time from 14 days to 7 days.

The above are the few major updates, we may post more details when we have done the full analysis of the latest changes. Once we have updated our own website accordingly we will post the changes here too."


The above post is from Vincent Fong at Aubella.

regards, Scott

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Here's the rest of the thread;

From Anwar:

Good to know update through your posting.

If the targeted audience of MM2H are the retirees, they do not think of property investment during their golden years. They simply want a peaceful, inexpensive living with their limited retirement funds.

Friday’s ruling will not make a Tsunami wave to attract hordes of qualified retirees to the MM2H program. Current MM2H application process is too expensive. Even a US Immigration attorney does not charge MR8000 for Green Card application, that your agency probably charges for MM2H application process. If the government’s MM2H office is overloaded with unqualified applicants, it can charge non refundable fees to cover their expenses of hiring extra hands. This will allow the DIY applicants to file their own applications.

The previous method of filing the application in the overseas Malaysian Tourism/Consulates worked well. Why fix it when it is not broken!

From Aubella:

Malaysia My Second Home is a scheme that allows qualified foreigners to establish a second home in Malaysia. You can come here for retirement, investment, children's education or even medical treatment.

Concerning our fee, I believe there are justification on what we have done for our customers. Imagine having someone to receive you at 2:30am in the morning on your first visit to Malaysia. There are also applicants who had tried DIY on their own, but then enlist our services when they realized that time, hassle and even miscellaneous costs are minimized by having someone plan out the whole journey.

From Anwar:

Thanks for telling your side of the story. Why mandate agency only MM2H application? All that the people in this forum are asking, keep DIY an option. Those applicants who want to retain the agencies are their prerogative. If you followed this forum, majority of DIY MM2H members said that DIY process was easy.

As far as your rationale of receiving an alien at 2:30 AM in KL Airport, you have a point. But this is not true for all. English is well understood in Malaysia. People who cross the ocean to visit Malaysia, can also travel 70KM from KLIA to a local hotel with out any agent’s help.

From Scott

I've never understood who the applicants are who just happened to arrive for the first time in Malaysia but went to the time and trouble to find out about the programme, engage an agent, collect and collate all the necessary information, photocopy passports, have photocopies certified, prepare a CV, collect evidence of sufficient funds - all without ever visiting the place, not even for a brief holiday. And then they arrive in the early hours of the morning - what's going on? Is this a detective story?

And anyway, what percentage would they be of the total? Most of us have got brains. If I was going to buy a new car, I'd check it out, take it for a trial run, get the whole family to bounce around in it. Why on earth would I embark on moving to a new country with enormously less diligence than buying a car?

And how does Motour announce any changes. With a quarterly meeting of agents. No press announcement. No announcement on its web Site.

I doubt that MoTour will be transparent and give press details of the number of applications received since the "agents only" implementation, and details on how many of these applications were rejected. Also, I doubt that MoTour will publish the names and number of agencies that have been removed from their list for unethical behaviour. Have any been removed?

Anyway, thanks Aubella for posting. Those of us interested in the programme are obviously grateful for such dribs and drabs of information that filter through.

   
From Scott:

By the way, several months ago, I invited MoTour to join my own site, to post and answer queries, and I also suggested that they join this website.

I explained in an email that by looking at these 2 sites, Motour would get a feel for the opinions and concerns of existing MM2H participants and of prospective applicants.

Logging onto a site, and reading the latest posts takes a few minutes. However there was no response.

As there is now no need for applicants to go to the One-Stop Centre, then all, yes all, feedback to Motour comes from agents. Talk about self-serving interests

That's as far as it's got over the past day.

regards, Scott

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Is it fair to say it's a form of legalized 'robbery', hehe 
We might have to think thrice if we were to apply now.

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Just to endorse the point on there being no need for agents on many occasions; we and quite a few of our friends who have joined MM2H were actually working here before deciding to join the programme and were well aware of procedures & frustrations and were well able to cope with them. It makes no sense that such people should be oblidged to use an agent. In fact we (and our friend) found the whole application process very easy with the exception of an extra unecessary visit to immigration. (unecessary if we had been given complete information on the 1st visit).
It would be interesting to know what % of joiners have indeed worked or lived here before joining the scheme, but I suspect this is another statistic we shall never know.

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hi,

Yep, I was also staying here, off and on, for some time before making the application. The application was simple, allowing for the 1 false start that most of us make. Mine was due to not following posted advice to go to KL. I went to immigration at Ipoh, and after this mistake it was an easy, and very quick, application at KL.

The budget announcement is in the next couple of weeks (7th September, I think), and comments in the Star have indicated some expectation of "fine-tuning" the mm2h programme with regard to property.

I imagine the changes announced above are Motour taking advantage of the meeting with agents to pre-empt the budget announcements. Anyway, if there's anything in the budget affecting my2homers, I'll post it.

regards, Scott

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A bit more information on the changes announced at the Agents/motour 1/4ly meeting.

1). You can indicate in your application where you're planning to live. Then, once the letter of approval is given, Motour will send your file to the relevant state immigration office and you can get the visa stamped there instead of going to KL.

2). There's something about allowing the children of my2homers to attend local schools. Nothing clear yet.

3). There are some suggestions about dumping the bond amount required to be undertaken by agents. Again, nothing definite yet.

I'll posted again in this thread as details become more clear.

regards, Scott