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Exploring a New Life in Malaysia with MM2H – A Family from Derby
As a 40-year-old father of two teenagers and husband to a wonderful wife, I've spent years working at an advertising agency in Derby, living a relatively stable life. We've saved up over the years and managed to pay off our home, so financially, we're in a pretty comfortable position. That being said, in all honesty, lately, our family has been thinking about the future, especially about making a life change, one that'll allow us to spend more quality time together. Basically, we want to live life in a more fulfilling way. One idea that kept coming up is relocating to another country—a place where we can slow down, escape the daily grind and, preferably, enjoy a sunnier environment.
Golden Visa
After doing a fair bit of online research, we spotted Malaysia's MM2H visa several times and it's grabbed our attention. MM2H is essentially a Golden Visa that allows people like us to live long-term in Malaysia, offering a range of benefits that make it especially appealing to families looking to start fresh abroad. For instance, MM2H allows you to bring over your spouse and children as dependents, making the transition a smooth one for the whole family. Malaysia's low cost of living, especially compared to the UK, is another huge plus and the excellent exchange rate between Sterling and the Malaysian Ringgit adds even more financial value. We're talking a ratio of more than 5:1! This is an important consideration, obviously.
The thought of living in Malaysia with the MM2H visa has actually progressed beyond just a pipe dream for us. We started seriously discussing what it would mean for our family and how we would go about it in practical terms. For one, we're considering renting out our UK home, since, at least according to our calculations, this would easily generate enough income to support us in Malaysia. With the rental income and, optionally, some of our other investments, like our fixed-income assets, we'd live quite comfortably there. Frankly, our budget would extend much, much further in Malaysia, allowing us to enjoy a less demanding lifestyle, likely akin to how financially comfortable expats typically live.
Educational Opportunities & Healthcare
But it's not just money matters, by any stretch. Another significant draw is Malaysia's incredible environment. For starters, the weather is just lovely year-round and the country boasts beautiful beaches, huge, still untouched forests and lively cities too. We're also excited about the educational opportunities for our children. I mean, from the looks of things, there's plenty of international schools in Malaysia, where they'd receive a high-quality education and be able to interact with students from all over the world, adding a global dimension to their upbringing.
Moreover, healthcare in Malaysia is top-notch and affordable, which is reassuring for us as parents, both for our kids' sakes and our own sakes. Because let's face it, being able to leverage lifestyle arbitrage is all well and good, but we wouldn't go for it if our adoptive country didn't have an infrastructure at least on a par with that of the UK. Malaysia is one of very few countries that have well-developed facilities and amenities, in combination with comparatively low living costs. Throw in the excellent privileges and benefits that MM2H-holders are granted and moving to Malaysia almost becomes a no-brainer, especially for those of us who were already leaning towards relocating overseas anyway.
Tax Exemptions
MM2H also offers tax benefits, particularly in how it treats foreign-sourced income. For example, we won't get taxed on the money we wire into Malaysia from the UK, allowing us to maximise our rental income and any other funds we remit to our bank in Malaysia. Clearly, this tax break is quite a decent bonus on top of the already favourable financial advantages we get to enjoy.
In short, Malaysia and its MM2H visa seem like the perfect fit, at least for our family. The opportunity to relocate there, enjoy a slower pace of life and create new memories in a beautiful, sunny country is incredibly enticing. And our boost in purchasing power is welcome icing on the cake. In fact, as it happens, we're now on the look-out for a suitable MM2H agent to assist us with applying for the visa.
If you, too, have been thinking about greener pastures, then have a look at MM2H.co.uk. It's got a lot of on-the-ground information, practical tips, suggestions and a great FAQ.
By Daryll, Joanne, David and Jean,
London
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