Malaysia is another top opportunity for you to expand your business to Asia and specifically to South-East Asia.
Located between Thailand and Singapore on the Malay peninsula and on a part of the island of Borneo, Malaysia offers cheaper storage and production possibilities than its southern neighbor. Well-skilled and English-speaking workforce, business-friendly environment, diverse economy, and a strategic location in Asia make Malaysia attractive for foreign investments and for small and medium businesses.
Malaysia has a perfectly developed infrastructure, including airports, seaports, trains, logistics. The economic stability is comparable to that in Singapore.
In the Ease-of-Doing-Business Reports of the Worldbank (until they were stopped during covid), Malaysia skyrocketed its ranking within just 2 years (from 2018 to 2020) from 24th to the 12th place, surpassing countries like Germany (at the place 22). Within ASEAN, only Singapore was ranking better being at the 2nd place worldwide.
Malaysia offers a territorial taxation which can be particularly interesting for businesses with international orientation and revenues from abroad. Products from Malaysia are very well renowned within Arabic world (halal products) and the production in Malaysia can open doors not only to other Asian countries but also to markets in Middle East.
The most common type of the company in Malaysia is Sdn. Bhd. (or Sendirian Berhad) which corresponds to an Ltd. on the international scale. The incorporation happens nearly as easy as an incorporation of a Pte. Ltd. (private limited) in Singapore and the requirements are similar as well:
- Minimum paid-up capital of just one MYR
- Minimum one director and one shareholder (can be the same person and does not need to be a local one)
- In Malaysia you would need to have a registered address and a local corporate secretary (Singabiz can assist you with both)
- Local tax declarations are a must, even if your whole business happens internationally and the revenues come from abroad (but this is not different to other countries in the current world).
For certain activities, you might need business licenses and permits. Singabiz maintains intensive and working contacts to Malaysian governmental organizations, like MIDA – Malaysian Investment Development Authority. Thanks to it, we can help you to get the necessary information and to obtain licenses and/ or permits required for your kind of business.
On top of the above, new businesses coming to Malaysia and investing into certain industries in the country or engaging a certain number of local employees can benefit from additional advantages, like duty-free import of required equipment or tax vacations for up to 10 years. Here again, Singabiz and its partners as well as governmental organizations can help you with the necessary arrangements.
Certain areas, like Penang or Johor Bahru, which are being strongly developed by the local and central governments, provide even more incentives for the new and existing businesses in those areas.
In case, your company would need you being in Malaysia for a better management of your business, the immigration for you and your family can also happen much easier than if you would like just to immigrate without holding a company in the country.
For those who like tropical climate, crystal-clear water, sunny beaches, walks in the nature, Asian cuisine (just to mention few of areas), you would feel yourself like in paradise when relocating to Malaysia.
Affordable costs of living, well-developed infrastructure, medical services with a quality of high-developed countries, international schools, modern banking system with no restriction of capital flow – all this makes Malaysia to one of the most desired countries in South-East Asia to live in.
There are surely other options to spend time in Malaysia, not only holding your own business there. In the recent past, a new visa for digital nomads was introduced. It offers a possibility to stay in the country for up to one year available to remote workers, digital freelancers or independent contractors. And if you would like to stay in Malaysia longer, you have an option to extend it for another year. The application for this kind of visa, called DE Rantau visa, is pretty much straight forward and can be done remotely, you do not need to be in Malaysia for the application.
DE Rantau visa is open to all nationalities apart Israel citizens.
For the sake of completeness, MM2H (Malaysia My 2nd Home) visa needs to be mentioned as well, even though it lost a lot of its attractivity since the re-launch after the lockdown. The conditions like fixed deposit required to apply for MM2H were increased nearly by factor 10 compared to the previous conditions, making MM2H much less attractive. Unless you want to live in Malaysia and not elsewhere, if you are able to deposit 150.000 USD as a fixed deposit (a minimum amount required to have a MM2H visa with a duration of 10 years only) you have much broader choice than just Malaysia (s. for example the current options for a real permanent residency with a citizenship possibility in Philippines – which MM2H does not offer).
Nevertheless, Malaysia was and is an attractive country in South-East Asia with a lot of opportunities, especially for international business.
If you would like to benefit from advantages offered by Malaysia to your business or your personal immigration, do not hesitate to contact Singabiz and one of our representatives will be glad to assist you.
