I think Immigration (Msia) is aware that Aust govt is not taking back the Msian passports (like they used to in the 70s and 80s) when PRs take up their Aust citizenships. I know a lot of my friends' kids who have taken up citizenship (because they want to defer HECS) and ended up working in Spore (can't find job in Sydney) so they brag to me saying the kids go in and out of Msia with their Msian passports while working in Spore. One has even still managed to renew her passport in Johor Baru. The only problem is they will not be able to renew their re-entry permit in Aust when it expires(since they are Aust citizens already) so they cannot take a direct flight from Msia to Aust (they check your re-entry permit when you check-in and you probably don't want risk showing your Aust passport in Msia) and must fly back to Aust via another country. I think Msian Immigration is slowly catching up...

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Nov 8 2017, 05:04 AM

A lot of parents want to get the discount for paying HECS upfront which is not available to PRs. Also, i think a lot of parents think their children will work overseas (maybe Spore, HK,..) after they graduate (if they cannot land a good job in Aust) so no need to pay back the HECS until they come back and start working in Aust. Also in NSW, you can get travel concessional card (on public transport) which gives significant discounts (i think half price not sure) but as a PR, i don't think you get this. A lot of PRs left Aust after studying here (some with massive HECS debt) and never returned to Aust to repay the HECS debt which is why the Aust govt is clamping on this HECS skippers.

On the subject of why you want to still hold a Msian passport (with Aust citizenship) is because people can still go back to Msia to live indefinitely. If you come back with an Aust passport, i think you get a 3-month visitors visa. Now with Msian Immigration slowly catching up, using 2 passports will be a thing of the past.

P's: I only learnt you can re-edit your posts a few days ago. I never thought you could do it!!

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Nov 8 2017, 09:26 AM

If you just hold PR, you have to meet the 2/5 years stay otherwise they will give you a lot of problems with renewing reentry permit (so expensive nowadays $370 for 5 years!).

If you take up citizenship, you can only use your Malaysian passport (to enter Msia) until your reentry permit runs out. Even if you successfully renew your Msia passport, you will not be able to get the reentry permit renewed because you are an Aussie.

I recently met a Msian who i have worked with (in another department quite remote from my building) who has taken up citizenship yonks ago. She never told me she wanted to ever go back to Msia to live (until now as we are all close to retirement age). She says she wants to apply for the MM2H program (which i told her was not easy to get being an ex-Malaysian Chinese). She says that it should be very easy now as Msian govt is so broke that they got no choice. Anyway, i will let this forum know if she manages to get it. If she gets it, i might take up Aussie citizenship as well.

Do you mean it is better to be an Aust citizen and then apply for MM2H?

I don't quite get what you are saying.

Do you know any personally? I don't want to give up my Msian citizenship unless i am fairly certain that i can get the MM2H.

Thanks Selvenz. I have not contacted anyone yet but i will probably try. I only know that the visa is for 10 years which gives you the right to move in and out.

In Msia, we can still use our IC as if we are still Msian so if you are basically Msian except you carry a foreign passport.

The only setback being in Aust with PR status is that your PR can be cancelled anytime if you commit a crime (It doesn't have to be a serious crime so even something like drink driving can give them cause to revoke your PR though unlikely). Whether they cancel your PR is in the hands of the Immigration Dept (Aust) so you got to make sure you don't break any law!

Just called one of the migration agents. I was told only require RM300k (or equivalent in a bank acct - local or overseas) and show a monthly income of rm10k. Fees is rm5k for agent and another couple of grand for immigration fees. Total time needed will be around 3 months for approval.

Very smart!!

I never thought about this at all!!

You guys are full of ideas!!

Nowadays there are no more stamps on passports - they are all electronic and in Sydney, you go through a face recognition system and no one to stamp the passport anymore. In Msia, you use the e-passport lane and also no stamps.

Nowadays reentry permit has no stamps (they did away with this about 10 years ago) - you just do it online with $370 fees (5-year visa) and you can print out your reentry permit (no more stickers like before). You just use that printed re-entry permit to confirm you have your PR. I renewed mine in April 2017.

Aust doesn't care where you have been so it is not illegal in Aust. A lot of Aussies have 2 passports and when they leave Aust, they use their Aussie passports and then they vanished off the system (because they would be using their other passports like UK, HK,...) until they come back. My brother-in-law is pommie and he uses 2 passports and Aust never ask him where he has disappeared to. Nowadays with e-scanning there are no more stamps on passports anymore.

If your re-entry permit is still valid, you don't need to apply for the ETA visa. You only apply for the ETA visa after your rrv is no longer valid. It would be interesting to see if one can still get ETA after attaining Aust citizenship - the Aust Immi will be scratching their heads dry wondering why you still need an ETA when you are already an Aust citizenship.

I had a friend whom i have lost contact with who was doing this - he told me about doing this in the late 90s but at that time, i totally didn't understand what he was saying!! He was around my age at that time and said he was planning to only come back to Oz when he is old. He even bought a house in the outer suburbs of Sydney. I must try to see if i can still contact him when i go back to KL on holidays (we have a biig circle of friends).

You will probably want to reduce your chances of being caught out by not having to travel by to Oz unless absolutely necessary.

I am quite sure you cannot have 2 visas at the same time. Even if the rrv has expired (assuming you have also an Aust passport), they might still not grant you a visitor's visa because it does not make sense to them as you are already an Australian citizen.

Over the last 4 years, i have been going back to Msia twice a year using Air Asia. On several of those occasions, there was an Immi pfficer (Msian) waiting at the departture hall wanting to see your Aust rrv. On one occasion, the Immi officer asked me politely 'Working in Sydney?' and i nodded. Now thinking back, i think they are trying to catch Msians with 2 passports. I suspect once you take up citizenship, your rrv will be cancelled (because it will not be needed) and if you try to apply for an ETA, it will probably be rejected as well as you are already an Aust. The Aust Immi knows exactly how many days you have lived in Aust because when i went to renew my rrv more than 10 years ago, they told me all the dates that i have left Aust and reentered - this is to see how many days you have spent in Aust so that they can calculate whether you have spent more than 2/5 yrs in Aust and be eligible for a rrv. Now reflecting on what has happened at the departure gate, i am very sure that if you were using 2 passports, you will be caught out!!

P's: They even called Aust Immi once to verify my rrv (after i renewed my passport in KL) eventhough i showed them my old visa on my older passport. This is when i was checking in at the AA counter - took so long but luckily there was no-one behind me because i was at the flatbed counter.

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Nov 11 2017, 02:28 AM

I remembered after they moved to the new klia2, the Immigration officers checking were from the Malaysian side (Malays).Most likely you are right but i think Msia is keen also to strip those abusing the dual passports system. I must ask my friends (who had kids working in Spore) whether they are still using 2 passports or whether they have been caught out.

Yes - Aust Immigration has a 24-hour response centre and all airlines can call that number to confirm whether a passenger has a permit to enter Aust. I had just renewed my Msian passport a couple of weeks earlier at that time but i had the 2 passports with me (rrv on old passport).

This post has been edited by Garysydney: Nov 11 2017, 09:24 AM

I just contacted an old Uni friend who migrated to Oz about same time as myself. He is now regional director of an Oz company but spends most of his time in Asia. I contacted him this morning and he said a lot of Msian people are having 2 passports and they fly back to Oz via a different country. He tells me he will be taking up Oz citizenship soon.

This is exactly what he said. He is based in Bangkok and told me that for him, BKK is best. He said most people use SIN as it is closer to Oz.