This Covid is possibly a great opportunity to earn USD or SGD and live in Malaysia. Lots of companies moving completely to remote working. If you score one in a similar time zone, essentially you may have the option to work from Malaysia and earn foreign currency. SG is probably the ideal once the borders open back up since you can just fly in whenever you need to be in SG and the rest of the time stay in MY. Earn SGD and live in MY? What's there not to like? Maybe I should apply for a job in Fujitsu since they going to allow full remote working.

ada karja kosong tak bang

SG outsource to MY, MY outsource to Bangladesh, Bangladesh outsource to Rohingya

Great idea. Pay also should revise based on location. They will do this eventually.

Yes bro, just like Youtube payouts even US$1-2k is big money in Malaysia.

Got friends in logistics handling for Malaysian operations work remotely from home with US based company.
Paid close to USD$2k but need to work early morning shifts follow US time.

Malaysian managers also don't earn this much.

How about income tax? Pay Singapore or pay Malaysia?

alot of mat salleh doing that

Failures of globalization. The whole idea about globalization is that if you're an engineer wherever you work in the world, your salary must be the same. If you earn US$8k, salary in Malaysia must be at least RM24k/mth.

Sadly, this idea is exploited by globalists corporation who enslaved 3rd world countries and pay them peanuts but their prices everywhere in the world for their products is similar.

Starbucks costs US$3-5 a cup in USA, how much they sell in Malaysia for same cup of coffee? RM15 min?

Why salary is not matching but products and items must par with their US pricing or more because of export?

Capitalist kata jangan

The employer side must report to his own country for taxes. Still they pay Malaysian side cheaper salary but our locals find it worth the exchange value, because net pay still higher than local managers.

The whole idea about globalization is flawed. If you want to be considered a globalized citizen, your salary must be also on globalized scale, not RM2-3k as an engineer or manager in Malaysia.

Your salary must match that of Europe and USA counterparts even if you work in Africa, Asia or South America.

That should be the true meaning of "GLOBALIZATION".

SG since you earn in SG. Which is good, since SG has lower taxes.

When times were good, I believe only certain industries such as O&G and banking were paying globalized salary scale.

If Malaysians were smart enough to demand, we won't be getting such low salaries and our economy still moves.

If you dealt with China suppliers and dealers before, they all quote their prices in USD currency everywhere in the world. RMB only for local trading. That is what we meant as globzalization.

Ts can fren fren with liamness

Earn in sgd but stay in malaysia

Wah Malaysia rugi then. Use the facility here but no pay tax

This is very true. Pre-Covid as example they pay you lump sum salary for working in Singapore after considering living cost tariff, hardship to get to SG, factor in their saving of no need to pay living in SG allowence. But now if you can be stationed in India or Malaysia, they will scale down the benefit as per living cost in Malaysia or local place. The overall idea of salary is to cover ones living expenses and plus some margin for other stuffs. Many demonstrated ability to work from home with near similar productivity without having need to travel or with slight reduction in productivity but yeah opportunity to save cost for employer and employee save cost on travelling and time.

Salary derived from sg. So I pay tax in Singapore.

Ah.. but u are conveniently forgetting that the cost of living in countries and places vary too. For instance, it is at least 1/4 cheaper to live in KL than it is to live in New York..

Likewise, it is cheaper to live in Vietnam than it is in Malaysia.

Cost of living impacts salary imo.

again supply and demand

It only matters for the cheap wage earners locally who is constraint by borders and local laws.

The whole idea of GLOBALIZATION is rigged to favor the rich and their multinational corporations.
Being globalized means unrestrained markets, more cheaper labor sources and a bigger selling market.
At the end of the day, they still sell and market their products with the same price everywhere using the USD as a benchmark.

If not, the locals will get subpar quality items with cheaper and lesser ingredients.

Just compare our local Maggi mee packaging and the Korean ones. Our Maggi mee is just about half the size, with packaging cover that is thinner than paper, just poke and already punctured.

We are actually getting less while doing the same jobs as these overseas peers with same titles.They can afford to buy houses, cars and spend cheap vacations in Malaysia but Malaysians can't otherwise.

Think of it, we're being shortchanged and cheated.

If only we follow the way how China and Cambodia trades with the West using the USD as the bargaining price for their products sold overseas and salary payouts.

Costs of living in Malaysia is not cheap either unless you still look for cheap RM1 nasi "kueh" lemak and settle for less quality. You are still buying cars that matches prices of those western countries.

Supply you say oh maybe our local grads aren't as deserving for the same equivalent job titles as other countries counterparts.We need to keep the locals satisfied with jobs to win their votes and hearts even if it means less?

If a sedan car costs USD$30k cash, can I get the same car at MYR30k if we earn dollar to dollar?
You can buy a landed home in US for somewhere $100k in the suburbs, can you do the same with MYR?

The only connection with supply is that ours is subpar and undeserving.Meaning it's an insult to Malaysian locals.

I just recently joined a SG company. Paid in SGD, income tax based on SG, but I live at Saigon

Previously work for a Saigon based company
Paid in USD, income tax based on VN tax bracket and every month I am crying looking at my tax deduction from my pay

This post has been edited by blueblueoutofblue: Jul 8 2020, 11:38 PM

Then you realize at 16:00 today, your boss tells you to be present in the office at 09:00 tomorrow. And a plane ticket costs 500 MYR oneway.

When you are in the office, you do not know when you can leave. The boss may let you go at 16:00 or 21:00. So, you cannot buy a ticket back. Have to stay in a hotel, which costs 300 SGD a day, unless you do not mind staying in a 120 SGD hotel with paper walls....

This is 600 SGD per trip.

Sometimes, this happens twice a week, sometimes four times a week..... So, every month, an additional 4800 to 9600 SGD of expenses.

If you tell your boss to let you know two days in advance, and confirm what time you can leave the office, he/she may say, since you give me so much trouble, I will pay you 1/3......

This post has been edited by hwt: Jul 8 2020, 11:51 PM

I dunno why u wanna compare the little things when you should be looking at the bigger expenses, like property...

Do you know how much it will cost you to buy an apartment in downtown New York? You pretty much can't do it even if you work in NYC..

Meanwhile, it's still very possible to do so in KL. And doesnt really take that much. A combined income of 24k ringgit per month and you are looking at the top of the range apartments in KL city centre.

Your case is that you're based somewhere else with relocation benefits.

I supposed if you get those remote jobs which is based in your own hometown with the convenience of working from your own home but paid in USD?

Despite being paid less than your counterparts who is based in the HQ, the conversion is still very much worth it.
Say an engineer earns USD$5000 back at HQ, you based locally but still paid USD$3000. Worth a not?

I dunno how u can blame globalisation when we've been direct beneficiaries to it. Without more open markets, KL would be dead. Just look at how globalisation has rapidly expanded China.. lifting huge numbers out of poverty.


Also, before you blame globalisation, I suggest you go and look up unemployment rates in developed countries vs under developed, 3rd world countries like Malaysia..

It is depressing in first world.. heck.. a good friend of mine working in the UK just got made redundant.. Meanwhile, I'm still employed, working from home, and my company, also a UK company is doing well in the Asian market.

Why are you comparing property prices when you're doing the same job as your overseas counterpart with same title deserves less? We're talking about the job involved here.

Also my RM5 bowl noodles compared with a USD$5 bowl noodles the ingredients are so different in terms of quality.

Dollar to Dollar comparison.

Of I suppose also why our local manufacturers and suppliers should sell our export items quoted in MYR instead of USD why they wouldn't?

Lower cost of living wut in Malaysia you claimed. Why?

With the recent economic war with China, USA is now restarting factories back in their own country to create more jobs. I guess they are not paying their workers in RMB to keep things competitive?

Are they also going to start selling US made products in RMB too to keep up with competition?

Property prices is where your bulk of income will get eaten up. It matters a great deal..

Why do u think SG is rated one of the most expensive places on Earth? When a plate of chicken rice is only $3sgd..

It's all due to the property prices..

Property in Malaysia is still affordable so much so that even a 60k rm a year salary can get you a good landed house in Shah alam.

Meanwhile, 60k AUD wont even get u a house anywhere worthwhile in Australia..

I don’t know man. There are so much to take into consideration when moving to another country. Healthcare, security and yada yada.

If money is all that matters then why even stop at SG? You can work for a US company.

This post has been edited by throwaway account: Jul 9 2020, 12:04 AM

What’s your residency status in Vietnam? Do they also have similar visa programs like MM2H?

There is a netflix documentary about a chinese manufacturer opening up in USA. Even bringing their chinese workers over.

You should check it out.

You talk about property prices. But these globalists will pick the cheapest country to operate yet maintain their final goods prices using the USD as their reference pricing.

How do they explain that? Meaning the rich corrupted way of sustaining their wealth through geo-political exploitation?

My job role and responsibilities as a staff with the same position as my other counterpart is the same. Why am I getting paid less? When my counterpart retires with his savings he come to my country he lives like king, my retirement can't even afford me a house locally.WTF?

If their staffs who are brought over to US are paid in USD that's fine. They deserve that for where they're based.

Globalists come to your country and pay labourers peanuts but they market their stuffs back in their own country in their own currency or even sell them in your country by using their own USD prices as reference?

Who is the loser?

US Starbucks costs US$4 per cup. Malaysian Starbucks sell it for RM15 for same thing.

Shortchanged? Our work is not less than them.

You are doing something seriously wrong if you can't afford a house locally..

Maybe get a better paying job? If both ur partner and itself earning 6k ringgit a month each, then no problem la.. can easily get a nice apartment and car.. heck.. houses these days wont even require full 10% downpayment. You can easily move into a unit with zero money down..

I don't see what's so hard about it..

do u know how much more expensive houses are in developed nations?? And how much more competitive it is? You go to an auction house in Melbourne, there will be 20-40 other people bidding for a single property.. the starting price? 800k aud.. good luck.

Yeah? Try getting a RM6k job over here in Malaysia and see how you need to work off your ass to keep your job.
You might even need to work overtime without getting paid or commit during weekends to your job.

No. in the documentary, the Chinese expats were still paid their salary in the usual amount in RMB. They were supplemented by living allowances.

After their stint in the US is finished, they return to China with the same old salary.

The documentary is called American Factory.

Ahhh. It breaks his globalist narrative. Lol

That would be their own stupidity lor for being exploited when their own bosses are snapping up properties overseas by the rows, sending their children to be fully educated there and living the rich and famous lifestyle.

This idea of globalization will come to an end soon when the masses gets awaken.It'll surely backfire on their rich corrupted families resulting in another revolution.

Such genius, much money, very profit, many tendies..WOW

My globalist narrative is still clear. It only benefits the rich and powerful by exploiting the poor and uneducated by shortchanging them.

It will not last long as we know, China is now feeling the pressure and so is India.

Wait.. but I thought your argument is that the host country gets paid lesser.. meanwhile, those expats are earning more??.

Actually, there are many companies that pay the workers more money based on location. For instance, uniqlo pays their Aussie workers way more than their Japanese. Even the Japanese manager earns less hourly wage than a casual aussie worker in uniqlo Australia..

Like I have said.. salary and wages are more tied to the location and country rather than a sweeping generalisation such as your globalisation argument. Which is totally and utterly false.

This post has been edited by Liamness: Jul 9 2020, 12:31 AM

The main hurdle to this plan is the working rights in the country. If you want to get paid in a foreign currency, such package is usually for their local employees (unless you have some special expat package).
Singapore company pays employees in SGD. I assume you want to be treated like a singapore based employee to get salary in SGD, but physically in Malaysia instead.

This also means you will need to pay all the salary deductible items from your foreign salary (tax, insurance, health care, pension/retirement/CPF). So if you don't have rights to work in Singapore, this will be a problem.

The foreign company can alternatively hire you in Malaysia and pay you in MYR instead but they will need to create a local entity and manage the payroll

This mindset is not sustainable. No matter which company you are working for, you should always be placing the interest of your paymaster at the forefront..

If that means sacrificing at least until you have proven yourself to a point of indispensable , then only can you dictate where or how you want to work.


For instance, I proved my worth by securing large contracts and unlocking new customer bases. I then improved on backflow of work and streamlined alot of the processes to the point of automation.. alot of what my division manually used to do and spend alot of man hours doing too, back when I first join, is now automated due to the systems and processes I have implemented company wide.

I worked hard for that and when a new position opened up, requiring someone to travel around ASEAN, I openly volunteered and was ultimately, selected.

The rest is history and the trust and relationship between my management and myself is strong. But it wouldn't be possible if I has the attitude of "gaining" at the expense of my company..

I'm a firm believer of always, always putting your company interest first. Think like an owner and you will become one.

This post has been edited by Liamness: Jul 9 2020, 12:39 AM

Yup, I guess when the news broke out, the workers are fighting to work in the US so the company doesn’t need to entice people with higher salary.

In China, people admire America. Apart from the bipartisan and one party system, the government try as hard as they can to follow the US standard. This could be observed from their universities, infrastructure, fund raising activities and governance. Us-China adversity is sensationalized by media.

In a way, it’s the same treatment for the expats going the other way round. Were they not also paid the same salary at home? Then, they receive hardship allowance or other benefits that compensate for their sacrifices.

This post has been edited by throwaway account: Jul 9 2020, 12:40 AM

You are correct. If you want to take advantage of the tax benefits from SG, you need to be legally employed in SG. Otherwise, you may be better finding a job in Malaysia and getting paid in RM.

It’s definitely worth even pay lesser if based locally with lower pay after conversion. However the tricky part is the income tax.
VN actually has double taxation, even if I got tax at SG now, I would still have to pay VN tax, which pretty fck up.

However as I refuse to declare my oversea income at VN, basically just need to make sure I don’t have incoming/remittance from oversea to my local bank account I am safe.

I am currently on automatically renew visitor pass since last month. I had temporary resident card when I was still with the old company, however it was cancelled and not renew after I leave the company.

They have similar program like MM2H but it’s only available for oversea born Vietnamese, or Vietnamese who migrates oversea want to return to vietnam.

There are few option to get a Long term visa:

1. 3,6,12 months tourist visa
2. 3,6,12,24 months business visa
3. Marry a local Vietnamese partner, get spouse visa
4. Get 2 years Temporary Resident Card
5. Or old style, every 3 months travel to Cambodia or Thailand, re enter vietnam

For 2 years Temporary resident card, you need to have a job in Vietnam, or, as investor, buying property, or, setting up a company here.

So how are you going to stay on in Vietnam since you are on visitor pass? What are your plans?

You got Vietbu?

This post has been edited by eXTaTine: Jul 9 2020, 09:24 AM

i think theres a limit to wfh. its not working from another country.

If you are permanently working from home, then it doesn't matter which country you work, as long as it's in the same or similar time zone, right? I've been working from home since February. My company would not know if I was in another country, even though right now I'm stuck in Singapore due to this covid. Moving forward, some companies will go fully remote, which means if I worked for one of those companies and the borders open up, I could be permanently working in Malaysia. And earning SGD. They would still pay me SG rates and not MY rates.

So obviously I would have to get hired under the foreign country package on their foreign terms instead of Malaysia package. Which should be relatively easy for me since I'm a PR in SG. The next step would be to find a company with fully remote working and with minimal time required to travel to office. Then I'll just wait for the borders to open up then move back to Malaysia.

then make sure youre not caught lo. why would a company pay you sgd if youre working in malaysia? now ok since its covid, in the future wont be like this.

VN gov for now kind enough to give automatic renewal of visa until further notice (until covid-19 situation improve)

I’m planning to get TPR or business visa, which I will try to find someone or people I know that has a company to “employ” me as consultant.

Yes, I am dating a Vietnamese girl and I am planning to marry her next year. So, that’s another option, to get spouse Visa.

What happens if there is a sudden issue which requires you to be there in person?

For those jobs which really do not require your presence, people have been doing it for years especially finance or call centers.

one of my kaki raiding last time was staying in thailand but working for singapore company and earning sgd
bugger was living the life

Despite Singapore being rated for being the best country to do business and invest in, its the total opposite when it comes to seeking employment. The law there favors employers more than anywhere else making it one of the most stressful place for employment. So bad that even modern China companies have better working environment than them when recruiting expats.

Do you know that in Singapore, you can be sacked and leave in less than 24 hours?Nice place for the crazy rich to invest and set up administrative offices there but at work when it comes to work you better not let your employer find little faults with you just like what happened months back when bosses started acting up to find excuses to retrench staffs there.

The SGD lure is less attractive than the USD.

If they ask you to leave in 24 hours they have to compensate you with the notice period. Typically 1 month.

1 day dismissal means from your last pay day counted proratedly to the day of your dismissal.

Singapore is not a nice place to seek employment. It's a playground for the rich where the government favors FDI over its citizens.

You'll be surprised how many software engineers are hired by foreign companies but they reside in MY. Though citizen, because their income are 100% from foreign entity, they do not need to pay tax, yet get to enjoy our healthcare services (if they want to)

I know 3-4 guys like this... their salary figure between 20k-40k per month depending on the projects they need to handle.

This post has been edited by HuorEarfalas: Jul 9 2020, 04:22 PM

There is no 1 day dismissal unless you do something very serious la...

I think it is a steal to live in Malaysia and earn USD or Euro or Pound...
Freelance was pretty much the only way to achieve this, but with Covid-19, it appears we will be able to have proper full time jobs, which we fulfill from afar... Can not wait!
Ultimately it would be good to be in Europe though, perhaps retiring in Portugal may be nice. It is Europe, but still cheaper than most countries there...

This can be worked out. The company can hire you as a freelance contractor. so essentially they just pay you money, and you will have to worry about everything else. For example, setting up a soleprop entity, tax payment and such

Ladies and gentlemen,

The 'Mehsia' gov just announced this: The Malaysian government has decided to provide a tax exemption on foreign-sourced income for individual taxpayers, backtracking from their earlier proposal made in the 2022 budget to tax Malaysian residents on their income sourced from abroad.

www.aseanbriefing.com/news/malaysia-issues-tax-exemption-for-foreign-sourced-income

I just secured a job with a Singaporean start-up working remotely (permanent). What's in my best interest in terms of tax efficiency and banking solutions? This is what I have in mind Sri far but I don't know off it's the best. Please chip in as I know that this information will benefit many thousands like me, remote Startup employee, working for SG startup earning in SGD, live in Malaysia. This could be USD, EU, Australia or Singapore and more.

Scenario 1: I tell my SG employer to pay in SGD to my Wise account which I've opened with must do RM 101 deposit. Opened in 5 minutes. I have been given an account number. Then I'll remit to my Malaysia account for expenses. Will be be taxed? Should I go LHDN and declare something? Can I peacefully go about my life legally living in Malaysia, not paying our tax because it's earned via Sg based company.

Are you directly employed by the company in Singapore? If you are then I think you we be subject to Singapore statutory deductions.

Haha my brother. Work SG but in Malaysia. Earn sing spend ringgit

not sure how income tax work for those remotely in diff country

So... now profit from crypto trading (obviously the exchange is not in Malaysia) is now exempted from tax?

I'm interested to find out as well, anyone here knows the best approach?

great idea. earn sgd, pay sg income tax & health insurance but stay here and freeload on our subsidized electricity, petrol & price controlled food.
maybe you can mine bitcoins in the next room as well.

ada kangtao can introduce?

Search online, or through peers connection

I’m currently remote working, compensation in HKD, SGD and USD

Why 3 currencies? Because I’m a consultant for 3 different project

All tax free 😬

I was searching for some time however is there anything for Non IT skilled and only entry level? And its per project basis type and not a permanent employee right

This post has been edited by anndroid: Mar 16 2022, 02:39 PM

Depend on what non IT skill you have

always can try sell your skill at fiverr dot com

Look at other people who promote their skill and see what are the services you can provide

Yes but still need go pay local tax

wonder what kind job that let u work remotely

I wonder how those digital nomads make money . 6 months in Bali then Chiangmai then Penang . I wish i had that kind of job

My brother and his wife is always working in SG, then for the past 2 years due to the covid issue. He is working from home, home @ JB. So yea he literally earning SGD and spending MYR. Damn jelly them. Both of them in the supply chain department.

but they say soon no more WFH , so ur brother and his wife need come back ald

Yea, I do know a lot of the SG company getting all the workers back to SG already since 1 year ago.

Enjoy while it last.