Frequently Asked Questions

Hi everyone,

First of all, let me take this opportunity to thank all of you for visiting my blog. My blog just registered 5,000 views. I am happy to know that it is of some use to people pondering about migration to Malaysia. I have recently been receiving a lot of individual queries regarding working and living in Malaysia. Today i would like to answer some of them.

1. I am a Chemical engineer having seven years of experience.

Actually I have been selected  as a process engineer in a Malaysian company called BP PETRONAS Acetyls Sdn Bhd (BPPA). This company is located in Kerteh, Terengganu Dist.

They will call me on 26th March for salary negotiation. As discussed earlier during Interview, they shall offer me in betwwn RM 10000 to RM 11000 PM. This job is on permanent basis. They dont provide accomodation, transportation, food etc. Also they are not providing yearly air tickets for coming to India. I have read your blogs about cost of living in Malaysia and found very informative. 

So kindly suggest me whether this offer is reasonable! Also I will be very greatful if you can give some information about the company and its location & transportation, locality, nearby city, and availability of vegetarian food as I am vegetarian.

Ans: From what I have gathered about Kerteh, its not a very expensive place . Besides you are getting an offer to work with Malaysia's largest company that is Petronas. Vegetarian food is a problem in Malaysia. There are not many places serving tasty vegetarian foods. You can get south Indian foodstuff like Dosa easily but North Indian food is tough to find especially in far off places like Kerteh. If you are single then RM 10,000 ringgit is more than enough for you. You can expect to save almost half of that. Kerteh is basically an oil township and the largest city close to it is Kuala Terranggunu. Low cost career FireFly has a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur (Subang) to Kerteh so you can easily reach your destination in 1 hours time.

2. I luckily found your BlogSpot while searching the cost of living related queries in Malaysia. Thanks for the info. I just want to know more details from you, if free and possible for u

 I got an offer from A.. Bangalore regarding the below Project,

PROJECT DETAILS:

Skill	Application test lead
Experience	7+ yrs (Relevant)
Payroll	A.. Technology, Malaysia
Duration	1 Yr ext contract
Client's Location	Malaysia, IBM
Job Location	Malaysia

11000 MR per Month
Taxes: 1500 per month
Lodging, Boarding, Travel (to & fro to office) etc. living expenses: 1800 for single, 3200 for Family
Visa Processing, Ticket will be bared for only Myself
Help in Visa Processing, Tickets for my Family but charges need to bare myself
Health Card will be provided for only Myself, dependent family members are not included
Monthly 1 day leave excluding Sat/Sun, carried if not utilized
If comes back to India with additional leaves, then need to work on weekends and more hour
Salary will be revised on 12 months

I want your suggestion and other things by analyzing the benefits merits & demerits in accepting this offer?

What is the current Market rate for the Test Lead Salary there (approx.)

Cost of living, anything to be taken care if willing to stay with family having 2 kids(5,1) etc

Ans: I never advise people to take contract to hire jobs in Malaysia. Thing is that, you would be treated as a second rate employee and very prone to exploitation. You can guess by reading the terms only.  First of all they are not bearing health expenses for your family which is very essential and is a norm in Malaysia. They have already stated that you may be needed to work extra hours in case you take extra leave. This all sounds suspicious to me and you may land up working extra hours on a regular basis without much incentive. Although RM 14,200 salary is a good salary for a family of four. You can have a good standard of living in Malaysia with that salary. You can expect a monthly savings of around 2000-3000 ringgit if you are judicious with your spending.

3. Hi, 

Thanks a lot for the valuable info in your blog. Myself got an offer from Toshiba, Malaysia. The salary they are offering is 7000RM. Presently I am in Bangalore, & working in  a French MNC. I am married, & my wife is also working over here.

I need to know that whether the salary offered by them, is enough to have a fine life in Malaysia,

with a decent savings. I have to stay in Kualalampur. Pls let me know the options of my wife to get a job over there. Looking forward to your response...

Ans: Toshiba is a well known brand and is doing good in Malaysia. RM 7000 is a good salary for a single but not for a family of two if you want to maintain a good standard of living in Kuala Lumpur. However, if your wife can work and earn around 3000-5000 RM then you two can have a pretty decent life in Malaysia with some savings of around 1K-2K ringgits. You can ask your wife to go through jobstreet.my to look for jobs. If your wife is in IT field, it wont be much tough for her to get a job in Malaysia.

4. Hi. I am  ann.frm India..just wanted to knw abt the cost of living there...what would you suggest as the average salary per month an IT professional should get there in malaysia? hope u will reply.

Ans:  Ann you can go through my blog to get the cost of living in Malaysia. Nothing much has changed since i published it as inflation is low in Malaysia. To maintain a decent standard of living plus a bit of savings, a single person should get more than RM 5000 per month. 

5. Hi
 I would like to know the details of cost of living in malaysia. Currently i am approached by one of the companies for positions in malaysia and according to me they are offering very less. So i just want to know the details.

Ans: You can go  through my blog to get the cost of living metrics. 

6. I come across your blog on Malaysia Living.. Cleared many of my queries. 

I am also an IT Professional and my work location is "Cyberjaya"

Would like to know few more details..

1. What would be average expenditure with sharing accommodation?

2. Are there any Hostels or its kind to stay ?

3. What would be average salary for an IT Guy?

4. Considering my work location, where should i look for my accommodation with reasonable charges?

Ans: Sharing an accommodation can cost you RM600 upwards. Hostels are tough to find and shared accommodations are a better option for singles.Average salry for an IT guy varies according to skills and experience. But RM 5,000 is a  benchmark salary to maintain a decent standard of living in Malaysia for an individual. You can look for accommodation in Kuching or Dengkil which are cheaper and near places to your workplace.

7.  Hi

Pls suggest.

I am a Indian Chartered Accountant  I have read your article.

Pls suggest about the CA's life in Malaysia. Can we able to subsist there?

Please suggest me if there are any problems there

My Consultant is telling me that:

1.HR Consultants in Malaysia have got quota to recruit to Malaysia.

1.He is telling me that they will set up or arrange interviews there or we if we dont want them we can take NOC (No objection certi) and search our jobs on our own (here pls tell me how difficult searching job on our own)

2.He is asking me to visit Malaysia on Workpermit. (Charging me approx 15000 RM)

3. He is also saying me that it is easy to relocate to Singapore or Australia later.

4. pls suggest me

Ans: Accountants are in demand in Malaysia and enjoy a decent standard of living. But don't fall for HR consultants who ask you money. They may cause you a financial loss. Its not easy to relocate to Singapore and Australia later as those countries have strict rules of immigration and nothing to do with Malaysian immigration. I think he is trying to cheat you.

8. My name is KA, working as a SSE in Bangalore, India. While exploring cost of living in malaysia, I got your email from your blog. I am in discussion with a reputed company for C2H position for 1 year. It would be really nice if you can help me to explore this opportunity. I am not sure about the salary part, as I have never been to malaysia. Moreover, I am skeptical about C2H position. I am having 6.8 years of development/testing experience in telecom domain. What should be the best figure I demand?

Ans: You're right. C2H is not one of the best ways to enter in Malaysia. You are prone to exploitation at the hands of your employer. I think 7 years of experience should fetch you more than RM 8,000 in Malaysia. But its better to ask him for more than RM 10,000 so that you can lead a decent family life as well.

So thats all for today. I will answer another set of queries in my next posting.

Till then enjoy.