Migrating from Malaysia to the US – Options for Entrepreneurs and Investors

How do we migrate from Malaysia to the US – Options for Entrepreneurs and Investors. This guide will show you how Malaysians can migrate to USA.

As the world begins to settle back into some sort of normality, those long-deferred plans to explore new horizons, both personally and professionally, can be taken off the back burner at last. For the 12 million Malaysians who were travelling overseas every year prior to the global travel hiatus, Europe was the most popular long-haul destination for tourists, but for business travelers, it was all about the USA.

Migrating from Malaysia to the US – Options for Entrepreneurs and Investors

These are changing times, and plenty of us are thinking about new beginnings. The USA is still the destination we tend to think of for fulfilling our business aspirations in an environment that offers a great lifestyle and standard of living. Making it happen is not as difficult as you might think. Here are the two most popular options.

E-2 Work Visa

This represents the fastest and most straightforward route into the US for work purposes. To follow this path, you must invest in a business and either maintain at least 50 percent ownership or play an active role in its management. This type of visa is typically valid for up to five years, but getting an E2 visa extension is a straightforward process.

The amount you need to invest depends on the type of business and the industry in which it operates. Under some circumstances, $75,000 is sufficient, but you should generally be looking to invest around $200,000. The E-2 visa also covers your spouse and children – and it allows your spouse to work in the US, too.

EB-5 Investment Visa

With the E-2, you are almost sponsoring yourself as an immigrant worker. If you have a little more money available to invest, there is an option that involves less effort. Sometimes known as the “green card visa,” under the EB-5 program, you invest $500,000 or more in a US government-approved business project. For some projects, the minimum investment is $900,000.

In return, you and your family are given conditional green cards that will permit you to live, work and study anywhere in the US. There are no prerequisites regarding education level or language skills, and you typically receive your green card after approximately 18 months. Provided the enterprise employs at least 10 Americans for at least two years, your green cards will become permanent, and after five years, you get your initial investment back.

Which is right for you?

Naturally, that very much depends on a number of personal factors. The amount you have available to invest in one, but even if you have $500,000 or more, you might still prefer the E-2 path if you prefer to be hands-on with your investment.

The EB-5 road is far more passive, as you only have to make the investment, and someone else takes care of the business itself. Arguably, that could mean a little more risk, but having said that, the program has been running since the 1990s and has an excellent record of success.