All guides Retiring in Asia

Retiring in Asia

Retirement visas, the money tests behind them, property rules and health cover, across nine countries. Every rule is read from the government that sets it, and dated.

27 articles across 9 countries, most recently checked October 9, 2026.

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Retiring in Southeast Asia: The Order to Decide Things In

Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia each run routes for retirees. Age, money, property, insurance and time in the country decide which are open to you, and in that order.

Read the planning sequence

40 The age the Philippines opens its retiree visa, ten years before Thailand's.
55 Indonesia's retirement age on its own e-Visa site, not the 60 many guides give.
8% Malaysia's stamp duty on a home bought by a foreigner since January 2026.

Visas, country by country

What each country offers someone who has stopped working, from indefinite stay in the Philippines to no retirement visa at all in Vietnam, and one in Sri Lanka that no longer takes new applicants.

A Thai teak pavilion with a pair of wicker chairs on its veranda beside a lily pond, palms and banana plants in warm late afternoon light

Thailand

Thailand's Retirement Visas: The Baht Tests and the Insurance Form

Three retirement routes open at 50 and every one is tested in baht. The one-year O-A also wants THB 3 million of health cover and an insurer's signature on a Thai form.

Checked September 23, 2026

A quiet shaded lane of weathered teak houses and whitewashed walls in Chiang Mai, a bicycle with a basket leaning on a step under a flowering frangipani in soft morning light

Thailand

Retiring in Chiang Mai: The One-Year Extension and the Money Clock

Retirees in Chiang Mai renew their stay each year at the immigration office on Airport Road. The money must sit in a Thai bank on a timetable, and O-A holders need Thai insurance.

Checked September 23, 2026

A quiet street of whitewashed houses with terracotta roofs in a seaside town in Thailand, bougainvillea and frangipani over the garden walls and the sea at the end of the road

Thailand

Thailand's LTR for Wealthy Pensioners: The Tax Line and the Ten-Year Test

The Board of Investment's Long-Term Resident visa gives retirees with US$80,000 a year of pension or passive income a tax exemption on foreign income brought in. Every condition must still hold at year five.

Checked September 24, 2026

A private pool villa in Thailand at dusk, an infinity pool and lantern-lit loungers beneath frangipani trees looking out over limestone islands in a pink and violet sky

Thailand

Thailand Privilege Sells a Five-Year Visa, One Year at a Time

The state-owned membership once called Thailand Elite costs THB 650,000 to THB 5,000,000 and asks for no age, income or insurance test. Its visa runs five years, but each entry is a one-year stay.

Checked October 9, 2026

Two empty rattan chairs on a stone veranda overlooking Taal Lake and its volcano island in the Philippines at sunrise

Philippines

The Philippines' Retiree Visa Opens at 40, and a Pension Halves the Deposit

The SRRV gives indefinite stay for a US$15,000 deposit if you are 50 and draw a pension. Without one it is US$30,000, and the money has to arrive from a bank abroad.

Checked September 23, 2026

Sunrise over misty tea plantation hills in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia, with an empty wooden bench beside a muddy footpath

Malaysia

MM2H for Retirees: No Age Discount, and the House Is Compulsory

Malaysia's long-stay programme has four tiers and none is priced by age. The cheapest means a US$150,000 deposit and a home you cannot sell for ten years.

Checked September 23, 2026

A tree shaded promenade beside the Sarawak River in Kuching, Malaysia, with a covered passenger boat on the water and the golden roofed State Legislative Assembly across the river

Malaysia

Sarawak's Own MM2H: Kuching Makes the House Optional

Sarawak runs a second-home programme separate from Malaysia's. It opens at 30, asks for RM500,000 on deposit and a local sponsor, and does not make you buy a home.

Checked September 23, 2026

Wooden fishing boats moored in a calm bay in Sabah at dusk, high-rise apartment blocks along the shore and the jagged outline of Mount Kinabalu behind the hills

Malaysia

Sabah's Own MM2H: The House Is Compulsory, and So Is Living in Sabah

Sabah runs its own second-home programme from Kota Kinabalu. Its Silver tier asks for RM500,000 on deposit, a high-rise home of RM600,000 or more, and residence in Sabah alone.

Checked September 24, 2026

A thatched pavilion with two empty rattan chairs overlooking terraced rice paddies and coconut palms in golden evening light in Bali

Indonesia

Indonesia's Retirement Visas Open at 55, Not the 60 Many Guides Say

Indonesia runs a one-year retirement visa, a five-year Silver Hair visa and a Second Home visa. Its own e-Visa site sets the retirement age at 55 and the income at US$3,000 a month.

Checked September 23, 2026

A calm river at sunset in Cambodia with moored wooden fishing boats, sugar palms and pale colonial shophouses along the bank and hills beyond

Cambodia

Cambodia's Retirement Visa Names No Income Figure and Asks for No Insurance

Cambodia's ER extension lets people aged 55 and over stay for up to a year at a time, renewably. Its official description sets no minimum income, which is freedom and uncertainty at once.

Checked September 23, 2026

A stone path and wooden bench beside a persimmon tree heavy with orange fruit, above grey tiled roofs and a calm bay in a small Japanese coastal town at sunset

Japan

Japan Has No Retirement Visa, but It Will Let You Stay a Year If You Hold ¥30 Million

Japan's long-stay visa for sightseeing and recreation is the nearest thing it offers retirees: six months, extendable to a year, for visa-waiver nationals with savings of more than ¥30 million.

Checked September 23, 2026

Wooden rowing boats moored on Phewa Lake at dawn in Nepal, the Annapurna range and Machhapuchhre pink with first light and reflected in the still, misty water

Nepal

Nepal's Residential Visa for Retirees: US$20,000 in the Bank and US$20,000 a Year

Nepal has a residential visa for foreigners who want to live there without running a business. It asks for age 60 or retirement, a US$20,000 bank statement and US$20,000 a year of income.

Checked September 24, 2026

A cobbled lane of yellow walled houses in Hoi An, Vietnam, with bougainvillea over the wall and a bicycle leaning in the morning light

Vietnam

Vietnam Has No Retirement Visa. Here Is What a Retiree Can Actually Use

Vietnam's visa law lists twenty visa types and none is for retirement. The e-visa runs to 90 days; a spouse or parent of a Vietnamese citizen has a family visa instead.

Checked September 23, 2026

Rattan chairs on the tiled veranda of an old hill-country bungalow in Sri Lanka, looking out over terraced tea gardens and misty mountains in early morning sun

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka's Retirement Visa Is Closed to New Applicants

The My Dream Home visa still renews for people who already hold it, but Sri Lanka's immigration department no longer issues it to anyone new. What a retiree can still use is a tourist visa extended in stages.

Checked September 24, 2026

Money and tax

The exchange rate inside a pension test, what Thailand taxes when you bring money in, why Malaysia does not until 2036, what a foreigner needs to buy a Thai condo, and the stamp duty a foreign home buyer pays.

A glazed ceramic teacup, tortoiseshell reading glasses, a few silver and brass coins and a linen-bound notebook on a sunlit wooden table beside a small vase of white flowers

Asia

Retiring in Asia on a Pension: The Exchange Rate Sits Inside the Visa Test

Thailand tests a pension in baht and the Philippines in US dollars. If yours is paid in anything else, the rate decides whether you qualify, and it can change its mind.

Checked September 23, 2026

A wooden table on a veranda in Thailand with a notebook, a calculator, iced tea and a cup of coffee, and a tropical garden in heavy rain beyond

Thailand

Thailand's Tax on the Pension You Bring In: The 180-Day Test

Since 2024, foreign income a Thai tax resident earns and later brings into Thailand is taxable. The Revenue Department's own guide sets the two tests, and money earned before 2024 is outside it.

Checked September 23, 2026

A marble topped table in a Malaysian kopitiam set with two glasses of black coffee, kaya toast and soft boiled eggs, with an open shopfront onto a quiet street

Malaysia

Does Malaysia Tax a Foreign Pension? Exempt Until 2036, on One Condition

A Malaysian tax resident's foreign pension is exempt when it is brought in, if it was taxed where it arose or left untaxed there for a listed reason. The law now runs the exemption to 2036; the tax office's guideline still says 2026.

Checked October 9, 2026

Modern condominium towers rising above a leafy side street in Bangkok after rain, with a parked scooter and tangled overhead cables beside the wet road

Thailand

Buying a Condominium in Thailand as a Foreigner: the 49% Quota and the Proof Your Money Came From Abroad

Thailand's Condominium Act lets a foreigner own a unit outright if foreign owners hold no more than 49% of the building's unit floor area and the purchase money arrives from abroad in foreign currency. The Land Office will not register the transfer without the bank's proof.

Checked October 9, 2026

A long wooden longhouse on stilts beside a misty brown river in Sarawak, Malaysia, with a wooden boat pulled up on the muddy bank and rainforest behind

Malaysia

Federal MM2H or Sarawak's Programme: What Each Ties Up Before You Arrive

Federal MM2H's cheapest tier ties up a US dollar deposit and a compulsory home. Sarawak ties up a ringgit deposit and lets you rent. Here is every upfront sum, side by side.

Checked September 23, 2026

A row of two storey terraced houses with tiled roofs and frangipani trees on a wet street in Selangor, Malaysia, with a mosque minaret beyond the rooftops

Malaysia

Malaysia's Stamp Duty for Foreign Home Buyers Is a Flat 8% From 2026

Since 1 January 2026, a foreigner buying a home in Malaysia pays stamp duty at 8% of the whole price. A Malaysian buying the same home pays 1% to 4% on a sliding scale.

Checked September 23, 2026

Buying a home in Malaysia

MM2H makes buying compulsory, and each state sets its own floor for foreign buyers. Penang lowers it for MM2H; Selangor, Johor, Melaka and Kuala Lumpur do not.

A hillside road in Penang, Malaysia, wet after rain at sunset, looking over tiled roofs and apartment blocks to the sea and the long Penang Bridge

Malaysia

Buying in Penang as a Foreigner: RM1 Million on the Island, Unless You Hold MM2H

Penang's land office sets the lowest price a foreigner may pay, and MM2H participants get their own, lower floor. Then come a RM10,000 application fee and a levy of up to 3%.

Checked September 23, 2026

A white mosque with a blue green dome and tall minarets on a palm lined hillside above the sea on the coast of Malaysia

Malaysia

Buying in Selangor or Johor as a Foreigner: RM1 Million Up, and No MM2H Discount

Selangor sets RM2 million in its Klang Valley districts and RM1 million beyond them, strata only. Johor sets RM1 million. Neither gives MM2H buyers the lower price Penang does.

Checked September 23, 2026

A view from a wooded hillside over residential Kuala Lumpur, apartment towers rising above terraced houses and trees towards forested hills under a stormy late-afternoon sky

Malaysia

Buying in Kuala Lumpur as a Foreigner: RM1 Million a Unit, and No MM2H Discount

Kuala Lumpur's land office applies a RM1 million floor per unit to foreign buyers, serviced apartments included. It publishes no lower price for MM2H participants.

Checked September 24, 2026

Heritage shophouses with shuttered windows and glowing lamps line the Melaka River at dusk in Malaysia, with a small covered boat on the still water beneath a stone footbridge

Malaysia

Melaka for Foreign Buyers: No Heritage Zone Homes, and a RM30,000 Minimum Fee

Melaka lets foreigners buy condominiums from RM500,000, MM2H participants included, but not in its Heritage Zone. The state's approval fee is 3% with a RM30,000 floor.

Checked September 23, 2026

Health and insurance

Which visas demand cover, and on what form, and what a private doctor in Malaysia is allowed to charge.

A navy stethoscope coiled on a pale wooden table beside a glass of water and a leafy potted plant in soft window light

Asia

What Health Cover Each Retirement Visa in Southeast Asia Actually Demands

Thailand wants a set sum on its own form, and a Thai policy when you renew. Malaysia asks at renewal, Sarawak from the start. The Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia ask for none.

Checked September 23, 2026

A doctor's desk with a stethoscope, a blank clipboard and an orchid beside a window overlooking the Kuala Lumpur skyline and the Petronas Towers

Malaysia

Malaysia Caps a Private Doctor's Fee. The Hospital Bill Is Another Matter

A gazetted schedule sets the maximum a private doctor in Malaysia may charge, for cash or insurance alike. It covers the doctor's fee, not the room, the ward or the drugs.

Checked September 23, 2026

These pages report what each government publishes. They are not legal, tax or financial advice, and rules change: every article shows the date its source was read.