Editorial policy
Last checked: 20 August 2026 · Reviewed by Keith Kwai
This is the policy the whole site is written against. It is published so that you can hold us to it, and so that when we break it you can point at the clause.
1. Official sources only
Facts on this site are substantiated by government, immigration, embassy, consulate, ministry, gazette and official programme sources. A visa-agency blog, a forum thread or a news report may tell us a topic exists or that something may have changed. It never substantiates a fact. Where the only available evidence is a press report of a ministerial statement, that is published as a press report of a ministerial statement, not as a rule.
2. Everything is dated
Every material claim carries the source URL, the publisher and the date we accessed it, and every factual page carries a visible Last checked label under the heading. An undated fact about immigration requirements is not a fact; it is a memory. If a page has no last-checked date, treat it as unfinished.
3. Unknowns are labelled, never filled
Where an official source does not publish a figure, we write “Not specified by official source”, “Varies by consular post” or “Not confirmed — see sources”. We do not estimate, interpolate from a comparable programme, or repeat a number because everyone else does. Three examples currently live on this site: MOTAC publishes a processing fee only for MM2H Platinum and leaves the other categories blank, so those cells say so; MOTAC publishes no minimum sum insured for the health insurance required at renewal; and no official DTV issuance statistic exists, so we publish none.
4. Where sources disagree, we publish the disagreement
We do not resolve an official-source conflict by choosing the version that reads better. Both are published, both are linked, and the page says which one governs where that is knowable and says it is not knowable where it is not. The Immigration Department’s MM2H page contradicting MOTAC’s, and Sarawak’s procedure page contradicting Sarawak’s own guide, are both published as conflicts.
5. Confidence is visible
Every substantive fact carries one of three states: Confirmed by an official source; Changing, where a change is announced, drafted or in progress but not in force; Not confirmed, where we looked and could not find official support. The third state is the most valuable thing on this site and the reason to trust the first.
6. No advice
Immigration, tax, legal, property, healthcare, insurance and financial content is general information. Every such page carries the advice notice. Nothing on this site creates a client relationship and nothing on it substitutes for a suitably qualified professional.
7. We are not a government body
The independence statement appears on every page, in every locale. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for any authority.
8. Translation is not publication
Machine translation is a draft. Chinese copy on programme, tax, legal and financial pages must pass human review by a named reviewer before it publishes. A page that has not passed is not linked from the Chinese menu — it is hidden, not broken. Uncertainty is never softened in translation to make a page more saleable.
9. Corrections are published, not performed silently
A material error is corrected, dated, logged and described on the Corrections page. A typographical fix is simply fixed. The distinction and the workflow are set out on that page.
10. The thirteen things we will not publish
| # | We do not publish | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Approval rates, success rates, “99% approved” | No one outside the deciding authority holds the data |
| 2 | Processing times as promises | We may quote an authority’s published figure with its source; we may not commit to it |
| 3 | Money-back or refund-on-rejection offers | We do not sell outcomes |
| 4 | Testimonials, reviews, star ratings or client names that are not real, attributed and consented | An unverifiable testimonial is worth nothing; a verifiable one costs a client their privacy |
| 5 | DTV issuance statistics | No official source exists |
| 6 | State-by-state Malaysian foreign-buyer minimum prices | No official source exists for the tables that circulate |
| 7 | Current Malaysian public-hospital foreigner fees | The official page dates from 2010 |
| 8 | Thai 99-year leases or a 75% condominium quota as if they were law | Neither has been enacted |
| 9 | A Thai same-year or following-year remittance exemption as if it were law | It is a draft |
| 10 | Malaysian foreign-sourced income exemption beyond 31 December 2026 as if it were gazetted | The extension was announced in a Budget speech; no gazetted amendment was found |
| 11 | Keyword volumes, traffic forecasts, ranking predictions, revenue projections | Third-party tools differ by up to 8.8x for the same term |
| 12 | Any claim that the ABTC grants residence, work rights or a route to either | It grants none of those |
| 13 | Any claim that a US-issued ABTC provides visa-free entry | It provides a fast-track lane only |
11. What we do with commercial pressure
The services pages are written under the same policy as the content pages. No services page may carry a claim that a content page could not. If a comparison would be more commercially convenient with a different answer, the comparison does not change. The same holds for display advertising and sponsored partner content: an advertiser or a paying partner does not get a different answer, a favourable placement in a comparison, or a fact checked less rigorously than anything else on this site. Comparison tables and calculators take no paid placement, in any form: there is no mechanism in them for a payment to change an outcome. Partner content is always labelled at the point you encounter it, not disclosed once here and left for you to remember — look for the “Sponsored” tag.
General information only. Nothing on this page is immigration advice, legal advice, tax advice, financial advice or any other form of regulated professional advice. It does not take account of your personal circumstances. Official requirements change; verify the current position from the source before acting. Living Life Asia is not connected to, endorsed by or affiliated with any government body.
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