Any Malaysians who have applied for PR?

[emelia1]

Hi, I have a question about the translation of documents. Is it ok for me to submit my birth cert and education cert that are in Malay language?

Or do I need to translate? Some said need to translate, some say dont need. So for those who have submitted their certs in bahasa melayu and got their application accepted by officer do let me know.

Thank you.

[the lynx]

This question has been repeatedly asked in this forum by many Malaysians. Please use the search box on top right and use "PR Malaysian documents translate Bahasa Melayu Malay" as keywords and you will get confirmed answers.

[emelia1]

Hi yes I have checked. there were mixed answers so I'm looking for an answer from someone who has actually submitted their application successfully without translating it.

[the lynx]

Short answer to your question is no, you don't have to translate. Many Malaysians have done it without translation and the officers accepted their documents. If you haven't noticed, the national language in Singapore is actually Malay (national anthem etc).

[emelia1]

I have heard of some malaysians who did not get their documents translated. I have just called ICA and one of the staffs mentioned that I still need to translate to English. Even though instruction is clear, if the officer accepts malay certs, I would prefer not to translate. So I'm not sure if I should take the risk of not translating.

[the lynx]

I don't know the reason of your doubt. If having them translated makes you happy, just translate them. Pay some dollars to recognised translators per page and have them translated. There, happy.

If you don't want to waste your money, then take the "risk" and submit. No one has ever been turned away based on the anecdotes here, so you would have been the "first" if you get turned away.

Just chill. I get no benefit from giving right or wrong advice here anyway. If simple stuff like Singapore PR application is too difficult for you (by the way, Singapore PR application is the most straightforward in the world compared to other countries), it would be interesting to see what values you can bring to Singapore government's White Paper dream on population.

[Sp1d3rMan]

i didnt translate my birth cert nor my education cert and i gotten my PR and now Citizenship.

[emelia1]

errr.. you should just chill. i dont know why some people here are so worked up with their replies. nothing wrong with replying amicably. we are here to help each other, irregardless of how dumb their questions can be, not judging someone's intellectual.

[sundaymorningstaple]

errr.. you should just chill. i dont know why some people here are so worked up with their replies. nothing wrong with replying amicably. we are here to help each other, irregardless of how dumb their questions can be, not judging someone's intellectual.

Ah, but maybe we should be, after all, we are supposed to be lifting the sorely depleted gene pool here, not depressing it even further. No wonder the locals are yelling, more of the same!

[BBCWatcher]

This is certainly not a "dumb" question. It's a very smart one, actually. For the record, ICA's instructions (July, 2015, revision) say that "Official translations are required if documents are not in English." It's in bold, even.

Does anybody know whether prior revisions of their instructions included that sentence? If they didn't, this is a relatively new requirement. ICA might have started enforcing this requirement about 6 months after this revision of the instructions -- so right about now (or shortly before now). (About 6 months later since that's the outer bound for appointment scheduling.)

[the lynx]

Well we all know that on the instructions it is already explicitly stated that all documents should be translated to English if they aren't, but OP is seeking for answers outside of what ICA has already provided. I directed her to the source and even summarised for her the answer she wanted in the end (which wasn't wrong actually - as attested by Spiderman - thank you).

@BBCW if you have been volunteering answers for years to same questions ad nausem despite of wonderful wealth of information here, plus personal insights from posters who have gone down the path, you shouldn't be surprised why.

I'm no saint either so I have no benefit to defend my "chill", nor to antagonise OP.

OP, I wish you all the best for the PR application. If you tick all the right boxes, and happens to fit the flavour in ICA's eyes, you'll get approved for PR quite quickly actually. Application may take between 2 months or 1.5 years (based on the pattern we see here) for results.

[BBCWatcher]

I've asked a simple question and am still waiting for a thoughtful, well researched reply: what did ICA's PR instructions say prior to the July, 2015, current revision? If the instructions have changed recently, then we cannot reasonably rely on past reports, especially well past reports, of others' experiences. If they haven't, then we reasonably can. I don't care whether the instructions changed or not, but I'd like to know what the facts about these instructions are.

On edit: Answering my own question, I've now found the March, 2014, edition of the "Explanatory Notes." That edition of the instructions also contains the "Official translations are required if they are not in English" admonition. Thus I think we can reasonably rely on late 2014 and more recent reports of successful experiences submitting untranslated Malaysian language documents to ICA.

[wwtan327]

i submitted my education cert and birth cert without translating it to malay.
as the education cert is already in english, and birth cert, i dont find it necessary to translate it to malay. so ya, i just submmited the copies and the officer did check and accepted.
no problem.

[sundaymorningstaple]

I've asked a simple question and am still waiting for a thoughtful, well researched reply: what did ICA's PR instructions say prior to the July, 2015, current revision? If the instructions have changed recently, then we cannot reasonably rely on past reports, especially well past reports, of others' experiences. If they haven't, then we reasonably can. I don't care whether the instructions changed or not, but I'd like to know what the facts about these instructions are.

On edit: Answering my own question, I've now found the March, 2014, edition of the "Explanatory Notes." That edition of the instructions also contains the "Official translations are required if they are not in English" admonition. Thus I think we can reasonably rely on late 2014 and more recent reports of successful experiences submitting untranslated Malaysian language documents to ICA.

However, we all know what 377A says as well, but the government doesn't necessarily enforce it either. What is on the books, like most things in Singapore, allows them to be as lenient as they want. So, while it's in black & white, it may well be not exactly what they are doing at any given time. That's why we find anecdotal evidence a lot more compelling the regurgitated copy/paste/quote the text answers. It's also why you don't get a lot a respect here. You are too dry, frankly speaking. Loosen up.

[ecureilx]

However, we all know what 377A says as well, but the government doesn't necessarily enforce it either. What is on the books, like most things in Singapore, allows them to be as lenient as they want. ...

you had to quote 377A