Marrying a Foreigner in Malaysia: Documents Checklist

Assalamualaikum w.b.t.

Hello!

Salam Ramadhan.. :)

Our 'akad nikah' ceremony will be in less than 16 days yet we still have lots to do. It's not that I'm freaking out. No, not really. But because the whole process is painstaking. There are a lot of documents needed to be prepared actually. Good thing is since my future husband is a foreigner, one of my friends advised me to settle his first and yes, it helps a lot. 

Image from :bridalmusings.com

Believe it or not, I don't even have 'kursus pra-perkahwinan' yet (gonna take it this weekend). In fact, we haven't submitted the form to registrar office or PAID. LOL *ketawa sambil menangis*

Even though oppa asked me a few times on what else should be done/prepared, is there anything else I could help/do, there's nothing really. Just the process of going back and forth, here and there (of which he can't do because he's in UTM preparing and getting ready for IELTS the same day as my kursus. Even if he's here, he can just follow me around, not really talking as most of the offices I'm dealing with have minor command in English including the jabatan issuing his Islamic certificate in Johor). 

This one from here

Thank you for this image 

Anyways, here's the checklist if you're a Malaysian girl to marry a foreigner in Malaysia.

Bride :

1. Photocopy of IC

2. Photocopy of 2 witnesses' IC

3. Photocopy of wali's IC 

4. Certificate of pre-marriage course (kursus pra-perkahwinan)

5. HIV test 

6. Parents' marriage certificate

7. Form 2C - get it here

8. Form 1 (if the address in your IC is different from your current address)

Groom:

1. Photocopy of passport

2. Photocopy of 2 witnesses' IC

3. HIV test (previously, when I asked Islamic Johor Center about this, they said he doesn't have to take it but the one in Selangor insists)

4. Form 1 (use the bride's home address and ask head of the village to certify)

5. Letter/Islamic Card (for mualaf - new brother/sister)

6. Approval letter from

         (i) groom's consular/embassy (he paid USD4 = RM12 for this *price varies according to                  embassy I guess) 

        (ii) Malaysian Immigration 

7. Form 2A - get it here

So, that's about it. Ours has been done 80%. Oppa said that the paperwork in Korea is simpler (I hope so!). If you're in the same shoes, all I can say is good luck! 

** Note that the pictures are just decorations to let your eyes rest. ;) I know how does it feel to read without pictures especially with such a boring writing of mine! Haha. 

ok.. Happy breakfasting!

Travelling to Korea: preparation part 1

Assalamualaikum. 

Salam Ramadhan al-Mubarak. :) 

Warning : This post is wordy.

Another 2.5 hours to breakfasting so I decided to update and share my preparation for the trip to Korea. In my case, studying abroad in other country for more than 2 months. I need to prepare. Throughout the preparation, I sometimes feel like not doing anything else but just the preparation alone because I feel excited whenever I want to travel. I don't know since when travel has been part of my interest. 

Ok ok enough with the chatter. Let's get to business. I'm gonna try to help myself (and if possible, you) to prepare for this long travel whether you're on your own or with someone else. Good thing is you can divide the work if you're travelling in group. Best part is if you are most probably have overweight luggage before or after departing, you can share the burden too. Truly is the best part if you're like me TT_TT I remembered how I went off to USA with 20kg and came back with almost 100kg luggage just what on earth did I buy/get there?! Really can't put myself on hold for more ramblings huh?

Serious. Kali ni betul-betul.

School

Since I'm going to study in Sungkyunkwan University for one semester (4 months), I need a student VISA. To get the student VISA, I need:

1. Acceptance letter from the host university
2. Verification letter from home university (stated that you are a student in the U and you have enough money to study there)

When I went to get a VISA to USA before, I only need the acceptance letter. Guess different VISA needs different kind of documents.

House

Regarding accommodation, I'm not gonna apply for off-campus housing (in SKKU the options are iHouse, Koart Ville and Migaon Ville which cost $1700/sem around RM5k++) because I'll be staying together with my forever boyfriend. :3 However, since both of us are still in Malaysia and Mr.BFF is busy preparing for IELTS, we hardly find a place to be rented online, especially when most of the landlords don't speak English. And tell you what, housing rental isn't cheap in Seoul. Like at all.

More info on housing

Still, we contact so many websites and owner for the housing. The problem is the big amount of key money (security deposit). Only today, I found a nice place that we like, in-between both of our universities (but closer to mine) and still within our budget- the most important part. Hehe. You may find your preferable here (there are many others :

Habang - If you would like to save money on housing, good location, not sharing the room with others, don't mind a small room, Goshiwon is the place.

Eden Realty - find your own apartment for you or/and your family.

Jays Real Estate Agency - you need an amount of key money, find your own officetel/one room here.

Craiglist - a lot of houses and rooms available.

Seoul Loft - if money isn't a problem and you wish to live in an apartment like you see in k-dramas. LOL *gelak unbelievable sambil nangis*

Money

Since the currency of Korea Won to Malaysia Ringgit is 3:1, you should expect to pay 3 times higher than in Malaysia for almost everything. Not only accommodation is expensive, the living cost is no joke too. At least for someone from a developing country and not rich. LOL *nangis tepi katil* I was informed in the student's handbook I received that the average monthly spent in Seoul by the students is 600,000won which is around RM2k++ YES. But.. Do you know that the Korea government offered a few scholarships for students? Here you go. You gotta ask the host university you're applying to whether there's any scholarship offered by the university or other organization. Thank God I asked and the university informed me when it's open. Applied for it and.... 

Fresh from the oven. Alhamdulillah... :')

Shopping before going
Faham tak kenapa tulis before? Faham tak? 
I can't promise you that I won't shop there. Well at least not that much I did in the US. My BFF already told me that we need to buy a few things before we go to Korea especially things that are expensive there:

- medication

- books (heard from a friend of mine that English books are not that easy to be found)

- winter clothes
- contact lenses
- hair products

Besides, for Muslims, it's not easy to find halal food  and if it does, expensive. So I decided to buy a stock of foods before leaving like instant noodles, tomyam paste (I plan to cook on my own to save some money on food) etc. Kalau nak cerita pasal shopping boleh habis 2 3 entri. 

See you soon on the next preparation phase ok!

Starting your FYP

Salam and good day!

I'm writing here after my meeting with Dr. Tina. I thought I should put it all here faster while it's still fresh in my mind (short-term memory lost can be very dangerous for me). But before I start, I must tell you that this is post is regarding final year project (of what we call FYP or PSM). Final year students have to do this if they want to graduate (hell yeah guess it's obvious). 

Dr. Tina advised a few things to bear in mind and to start doing it- the most important thing like if you wanna go somewhere by car, you have to fill the gas or else cycling from Klang to JB won't be enough in 4 months (what? *insert meme*). OK move on.

Thank you, Dr. Tina.
I loiiike conteng2 cenggini sebab nanti bila lupa, tengok balik mesti ingat apa details yang digebang-gebangkan.

TOPIC - READ
First thing first, to be able to do a research, you've got to have a topic. And how do you find that topic? READ -- LOTS of READING. This will be a pain in the ass for those who don't like to read or worst, allergic to it. Can't help you with that though.

LIST KEY TERMS
However, you can't read blindly or else you will go nowhere. To read efficient and effectively, list down key terms or key words that you're interested in. For example, I'm doing TESL, so my topic has got to do with language. I'm interested in literature, second language acquisition, linguistics, teaching language etc. You must have done a lot of assignments these past 3 years so try to narrow down the key terms into maybe .. formula? approach? context? Like literature in ELT or Linguistics and gender difference. 

300 ABSTRACTS - A FEW RESEARCH REPORTS
After you've listed down all the key words that interest you, now go to any database you know (Google Scholars/UTM online database-my favourite) and find at least 300 abstracts, read them. How are you going to do this? One of the best ways is to put a period range (advance search) - eg: 1990-2013. By doing this, you will know the trends and patterns of previous researches thus, be able to find gaps and your paper's contribution in the field later. These two things are actually the highlights in graduates papers. She said that for undergrad level, you are actually finding what you're interested in through a research. But of course if you've those two, it would represent the novelty in your research. Not easy, but definitely not impossible. 

FRAMEWORK - PARAMETERS
After that, select a few research reports that you think best as reference to your topic of interest to get a topic. Then, you've to set a framework to your own study to put parameters to your work. This is crucial because you only have 4 months to get 3 chapters done (trust Dr. Tina, it will be amended a few times throughout the second semester). So, whether your topic is a suitable PSM topic as in it's not too complicated or too simplified, refer to SV (supervisor), always. I guess that's all for now. 

Things to bear in mind :

- FYP is a continuous project. You have to follow through every now and then or you might not have a synchronize chapters (the major problem undergrads have as mentioned by Dr. Tina).
- Find your own way to study the research. It is a process to make you a thinker, responsible of tour own curiosity and interest. That's why you have to be interested in the topic. If you aren't, how do you expect the readers to be interested in reading it? zzzz
- These are only tips from ONE lecturer. I believe there are many other ways of starting off your research. But since she has been doing so many researches (and still on-going too), supervised a lot of students (undergrad and postgrad) previously, these tips will definitely do. 

Good luck!