Tuesday 11 January 2011

That... is efficiency

I received the e-mail from the Singapore external consultant on a late Monday morning. They requested for quite a number of documents to process my Singapore employment pass, after I have agreed to take up my current role.

It was a very lengthy mail and as I was rather busy at that time, I only browsed through it briefly at the point of receipt.

As the day began to slow down, I managed to read the mail in detail and it requested me to complete and sign on 2 lengthy forms, scan it and send them over together with scanned copies of my certificates, passport and to process Jules’ dependent pass, scanned copies of her passport and our marriage certificate.

The deadline to revert was Thursday in that same week, and since I only read it on Monday evening – that gave me 2 days to work on the documents.

Everything was pretty simple until I noted 1 additional requirement – a certified English translation of the document(s) is required in the event that the document(s) is in a foreign language. 

For those of us who have 1… I bet you never notice that our marriage certificate is entirely in BM.  Yes – it is, and I needed a translation.

Firstly, to find a certified translator in KL was like Malaysia winning the Suzuki Cup – you deserve a holiday if can actually find one.  I only managed to locate a commissioner of oath on Wednesday and he informed that I will need to translate the marriage certificate myself and he will only certify it. I did that but he disappeared from his office on that Wednesday afternoon.

Sensing that I may not be able to meet the Thursday deadline, I sent a mail to the Singapore external consultant asking whether I could furnish the translation on a later date. 

The reply was short and simple – Sorry sir, the deadline is not negotiable.

I was like… what the f**k is wrong with these people?!!? Can’t you just give me another day? Not like I submit the stuff on Thursday and I get the approval on Friday!!  Further, it was specifically written on the e-mail – “The Ministry of Manpower takes 1-2 weeks to process each applicable”.  Judging by that statement, I thought they wont even be submitting my application on that week itself!

But since I don’t really want to make a scene out of it and it was in relation to my employment pass, I stalked the commissioner of oath’s office right after lunch on Thursday (he was not around in the morning!! !!!) and got it certified. 

I sent everything over on Thursday evening.

I got the scanned copy of the approval letter Friday after lunch.


3 years ago… Trustology

4 years ago… Speak the right tongue

34 comments:

house-tai said...

Huh?? Getting a certified translator in KL ain't that difficult! Institut Terjemahan Negara Malaysia in Wangsa Maju can do it for a fee in one day. Surely you had done it when you were applying for your aussie PR!

ngy said...

Hey zewt,

You can bring the cert to the commissioner office opposite of MOM for translation as well (BM to English). Cost SGD18 per paper. Got my uni cert translated that way. Cant remember how long it took tho.

Linda said...

never underestimate anything...LOL

Sunshine said...

i paid this guy from dewan bahasa & pustaka rm250 to get mine translated and made 2 copies *just incase*

and yeah i got my EP approved exceptionally quick too...

Ivan said...

Good thing that you managed to make it in time :)

sinlady said...

the price to pay for efficiency... :)

Anonymous said...

wow thats very lansi of the consultant, no star for them! zewt fyi, EP application is piece of cake u can do it at the comfort of ur PC screen, yup straight thru MOM website, no document needed at point of application, mayb upon pass collection if ever asked. ur HR muz b shaking leg that they dun even need to do this.

doc said...

things must have changed since. when i got the job at NUH, the HR people did everything for me - i just submitted copies of passports & signed a few forms. i wasn't even asked for the marriage cert. all i did was to go to MOM to collect the EP.

இ Baŋäŋaz இ said...

Cool! You did it JIT *just in time* ~;).

day-dreamer said...

LOL. And wow. :D

goingkookies said...

Malaysia boleh and Singapore lagi boleh? =p

Yvonne Foong said...

What a rush! They should have translators to recommend you if they expect you to submit your translated documents in short notice.

How about filing a complaint or rather, 'feedback' on this episode to them? Maybe it's an aspect of their service that they overlooked.

TG said...

I'm in the process to move to Taiwan and settle there and I'm also acquiring documents, verifying them and translating them to English. It's a pain in the s.. Already 2 months passed and I still don't have all of them. I wish I could borrow a Singaporean bureaucrat for my documents >_<

Tracy said...

thanks for sharing! wake up call!
and dont judge! =P

recently read a book titled "excuses, excuses, excuses.." whereby the author did some sort of survey and listed down 117 excuses ppl made in the area of customer service. 117...=S

Mirebella said...

My Oz PR application took 5 days from point of submission to approval. My HR officer at work said that she's never had any applications that was approved so quickly as it generally took months!

I had to get mine done here to translate my driving licence into English, googled searched a few names and got it all sorted in 2 days :)

Well done with the work permit, next step - PR! :)

secret agent woman said...

Wow - that was all very fast!

LeeS said...

You can get an Englih copy of your marriage cert at Jabatan pendaftaran (where you resgiter your marriage). It took less than 5 minute and RM10 for me 4 years ago. I also get an English copy of my birth cert for no fee.

mil0girl said...

Drama!

KC said...

Zewt, i came across this video. i think u will love it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrO_iIXNm2U

Anonymous said...

but u are being very inefficient with ur blog now...we are expecting cny post now ;p

Pinknpurplelizard said...

Had the translation problem too for another cert. Good thing about being where I am is that Commissioners are plenty around; but several that I spoke to told me to DIY then bring it back to them to place their mark.

P/s Commissioners come and go as they please from their office as their services are not frequently required.

zewt said...

house tai - not everyone is free to travel around... i had to look for one around my office... i am not house husband :)

ngy - thanks... but no need for that already.

Linda - absolutely...

Sunshine - 250??? in the end i only paid that guy 20 bucks.

Ivan - hey man... how are you?

sinlady - i think i am also getting paid for that :)

anon @ 12/1 12.59pm - didnt know about that until not too long ago. well, i would think the malaysian efficiency just wouldnt be able to keep up.

zewt said...

doc - well, HR did for me too... but they engaged an external consultant :)

Bananaz - right ont he dot!

day dreamer - wow indeed.

goingkookies - malaysia dont play boleh boleh wan.

Yvonne Foong - well, i dont think i stir up things as i am the one wanting to land the job.... anyway, i might the only one not being able to furnish on time if i make a feedback.

MKL - wow! taiwan eh... girlfriend from there too if i remember correctly!

generic viagra - huh?

zewt said...

Tracy - and what is number 1? :)

Mirebella - wow!!! aussie PR in 5 days! the big man above is smiling upon u!

secret agent woman - very!

LeeS - didnt get that when i registered.

conFused - welcome!

KC - auditor... all you think is about regisning hahahaha

anon @ 25/1 12.34am - hehe... starcraft 2 keeping me busy.

pinknpurplelizard - yeah... they gave me that impression...

buy viagra online said...

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neno said...

i haf to locate JP to certify mine..it's like looking for diamonds in Batu Cave..

zewt said...

neno - and you... found it? :)

neno said...

kekeke..yea..finally..after 2 weeks of looking..

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