Expat Experience

Being a foreigner married to a Malaysian citizen, you can acquire your Long Term Social Visit Pass (LTSVP). Others call this as Spouse Visa in order for one to stay longer in Malaysia. All you have to do is to re-register your marriage in Malaysia (if you are married overseas). In our case, we re-registered our marriage in Malaysia after our wedding in the Philippines.  You need to go to the state where your spouse is staying. So we went to Johor Bahru Immigration office and submitted our documents for the application of my spouse visa. The documents we submitted were the following: Borang IM. 12 document which will be provided by the Immigration office Borang IM. 38 which will be provided by the Immigration office stating the details of the applicant's name and others Photo copy of both couple's passport with immigration chopped upon exiting Philippines Photo copy of both couple's passport with immigration chopped upon entering Malaysia Photocopy...

Putra Jaya (2016) Before one can apply for a spouse visa in Malaysia, your wedding must be re-registered in Malaysia in not more than 6 months, or else you will be fined a certain amount which you will soon be regreting about. In my case, I am a Filipino and married to a Malaysian. We first took our wedding in the Philippines. The procedures were a bit tiring and expensive.  The Embassy of Malaysia in Makati, Philippines was a great help, especially with that smiley Filipino guy in that embassy. He was very helpful. Anyway, going back to the re-registration, we made sure that we prepared our documents before our flight back to Malaysia. We prepared the following: a. Marriage cert obtained from the National Statistics Office (NSO) in my hometown in Baguio City, Philippines b. Birth Certificate of the Flipino spouse obtained from the NSO from the spouse's residence in the Philippines c. Red Ribboned marriage cert issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs (D...

EXPERIENCE FROM CFO  For most Filipinos, CFO is not common to them. CFO stands for Commission on Filipino Overseas. This is located at Citigold Center, 1345 Pres. Quirino Avenue corner Osmeña Highway (South Superhighway) Manila, Philippines. This is a requirement for me since I married a foreigner. The Embassy of my wife requires me to acquire this since it is one of the requirement. Usually this is taken for granted by some Filipinos which affects them when they are about to board the airplane. You could be off-loaded from your flight if you miss this requirement. Some immigration officers in the airport usually ask you to present your GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING CERTIFICATES, especially when there is no chop in your passport. Actually, the certificate states that you have had undergone a guidance and counseling program in compliance with the SEC. 15 (j) of R.A 10364 and the implementing Rules and Regulation of R.A 8239. R.A 10364 stands for AN ACT EXPANDING REPUBLIC...

Guest book brought by my wife from Malaysia. Planning a wedding is really one of the most complicated but most memorable experience a couple will experience for the rest of their lives. This is done once in every one's life.  Wedding, as I still remember, marks the day of my celebration as husband to my wife. Wedding as i remember during all the seminar we attended is the union of a man and a woman to be solemnized in the name of the Lord and of the law. I, being a son of a Cordilleran in the northern part of the Philippines, practice various traditional beliefs which we have followed from our ancestors.  This is what we did: 1. Setting the date Both parents were informed about our target date. It was a bit rushed but we knew that the date is perfect to us. My in laws from overseas were a bit shocked but we informed them in a nice way with at least four and a half months before the wedding day. We informed them earlier so that they can book...

In order for a Filipino to marry a foreigner, he or she must prepare him/herself with different document preparations. A process that will take time in terms of financial, effort, and patience. Just like for me, I am a Filipino and I married a foreigner. We set our marriage in the Philippines following the procedures mandated by the Philippine Municipal Registry Office. Right after she said the word "yes" to our engagement, I immediately worked on the requirements for our marriage.  These are the steps that we have been through... I went to our Municipal Registry office  and inquired on the procedures (my mum also accompanied me). They required the following: Birth Certificate  issued by the National Statistics Office (PSA) - from groom's side. Her Malaysian Birth Certificate and it must be translated to English - from bride's side. She also presented her translated birth certificate accompanied with a Commissioner on Aath to notarize the said document...

This is how I met my special girl somewhere in 2013. The girl that I am now married to, and this is how our love story began... MARRYING AN EXPAT OUR WEDDING ARRHAE during our big day. LOVE: The day I met my wife was during a programme initiated by ASEAN  at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (National University of Malaysia) on August 15, 2013. We first met in a getting to know dinner arranged by the the organization's Secretariat after the arrival of almost 100 delegates from the ten ASEAN countries. The conversation was a normal social interaction introducing my culture and race as an Igorot from the mountain ranges in Cordillera in the northern part of the Philippines. Philippine tourism was among the topic that night. Meanwhile, my wife introduced herself as a public relations executive in an PR agency in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. My wife is simple and caring, but sometimes a bit hard headed. Despite me knowing that, I still love her.  During th...