#Paperwork visa

[fluxir]

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[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 273

You know what? We need more Good parents Fentons. 

And you know what else? Technically, Jack helped Danny defeat Pariah via the use of the Ecto-Skeleton. And like, that’s his son, his baby boy. Sure Danny is and has always been a mommy’s boy, but it doesn’t change that fact. They’re both already feeling horrible about the fact they could have hurt him, they could have hurt their son- they have hurt their son, killed him with their inaction and never again. 

So when these oversized jello-eyeballs try to insist that their baby, their precious baby boy, take a crown? Become a king when he’s not even out of highschool, when he doesn’t want it? No. Hell no! That is his Danny-o, his baby boy who was terrified of his own parents! 

Which is how Jack, despite technically still being alive even if so-very ecto-contaminated, became the Ghost King. 

And for some reason there’s several ghosts rather happy about this- oh, these are his Danny-O’s ghost-parents? Not-ghost parents seeing as some of them have never been anything but a realm denizen? That’s really fascinating- y’know what, want some fudge and we can exchange childcare- Maddie dear come over and meet our co-parents apparently!  

Now it’s not all easy, but they’re trying their best, and that’s all that can be asked. 

…

Which is perhaps why it’s so exasperating- or as Maddie would put it, downright infuriating- that it is now, almost an entire year and a half later that the Heroes finally arrive to investigate. Well, at least he has plenty of fudge since it’s almost time for the council meeting. 

[ramgirlpaul]

And so the tradition of posting any pics of George with even just slightly feminine flair as emotional support continues.

[nerdomancer]

sometimes I hate trying to have any serious conversation outside of my social bubble because boy howdy, it seems like nobody likes my stance on immigration

[girltakovic]

i need to get back to the city so bad im genuinely losing my mind here

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

being accused of using a generative AI to write is its own kind of hurt after all these years of honing my own writing style and all the loving care i experienced from my high school english teachers that made my writing how it is. i’m sorry i like flowery vocabulary

[wnjntual]

I WANT TO BE WITH MY BOYFRIEND SO BADLY IM GOING TO RIP MY SKIN OFF !!!!!

[all-thestories-aretrue]

Im home!!!! Im home!!!!!!! Im homeeeeee!!!!! That was the most stressful 24 hour trip ive ever taken. Do not wish to repeat. But unfortunately, I will have to go back.

[merrigelblogs]

.

[oars]

the closer i get to september im less worried about not having the funds to apply but im more stressed about just doing the paperwork and messing it up

[dogcoding]

anyway i have my check up for the health certificate i need for my study abroad next wednesday and it’s all feeling so real aaagh!! like ill be in tokyo in 6 months time its fucking crazy!!!!

[fluxir]

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 Whether you need a 30-day or 90-day extension, Fluxir is here to assist with all your visa extension needs, helping you make the most of your time in the UAE.

[tamiummiya-blog]

Think Your Translation is Good Enough? The Malaysian Government Might Disagree

You’ve gathered all your paperwork, filled out every form, and double-checked every detail. You’re ready to submit your visa or permanent residency application, confident that everything is in order. But then—the rejection notice arrives.

The problem? Your translated documents weren’t certified.

It’s a frustrating reality that many applicants in Malaysia face. Whether you’re applying for immigration, a business license, or even a court filing, the government has strict standards for translations. It’s not enough that your documents are correctly translated; they must be certified. Without that official seal of approval, your application could be delayed for months—or worse, thrown out entirely.

So, before you assume your translation is “good enough,” let’s talk about why the Malaysian government might disagree—and how to make sure your documents meet official requirements.

Why “Good Enough” Isn’t Good Enough

Many people assume that as long as a translation is clear and accurate, it will be accepted. But legal and government documents aren’t judged on everyday standards of accuracy—they are held to legal standards. A simple, informal translation, no matter how perfect it may seem, won’t hold up in the eyes of the law.

The Malaysian Immigration Department, the National Registration Department (JPN), and various embassies require certified translations to ensure that every word carries the same legal weight as the original. These agencies are not just looking for a general understanding of the text; they need proof that the translation is official, legally valid, and has been done by a qualified professional.

A translation done by a bilingual friend, or even a non-certified freelancer, simply doesn’t cut it. It must come from a certified translator in Malaysia or a recognised translation agency—otherwise, your application could be rejected outright.

What Happens When a Translation Doesn’t Meet the Standard?

It’s easy to underestimate the consequences of an uncertified translation. After all, what’s the worst that could happen? Unfortunately, the answer is: a lot.

A rejected visa application means you’ll have to start over, wasting time, money, and months of waiting. A rejected business document could delay important deals or, in some cases, invalidate a contract. A mistranslated birth certificate in an immigration application might cause your entire submission to be flagged for further investigation, setting you back indefinitely.

Government offices are already overloaded with applications. If they find an issue with your documents, they won’t correct them for you—they’ll simply send them back, pushing your timeline further and further away from your goal.

When Does a Translation Need to Be Certified?

In Malaysia, many legal and government processes require certified translations, including:

Visa and immigration applications – Birth certificates, marriage certificates, police clearance certificates, and financial records all need certified translations to be accepted by the Immigration Department.

Permanent residency and citizenship applications – Identity documents, proof of family relationships, and affidavits must be translated by a certified translator in Malaysia to be valid.

Business and corporate documents – Contracts, company registration documents, tax filings, and financial statements need to be translated and certified for legal use.

Court filings and legal matters – If you’re involved in a legal dispute or submitting documents to Malaysian courts, a non-certified translation can result in your case being dismissed or delayed.

Education and employment documents – Diplomas, professional certifications, and employment contracts need to be officially translated for job applications and work permits.

If your document is being submitted to a government agency, embassy, bank, or court, there’s a strong chance it must be certified. Submitting anything less is a gamble that often leads to rejection.

What Makes a Translation “Certified”?

A certified translation isn’t just a word-for-word conversion of your document. It’s an officially recognised version, completed by a qualified translator, that includes:

A declaration of accuracy, signed by the translator or translation agency.

An official seal or stamp, proving that the translation is legally recognised.

A legally valid format, ensuring that every part of the original document—including stamps, signatures, and official markings—is replicated correctly.

In some cases, notarisation is also required, adding another layer of authentication. If your translated document lacks these elements, the Malaysian government won’t consider it valid—no matter how perfect the translation may seem.

The Hidden Cost of Cutting Corners

Some people try to save money by opting for non-certified translations, assuming that the authorities won’t notice. But when that document is rejected, they end up paying far more in re-application fees, extended processing times, and, in some cases, even legal costs.

Others rely on online translation tools or bilingual acquaintances, only to find that official agencies don’t accept their submissions. The time lost in correcting these mistakes is often more expensive than simply getting it done right the first time.

How to Avoid Rejection

If you’re submitting official documents in Malaysia, don’t leave your translation to chance. Make sure:

Your translation is certified – Always use a recognised certified translator in Malaysia to avoid unnecessary delays.

The format mirrors the original – Government agencies are particular about formatting, so your translation should match the original document as closely as possible.

You check the required language – Depending on the agency, your documents may need to be translated into Bahasa Malaysia or English—double-check before submitting.

Your translation includes a declaration of accuracy – If your document doesn’t come with an official certification stamp, there’s a strong chance it won’t be accepted.

The Bottom Line: Don’t Let a Bad Translation Derail Your Plans

Legal and government applications are already complicated enough—don’t make them harder by submitting translations that won’t be accepted. Whether you’re applying for a visa, registering a business, or filing legal documents, only certified translations in Malaysia provide the security and legal recognition you need.

So before you assume your translation is good enough, ask yourself: Is it certified? If not, it’s only a matter of time before the government sends it right back.

[twigs-and-bees]

HOLY FUCK

i start school again next week

i'm studying abroad for the year

next week i leave the united states next week

and don't return till fucking may

[anneisalwaysangry]

had a stress dream where my friends and I were going on a transpacific flight (I think to Australia?) but security pulled me out of line, took me to the scary security zone, went through all my stuff, then told me I'd fucked up my visa paperwork so I'd have to wait an extra day to fly out, and I would have to cover the entire rebooking without reimbursement, and then kicked me out of the airport

I woke up with a sense of dread and it took me a hot minute to remember I am not, in fact, going on any international trips until next year

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How I got scammed

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/05/cyber-dunning-kruger/#swiss-cheese-security

I wuz robbed.

More specifically, I was tricked by a phone-phisher pretending to be from my bank, and he convinced me to hand over my credit-card number, then did $8,000+ worth of fraud with it before I figured out what happened. And then he tried to do it again, a week later!

Here's what happened. Over the Christmas holiday, I traveled to New Orleans. The day we landed, I hit a Chase ATM in the French Quarter for some cash, but the machine declined the transaction. Later in the day, we passed a little credit-union's ATM and I used that one instead (I bank with a one-branch credit union and generally there's no fee to use another CU's ATM).

A couple days later, I got a call from my credit union. It was a weekend, during the holiday, and the guy who called was obviously working for my little CU's after-hours fraud contractor. I'd dealt with these folks before – they service a ton of little credit unions, and generally the call quality isn't great and the staff will often make mistakes like mispronouncing my credit union's name.

That's what happened here – the guy was on a terrible VOIP line and I had to ask him to readjust his mic before I could even understand him. He mispronounced my bank's name and then asked if I'd attempted to spend $1,000 at an Apple Store in NYC that day. No, I said, and groaned inwardly. What a pain in the ass. Obviously, I'd had my ATM card skimmed – either at the Chase ATM (maybe that was why the transaction failed), or at the other credit union's ATM (it had been a very cheap looking system).

I told the guy to block my card and we started going through the tedious business of running through recent transactions, verifying my identity, and so on. It dragged on and on. These were my last hours in New Orleans, and I'd left my family at home and gone out to see some of the pre-Mardi Gras krewe celebrations and get a muffalata, and I could tell that I was going to run out of time before I finished talking to this guy.

"Look," I said, "you've got all my details, you've frozen the card. I gotta go home and meet my family and head to the airport. I'll call you back on the after-hours number once I'm through security, all right?"

He was frustrated, but that was his problem. I hung up, got my sandwich, went to the airport, and we checked in. It was total chaos: an Alaska Air 737 Max had just lost its door-plug in mid-air and every Max in every airline's fleet had been grounded, so the check in was crammed with people trying to rebook. We got through to the gate and I sat down to call the CU's after-hours line. The person on the other end told me that she could only handle lost and stolen cards, not fraud, and given that I'd already frozen the card, I should just drop by the branch on Monday to get a new card.

We flew home, and later the next day, I logged into my account and made a list of all the fraudulent transactions and printed them out, and on Monday morning, I drove to the bank to deal with all the paperwork. The folks at the CU were even more pissed than I was. The fraud that run up to more than $8,000, and if Visa refused to take it out of the merchants where the card had been used, my little credit union would have to eat the loss.

I agreed and commiserated. I also pointed out that their outsource, after-hours fraud center bore some blame here: I'd canceled the card on Saturday but most of the fraud had taken place on Sunday. Something had gone wrong.

One cool thing about banking at a tiny credit-union is that you end up talking to people who have actual authority, responsibility and agency. It turned out the the woman who was processing my fraud paperwork was a VP, and she decided to look into it. A few minutes later she came back and told me that the fraud center had no record of having called me on Saturday.

"That was the fraudster," she said.

Oh, shit. I frantically rewound my conversation, trying to figure out if this could possibly be true. I hadn't given him anything apart from some very anodyne info, like what city I live in (which is in my Wikipedia entry), my date of birth (ditto), and the last four digits of my card.

Wait a sec.

He hadn't asked for the last four digits. He'd asked for the last seven digits. At the time, I'd found that very frustrating, but now – "The first nine digits are the same for every card you issue, right?" I asked the VP.

I'd given him my entire card number.

Goddammit.

The thing is, I know a lot about fraud. I'm writing an entire series of novels about this kind of scam:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250865878/thebezzle

And most summers, I go to Defcon, and I always go to the "social engineering" competitions where an audience listens as a hacker in a soundproof booth cold-calls merchants (with the owner's permission) and tries to con whoever answers the phone into giving up important information.

But I'd been conned.

Now look, I knew I could be conned. I'd been conned before, 13 years ago, by a Twitter worm that successfully phished out of my password via DM:

https://locusmag.com/2010/05/cory-doctorow-persistence-pays-parasites/

That scam had required a miracle of timing. It started the day before, when I'd reset my phone to factory defaults and reinstalled all my apps. That same day, I'd published two big online features that a lot of people were talking about. The next morning, we were late getting out of the house, so by the time my wife and I dropped the kid at daycare and went to the coffee shop, it had a long line. Rather than wait in line with me, my wife sat down to read a newspaper, and so I pulled out my phone and found a Twitter DM from a friend asking "is this you?" with a URL.

Assuming this was something to do with those articles I'd published the day before, I clicked the link and got prompted for my Twitter login again. This had been happening all day because I'd done that mobile reinstall the day before and all my stored passwords had been wiped. I entered it but the page timed out. By that time, the coffees were ready. We sat and chatted for a bit, then went our own ways.

I was on my way to the office when I checked my phone again. I had a whole string of DMs from other friends. Each one read "is this you?" and had a URL.

Oh, shit, I'd been phished.

If I hadn't reinstalled my mobile OS the day before. If I hadn't published a pair of big articles the day before. If we hadn't been late getting out the door. If we had been a little more late getting out the door (so that I'd have seen the multiple DMs, which would have tipped me off).

There's a name for this in security circles: "Swiss-cheese security." Imagine multiple slices of Swiss cheese all stacked up, the holes in one slice blocked by the slice below it. All the slices move around and every now and again, a hole opens up that goes all the way through the stack. Zap!

The fraudster who tricked me out of my credit card number had Swiss cheese security on his side. Yes, he spoofed my bank's caller ID, but that wouldn't have been enough to fool me if I hadn't been on vacation, having just used a pair of dodgy ATMs, in a hurry and distracted. If the 737 Max disaster hadn't happened that day and I'd had more time at the gate, I'd have called my bank back. If my bank didn't use a slightly crappy outsource/out-of-hours fraud center that I'd already had sub-par experiences with. If, if, if.

The next Friday night, at 5:30PM, the fraudster called me back, pretending to be the bank's after-hours center. He told me my card had been compromised again. But: I hadn't removed my card from my wallet since I'd had it replaced. Also, it was half an hour after the bank closed for the long weekend, a very fraud-friendly time. And when I told him I'd call him back and asked for the after-hours fraud number, he got very threatening and warned me that because I'd now been notified about the fraud that any losses the bank suffered after I hung up the phone without completing the fraud protocol would be billed to me. I hung up on him. He called me back immediately. I hung up on him again and put my phone into do-not-disturb.

The following Tuesday, I called my bank and spoke to their head of risk-management. I went through everything I'd figured out about the fraudsters, and she told me that credit unions across America were being hit by this scam, by fraudsters who somehow knew CU customers' phone numbers and names, and which CU they banked at. This was key: my phone number is a reasonably well-kept secret. You can get it by spending money with Equifax or another nonconsensual doxing giant, but you can't just google it or get it at any of the free services. The fact that the fraudsters knew where I banked, knew my name, and had my phone number had really caused me to let down my guard.

The risk management person and I talked about how the credit union could mitigate this attack: for example, by better-training the after-hours card-loss staff to be on the alert for calls from people who had been contacted about supposed card fraud. We also went through the confusing phone-menu that had funneled me to the wrong department when I called in, and worked through alternate wording for the menu system that would be clearer (this is the best part about banking with a small CU – you can talk directly to the responsible person and have a productive discussion!). I even convinced her to buy a ticket to next summer's Defcon to attend the social engineering competitions.

There's a leak somewhere in the CU systems' supply chain. Maybe it's Zelle, or the small number of corresponding banks that CUs rely on for SWIFT transaction forwarding. Maybe it's even those after-hours fraud/card-loss centers. But all across the USA, CU customers are getting calls with spoofed caller IDs from fraudsters who know their registered phone numbers and where they bank.

I've been mulling this over for most of a month now, and one thing has really been eating at me: the way that AI is going to make this kind of problem much worse.

Not because AI is going to commit fraud, though.

One of the truest things I know about AI is: "we're nowhere near a place where bots can steal your job, we're certainly at the point where your boss can be suckered into firing you and replacing you with a bot that fails at doing your job":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/15/passive-income-brainworms/#four-hour-work-week

I trusted this fraudster specifically because I knew that the outsource, out-of-hours contractors my bank uses have crummy headsets, don't know how to pronounce my bank's name, and have long-ass, tedious, and pointless standardized questionnaires they run through when taking fraud reports. All of this created cover for the fraudster, whose plausibility was enhanced by the rough edges in his pitch - they didn't raise red flags.

As this kind of fraud reporting and fraud contacting is increasingly outsourced to AI, bank customers will be conditioned to dealing with semi-automated systems that make stupid mistakes, force you to repeat yourself, ask you questions they should already know the answers to, and so on. In other words, AI will groom bank customers to be phishing victims.

This is a mistake the finance sector keeps making. 15 years ago, Ben Laurie excoriated the UK banks for their "Verified By Visa" system, which validated credit card transactions by taking users to a third party site and requiring them to re-enter parts of their password there:

https://web.archive.org/web/20090331094020/http://www.links.org/?p=591

This is exactly how a phishing attack works. As Laurie pointed out, this was the banks training their customers to be phished.

I came close to getting phished again today, as it happens. I got back from Berlin on Friday and my suitcase was damaged in transit. I've been dealing with the airline, which means I've really been dealing with their third-party, outsource luggage-damage service. They have a terrible website, their emails are incoherent, and they officiously demand the same information over and over again.

This morning, I got a scam email asking me for more information to complete my damaged luggage claim. It was a terrible email, from a noreply@ email address, and it was vague, officious, and dishearteningly bureaucratic. For just a moment, my finger hovered over the phishing link, and then I looked a little closer.

On any other day, it wouldn't have had a chance. Today – right after I had my luggage wrecked, while I'm still jetlagged, and after days of dealing with my airline's terrible outsource partner – it almost worked.

So much fraud is a Swiss-cheese attack, and while companies can't close all the holes, they can stop creating new ones.

Meanwhile, I'll continue to post about it whenever I get scammed. I find the inner workings of scams to be fascinating, and it's also important to remind people that everyone is vulnerable sometimes, and scammers are willing to try endless variations until an attack lands at just the right place, at just the right time, in just the right way. If you think you can't get scammed, that makes you especially vulnerable:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en