July 11, 2007

Passport Renewal Morning - GAH!

So I went to renew my passport today. Took half a day off work just to get it done. Got up real early, so that I can reach the immigration department before it opens (gotta join the long queue, y'see).

After the slow morning traffic, I reached the immigration office at 7.30am, and to my delight, I saw only ONE person waiting outside the office (normally the queue would have already started by 7.15am). I happily got behind the woman, and that was when she gave me a funny look.

"Office open already"

Woah. That's early. I went in, which I thought was in quite a hurry, because the receptionist kept telling me to calm down as there were very few people waiting in line. So there I was, thinking, ohh this is getting to be a smooth-sailing procedure, and started to plan to go to the bank and post office after this.

When it was my turn, I handed the application form and photos to the officer-in-charge. After stamping some papers, writing and more stamping, he turned to me.

"Mana photocopy IC?" (where are the photocopies of your identification card?)

Oh. Damnit. I knew that there was something which I forgot to bring with me to the immigration department. I had a really bad headache the night before; hence I forgot to pack the photocopied document into my bag. Okay, fine. I asked him if there was a photocopier in the office which I could use. At that moment, it was 7.50 am.

"Ada, kat belakang. Tapi, mesen baru buka pada pukul 8" (At the back, but the office is only open at 8am).

Okay then. I waited for about 10 minutes, and headed to the back of the office.

"Maaf mem, mesen sudah rosak" (I beg your pardon, ma'am, the photocopier's not working)

What the ... ?? I went back to the person handling my documents and told him that it wasn't working.

"Oh ya, semalam rosak" (oh yes, it was not working yesterday)

Bloody hell. He didn't even tell me it wasn't working when I asked him about the photocopier! Fine. I asked him if there were other photocopiers in the office which I could use. He said that was the only one available.

WTF?? The whole department only has ONE photocopy machine??? Then I asked him if there were photocopy services nearby which I could use. He said that there were a few near the building.

"Ya, tapi hanya buka pada pukul 9" (yes, but they only open at 9)

Gah! My morning certainly had taken a turn. Rather than waiting, I drove back home (about 20 minutes drive), took the copies which I had, and drove back to the office. Thank goodness I didn't have to queue (at that moment, the number of people waiting in line was rapidly increasing); I handed the copies to the officer, paid RM300, and was told to come and collect the passport 2 hours later.

Oh well, time for me to head to the bank. Didn't get much done there either, as there were some documents which I, sadly, also left at home (see, this is what happens when you don't prepare first). Since there wasn't much I could do, I left for home.

Rested for about 45 minutes, before I headed out again, and this time, it was to the post office (I needed to get a postal order). Again, I had to take a number. Mine was 2082.

"Next - 2059!"

Bloody hell. 23 people more to go! I waited for 15 minutes, and by that time, only 7 people were served. The whole post office only had ONE person working! I couldn't wait any longer; I left for the immigration department to collect my passport. Thank God that was a short wait, because at that point, I was tired, overheated from the massive hot weather outside, and just wanted to get out as soon as possible. After driving for about 25 minutes, I reached the office really wiped out and in a bad mood.

What a morning, eh? I spent most of my morning driving up and down, to and fro. Sigh.

Lessons of the day:
  • Always be prepared. A Girl Guide motto, but very useful indeed.
  • When renewing your passport, remember to have all of your needed documents with you (2 passport-sized photographs, a copy of your IC, and the application form). No point going so early when you don't have all of your stuff with you.
  • You can save RM1 by downloading the application form off the Jabatan Imigresen Malaysia website. Just be sure to print them on both sides of paper (I was reprimanded by printing the form on separate sheets of paper).

All I wanna do right now, is to go home and sleep. With my spanking new passport right next to me :p

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

23 must be your lucky number. ;)

Yesterday was 23 passport-size photos.. today there were 23 ppl in front of you. :p

Kamigoroshi said...

23 is also a prime number. Hmmm, this must be a conspiracy of some kind. :)

The only problems with updating my passport was that I was under my mom's passport before and if I needed to change it, it would have to be updated in Kota Kinabalu, not KL. Lucky thing that was all sorted out. It was surprisingly fast considering I got all my documents with me to begin with

Tine said...

Jemima: Ya lar, weird eh? :p

Kamigoroshi: Oh no, don't tell me this is some kinda Jim Carrey movie :p