Malaysian Passport Renewal - How To Guide and Shenanigans (Part 2)

Continuation of this. The finale of an enthralling saga. Cheh wah.

So, yesterday was a thrilling day of waiting somewhat long hours for IC renewal. Today was the tedious job of renewing passport. Sleep and rest was not meant for me since Christmas last week. Siapa sumpah aku ah lanjiao.

Anyhoo, My work usually finishes half past four, so that gave me plenty of heads up to leave before the usual 5pm/5.30pm/6pm end shift hours.

I chose UTC Immigration Office for the following reasons:

a) Operating hours are amazing. They close at 10.30pm. Which means those who are working need not sacrifice their well-deserved rest on the weekends and attend the weekend passport office. After work they could come over to UTC which is located at:

b) Plaza Rakyat Ampang Line. That's like the transit station strategically located in Masjid Jamek Putra LRT. From Ampang Line Masjid Jamek, you will need to reach Plaza Rakyat station. It's the station right after Ampang Line Masjid Jamek. Satu jer, so jangan komplen. Right after reaching, just go down and exit. You wanna follow the signboard that says "Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock".

c) You will find yourself passing through a caged pedestrian walkway. It is a perfect opportunity to pretend you're in a zombie apocalypse movie. After an approximate 3-minute walk, you would come to a small descending of staircase, at this point you would want to turn immediately to your right and keep walking until you find a door. Your clue to know you're in the right place? As soon as you turn immediately right, it should be a place where they park motorcycles. Follow towards the door. You're now in a building that looks like an unfinished mall. Turn immediately to your left and look for a clear-glass elevator. Your clue here is that beside the clear-glass elevator, there should be a customer service pondok overlooking the building's main entrance.

d) Get on the funky looking clear-glass elevator. Get the fuck in it. You would want to go to the 2nd Floor. In the meantime, pretend you're in Willy Wonka's glass elevator.

e) After exiting the 2nd floor, look for UTC JPN Office. The Immigration/Passport Office is literally opposite UTC JPN.

f) Apalagi? Masuk and take a number lah!


What you need to bring:

a) Renewal
- Your IC (it has to be the 80k chip one, not the one you took when you were 12 or the blue IC implementation back in 2003 version.) Look for Part 1 to know how you can renew your IC.

- Your old passport. They must be snipped at the corners by the officers and be returned to you.

b) First Time
- Just walk in with your IC. Again, IC must the 80k chip, not the 2003 version or when you were 12 years old.

****

When you have the necessary documents, proceed to Counter 1 to get a numbah. You have the choice to take 2 years (RM100) or 5 years (RM300). Yours Truly is broke and doesn't travel a lot so she took the former. You're likely the 80th person in a 00' series. Take it from Yours Truly. So go yum cha, makan. There's a food court on the 4th floor. All Malay food.

Don't take too long to eat. Your number WILL be called one hour later. When it is your turn, you will need to produce your numbah slip, application form, old passport and IC. I went to renew mine. Officer would take thumb prints, ask to check an electronic application form that s/he printed, check the spelling, your name and all other details. Sign. You will be given a charcoal pad where you will put a thumbprint on the electronic application form. Your thumb print would also be taken electronically.

Take picture, don't smile a lot. A slight smile or no smile is the way. Globally, passport offices no longer accept a full-on gleeful smiles on your passport. Something about terrorist being frowny, grumpy-faced characters. Don't ask. There was a Malay girl who smiled from ear-to-ear, the officer actually said "Adik! Janagan senyum macam tuh, Nanti dia tak bagi masuk!". I ROLF-ed!

Also, wear dark clothes. If you happen to wear rainbow neon pink baju, s/he will ask you to wear a black blazer. Ears and eyebrows must be visible. By all means, again, don't smile like you smuggled Alpacas from Machu-Picchu.

5 minutes of that. Done. Next, your number will be called again. Here you will proceed to Counter 9 for payment. Whatever that you choose, bayar. Lepas tuh itu akak kasi you satu receipt, you simpan itu resit baik-baik.

Again, exactly one hour later, your passport would be ready. Your number will be called. You would proceed to Counters 10-12 for pickup.

Produce your receipt and IC. Sign here and there, thumbprint, passport is yours.

Now go home. Get lost. You won't ever have to think about this place until you need it again.

I came in at 5pm, I left at 8.30pm. 3+ hours. NOT BAD FOR MALAYSIAN STANDARDS!

I am seriously happy with the overall service and the timescale it took for me to finish this. It is a real Godsend to have Passport Offices that open till 10.30pm. UTC Immigration Office deserves all the kudos.

Sekian.

Renewing Malaysian IC: How To Guide and Shenanigans (Part 1)

Being born right in 1990, I would be 25 exactly next year. Let me detail you the events which led me to renew my IC to begin with.

It began when I started working. I was told that after my probation, I would be sent to UK for work training purposes. Then it clicked - my passport expired like, few years ago. So I choose the week of Christmas to do my passport renewal. Off I went to Shah Alam Passport Office which is about 12 minute taxi ride from KTM Shah Alam. Reaching there, I was told that the numbers sold out. Hungry, tired, disappointed and sleep deprived, I asked if I could simply take a number for tomorrow since I am from PJ and I don't have the luxury of coming here often. The Shah Alam officer said no but revealed that UTC Sentral Office near Plaza Rakyat Station opens from 8am till 10.30pm daily. 10.30pm daily. Until night?? 7 days a week?? That is awesome! So off we went to Masjid Jamek Station on December 26th (my office declared this day as holiday), transited to Monorail and took to Plaza Rakyat. Upon reaching there, the crowd was not that bad. I was told renewal can be done on that day itself just "tunggu 2 jam lah" (just wait 2 hours). Feeling upbeat, I presented to him my old passport and IC.

The immediate response was "Sorry Cik, IC kena IC baru, sebab Cik lahir tahun 90, sebelum 25 dah kena ada IC baru, Mandatori. Kalau tak, ada kompaun" (Sorry Miss, IC must be new, because you are born in the 90's, you must change to the new IC before you're 25. Mandatory, or else you would be fined). At this point, I had flipped my shit, because not only did I travel from one end of Selangor to another end of Kuala Lumpur, I had to sacrifice my sleep and holiday to do a shit that should not have taken more than 5 hours. And honestly I did not know rat squat about this new IC rule. But luckily, UTC is a one-stop place where most governmental bodies are located on the same floor (from police stations, JPN's, Commissioner for Oaths and of course the coveted Passport Office). UTC JPN was right in front of UTC Passport Office so we went there. Malang tidak berbau, 26th December 2014 was a Friday, which meant the Malaysian Government servants have a long lunch break that ends at 2.45pm. And UTC JPN does not open on weekends unlike the UTC Passport Office.

My driving class was scheduled at 3pm. It was 12pm when we were at UTC JPN front door.

This is impossible. I cannot cancel my class, I'd be charged RM30. I am not spending money on unnecessary bullshit.

So with a foul mood and equally foul words coming out of my mouth, I headed home where my next stop is my driving school.

With a heavy heart and burning anger, I programmed my brain to get used to the idea that my weekends would be spent waiting long hours in some crummy JPN office. And the "best" part is it came true.

On December 26th, After my driving class finished at 6pm, I headed to Midvalley where I bought tickets for The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies. I am anticipating a shitty long weekend might as well have SOME consolation where I'd be basking in Thranduil's beautiful brilliance. Got the tickets for 27th December and headed home at about 8pm.

Reached home close to 9pm. I had been waking/moving/mobile from 8.00am on the 26th and up till 8.00pm on the same day. I was furious, tired, disgruntled, moody, hungry and absolutely livid that my off-day had been ruined.

Let move on to the morning of 27th. Woke up at an ungodly hour, reached KTM Shah Alam before the office hours.

Fun Fact: JPN Shah Alam which is located in Plaza Masalam (6th Floor) at Section 9 is the only JPN that opens in the weekends for Selangor/Kuala Lumpur precinct. Accessible by car only. From KTM Shah Alam, a taxi there takes about 15 minutes, charging between RM5 to RM7. Opening hours are from 8am to 1pm only on weekends. Weekdays, normal working hours. 

Shah Alam JPN was swarming with people. You'd think you would be the odd character who does their IC so late in life but no...ader jugak orang berpusu-pusu nak renew IC dan replace IC hilang.

I managed to get a number. I reached there 8.30am. I had 80+ people before my turn. Some showed up after their number got called, some didn't. Which helped sped up the waiting process as I wanted to finish this bullshit so I could get my passport done. I know that it won't be processed today.
When my number was called, I filled up a form and gave my old IC. Prints from both my thumbs were taken. Next, my IC picture. Bear in mind, you are required to wear dark clothes for your IC. If you wore bright clothes, a black jacket would be given. For Hijabi's, a black headscarf was provided.

But if you don't mind sharing the headlice and armpit sweat of random strangers, then cool wear whatever you want. I decided to wear a dark green shirt. So no smelly jackets for me!

The came the picture session. I was told to remove my glasses as they needed to see my face without any obstruction. So off my glasses went. Senyum! (Smile!). Aku tak senyum pun. Tak cukup tidur nak senyum apa? I don't even want to be there. Done, a receipt was be issued. Hold on to this receipt since this would be used to pick up your IC next day. The entire waiting process was 1.5 hours. Taking forms, my old IC and picture for new IC, 5 minutes. Reaching home from KTM Shah Alam to Petaling Station. 45 minutes. Reached home before lunchtime. That night, I had managed to bask upon Thranduil's beauty.

Let's move on to the 28th. Woke up a little late, since I know IC pickups will always have numbers and is relatively fast. Again the same routine - Shah Alam KTM> Taxi > Plaza Masalam > 6th Floor. At reception, produce the receipt, a number would be given. Wait for your number, I didn't have to wait long. Like the day before, some people missed their numbers and some had collected theirs relatively fast. My turn came. Went to the counter. Produced the receipt and old IC. Officer takes the old IC, both thumbs print verification, new IC issued. Took about 5 minutes at most.

Dah, beres. Selesai. Balik. Tak payah pikiaq tentang IC lagi.

This time, I balik rumah dengan hati yang lapang dan suka hati but extremely tired and sleep deprived.

I am seriously looking forward to the Public Holiday on 1st January 2015. I WANT TO SLEEP AND WAKE UP AS LATE AS I WANT MY LONG WEEKEND WAS FUCKING RUINED OMG.

Part 2 will be about the Passport Office in UTC near Plaza Rakyat Monorail. I am going there after work on Monday. Will tell y'all what happened. I gotta a feeling I would be bringing a book.

Sekian.