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.
No comments:
Post a Comment