Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Passport renewed within a day

My passport was going to expire only in late 2010 but I figured it would be a lot easier to renew it while I was in Malaysia. I arrived at 8am and got out of the Immigration office a little before 9am. Got back to collect the new passport 2 hours later. Simple, easy and efficient. Just need to bring in your IC, passport, fill a form and take photos there. I needed to write a letter for the early renewal though. I paid RM300 for a 5 years duration but I heard that the fee will be reduced to RM150 in June 2009. Some immigration offices will operate on weekend too.

Unlike in the USA where I could send my passport by post to the nearest consulate for renewal, in France I would have to go in person. There is only one consulate here and it is located in Paris. So, not only I have to travel to Paris, I will have to come back later to collect it as all passports will be sent to London for processing. All these are time and money consuming.

For the Malaysian service, there are only two points I wish they could improve:
1. The application process could had been a lot faster if the payment officer didn't chat non stop for like 5 - 10 minutes with his coworkers. Everyone was waiting to pay and leave as soon as possible to continue with their daily errands.

2. Sometimes the processing officers reject photos taken elsewhere so everyone was taking photo using the machine (RM7) there. Unfortunately, the worker there asked us to take the photo down stair (RM10) as she was "busy" photocopying ID.

Well, she had only one customer for photocopy and she sent all of us down stair and we had to pay extra RM3 for it. We seriously suspect the photo shop down stair is her business and she was just an employee at the immigration office to operate the photo machine.

I used this machine to print my EPF statement. The administrative processes are surely simplified nowadays with all these facilities.

4 comments:

  1. hi there,

    I came across yr blog, was checking whether I can renew my passport early 1 year++ before the expiry date. FYI, my passport would be expired in Nov 2010. I might back to Mal in august, so I wonder if i can renew my passport as early as 1 year b4 the expiry. If so, can i get 5 years (Nov 2015) or they will be deducted the 1year? By the way, what kind of letter u mean to explain to the immigration for the early renewal, is the letter I hv to type myself or they provide in the form? TQ! pls advise me ok, am so much appreciate it. you can email me to vinn.cinnamonbay@gmail.com

    evelyn

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  2. I applied for my passport to be renewed on March 10 and it just arrived today (May 29) by courier (2 days before departure). That makes it 11.5 weeks and that only happened because I called the passport office every day for a week. The 877 number you are supposed to call is always busy. You just have to keep trying and trying without interruption and you will get through. Be warned, you may be trying for an hour or two. I would dial the number, and press 1, 3, 1 and did it over and over until I finally got through just to be put on hold for 15 to 45 minutes. I have to say that once I got through, without exception, the agents I spoke to were very helpful and courteous. My passport was actually processed on the Sunday before Memorial Day – so I think they are working as hard as they can, but are just understaffed and overwhelmed. I’m just thankful to have the passport back!

    passport renewal

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  3. Can i renew my passport before a year or a year and six months ? is it possible?

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    Replies
    1. Yes you could. I did that in 2009, I had to write a letter on the spot to justify this early renewal.

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