Passport Renewal

Remember how it used to be to renew our passport long long ago? We would have to wake up 6am in the morning, arrive imigration office at 7am so that we can get a queue number that is not too long away and hopefully, able to get everything done before end of the day?

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Anyway, I decided to get my passport renewed today since it left less than 6 months validity. Less than 6 months validity means can't travel anywhere.

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Arrived at the Subang Immigration Department at 10:35am. With my expiring passport in hand + 2 stunning mugshot photos + photocopied i/c + completed form which I downloaded from their web, I went straight to counter 1, to 'semak' my submission. As expected, I was told that my photo can't be used. 5 years ago, when I did my passport, also photo issue. This time round, they said that the background of my photo have to be blue, not green. To me, it is blue. Just different shade of blue. That's all.

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Anyway, they always find faults with photo. Your shirt colour is wrong la... hair cover eyes/ears la... background colour la....face too big/small la... photo too small/big la....Couple of months ago, I susah susah purposely make-up nicely, went to studio to snap a photo, photoshop-ed it, so that in future, I would have a stunning like 'HK Actress' photo to be used on stuff like these instead of the standard 'stoned' face photo BUT... they still insist that I go to the cubicle at the end of the hall to snap one with 'their' shade of blue background. You see la...... I think they are just jealous of my pretty photo. Ishhh!

(left: taken in studio, right: taken at the department)

Anyway, the photography session was quite fast la... less than 5 minutes, kautim. RM10 for 4pcs. Luckily it turned out quite alright eventhough no make up or whatsoever. Didnt even bother to comb my hair or put lipstick. Won't make much different anyway. It's express photo. Meaning, it will turn out ugly anyway.
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I tell you arr... if I am the government arr... I don't give at @%*# if your background is red/orange/green. As long as your face is there, it's cool. Or maybe I would implement pink background for female and blue background for male (orange for lain-lain). Wouldnt it be cute?
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Anyway, with the correct blue background photo, I went to this passport renewal kiosk that looks like an ATM machine. The officer on duty verified my passport & IC. Then he inserted my passport in a slot on the machine. I was told to verify my thumbprint thru a reader. After that, I just followed the step by step instruction on the screen to confirm my personal details and finally, paid my renewal fees of RM300 thru the machine. I was informed to collect my new passport 2 hours later from counter 13.
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All in all, I only spent 10 minutes at the department to get my passport renewed, which include the photography. It's a far cry from 10 years ago, a one whole day affair. Impressive huh? Point is, dont bother to go to the studio for passport size photo. Just get it done at the immigration dept. Sure no problem one.
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I've collected my brand new passport today :). Whatever it is, it's a happy day with lots of things done. Have a pleasant evening!