New Passport
My old one was about to expire, so I thought it is time to have a new one that is valid for more than two years (now that I don’t have to do military service). I asked about what papers would I need from relatives (because there is no other trusted source available), and they all said get a proof of residency سند إقامة.
Although I was offered to have an intelligence agent go with me to make things go “smooth”, but being stubborn and adventurous I figured I’d do it by myself. So the first visit to the IPD (Immigration and Passport Department) they asked for some papers (the usual military permission) and made me file a telegram to my home state.
After few days, I returned to continue the process. The officer asked me for some more papers which I had, and some that I hadn’t (which of course no one bothered to ask the first time) including my foreign passport and a ترقين قيد from the ministry of higher education (I still don’t know what that word means), because I am not under their supervision anymore (as if they ever did). The second one was a piece of cake, but to go back home and get the passport was a real waste of time, knowing Damascus traffic jam. The officer was not convinced I don’t need the other passport, so I went home. Needless to mention, no one asked for the proof of residency.
The Third time I went, and had all the papers, including the foreign passport which no one bothered to ask for it. This time a different officer was in charge of my papers, and after the usual hopping inside the department to get a form from one place, a stamp from another, filing it in another, and stamping it from another one, I was able to file the papers.
The keyword is, I believe, “doctor”.
Oh, you’re a doctor! What kind? Can you check these results for me?? I have a headache, is it serious? My eye is blinking for a couple of weeks, am afraid I have a stroke. And so on. I offered no less than three on site medical consultations, each delaying my process for no less than 5-10 minutes.
I also had to fingerprint my written vows, as if my mere presence and the officer witnessing it was not enough.
Finally, next day actually, I got the new passport, mistake free.
It is such a waste of time the way everything goes. Would it harm them if instead of 20 officers doing different trivial things, they allow the same 20 to do the job from A to Z??? Thus saving time and hassle. How about an answering service which you call with your old passport info, they would ask few standard questions and then let you know what you need. And most importantly, change its location to a more civilized area where people can breath. What about placing a photocopy machine inside the utility so people wouldn’t have to go back and forth to make copies of things that are not thought of? And, in this department, they can really improve work (as they did in national banks) through bonuses and salary raise. Few more Syrian pounds per passport, or service dedicated to salary improvement will not harm anyone (those are people who are going to travel and have higher expenditures anyway), so instead of getting a stamp here and a stamp there, get a fixed fee (including possible copies); mine didn’t cost more than 1700 SP, and I didn’t bribe anyone. And with some effort they can computerize the telegram thing so it would be instant.
posted by Bassam @ 8:30 PM
4 comments
4 Comments:
oh my god, i laughed my head off
first , i didnt read the title and was reading
" My old one was about to expire, so I thought it is time to have a new one that is valid for more than two years "
i was like :S
what the hell is he talking about :|
i really agree with your principles , but sometimes it's quite hard to do so :(
i got my passport for 2500 while i was having breakfast at home
I have lived in Europe for 30 years. My Syrian passport which was issued by a the Syrian embassy expired 20 years ago and I never renewed it, guess why?
Not only do you have to go through what you went through but also you need an exit visa every time you want to leave the country. As a holder of a European passport, I can come and go as I please with no hassles or irritations. We are welcomed in our own country as foreigners but not as Syrians!!!!!
Bassem, don’t know why I like your writing, may be because of the dissimilarity between your behavior and mine in front of a case like obtaining a passport. My frustration levels went sky high last summer while I was trying to obtain an ID card to do notary paper. I think your demeanor is sweet but I don’t know how you accept all this backwardness and still can give them advices on how things can be improved. From my prospective after 20 years away I found the current procedures, the buildings where takes place, behavior of people, kind of people doing the bureaucratic services was something unbearable and things moved away to the dark ages comparing with how it was 30 years ago. I have Spent 18 days working on the ID card and could not get it. My brother said, I told you, you should hire one of those intelligence people and this is the only way works here. May be because I’m from different generation I can not accept seeing this happing to my beloved country. I find it hard thing to swallow to see people stripped from their dignity and winking their eyes to pay them under the table to do their job. My big picture of what happening is may be different from your. I see the current situation as the failing of the state from doing its job and this is not for sure because Syria is a third world country, as a lot of states like Gulf States and some other third world countries do not follow the same structure. I see your advices are nice but going to go unnoticed and to see change it’s going to take some hundreds of years.
Wow, I didn't expect much heated emotions regarding this issue. Anyway, it seems gray fox is the only one doing it the syrian way, LOL.
Gray Fox: LOL, everyone makes mistakes, when I read your response the first time, I thought they gave you the passport until year 2500. Lucky you.
Anonymous 1: I believe the exit visa is something from the past, at least I never had to do it recently.
Fadi: What can I say.. The high school diploma is like ID necessary in everything.
Anonymous 2: I sense lots of frustration, well... who wouldn't be. Anyway, we probably look into matters or hope for it differently. I know my advices will 99.99% go unnoticed, but I like the fact that they are there, if someone finds them, or thinks they are applicable. I believe in the ability to change, but in a fierce way in applying it. And I believe in stubborness for the sake of change. We all wish, but sometimes that's the only thing we can do, because, once again, I am not the Minister of Interior Affairs :-)
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