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Further to the subject title, i was indeed in such a ridiculous predicament three days before i was scheduled to fly to Kota Kinabalu; thanks to AirAsia web check-in! Anyway, i can blame no one but myself to have mistaken the expiry date to be 15 October 2015.
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To cut the long story short, i trawled the internet for solutions and got wind of situations where passports can be issued in a mere three working days. I did the most logical thing; i applied for a passport online via APPLES while keeping my fingers crossed that i might be the lucky one.
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Knowing i am not the kind of people to kowtow to any sort of monetary forfeit, i called the immigration hotline the following day and after about thirty minutes, i finally managed to catch hold of a customer service officer.
The instruction was clear; better to get my ass down as soon as possible to the ICA building and appeal to a duty officer to expedite my application. Nothing is guaranteed and it would be best for me to bring along my current passport and any supporting documents substantiating my claim of an upcoming trip.
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My precious time off had to be sacrificed and after explaining my sad predicament to the customer service counter staff on level two of ICA building, i was asked to appeal my case to the duty officer on level three.
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I didn't have to wait long and thankfully, the lady was sympathetic towards my cause! So touched and grateful okay! She even shared that it might be possible to travel to Malaysia with less than six months validity but limited to entries via the Causeway and Second Link. Travel via airplane would require at least the minimum of six months.
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Whatever the case, my appeal was approved and collection would be on the day of my flight! I thought i was super early to have arrived before 8am but the queue was insanely long; circling half the building!
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Within an hour, i was in possession of my brand new red passport! Wooohooo!
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What Should You Do?
1) Keep calm.
2) Apply for passport online via APPLES.
3) Approach ICA officer for appeal to expedite the application.
4) p.s. Don't be rude. They are doing you a favour.
5) Pray for approval.