Miri MP proposes 10-year passport validity, increased facilities at Immigration office

Chiew (centre) in a photo call with Miri Immigration senior officer Robert Gabriel Kayok (second right) and others during his visit to the office.

MIRI (Dec 16): Miri MP Chiew Choon Man has proposed for a10-year passport validity and also for machine facilities at the Immigration office here to be increased.

The newly elected MP had suggested the proposals when visiting Miri Immigration office at UTC here yesterday following an increase in the number of visitors to the Miri Immigration office.

Miri Immigration office was reported to have 400 and 500 visitors daily for the past one week, prompting it to bring in staff from Bekenu Immigration depot as well as extending their office hours from 7am to 9pm from Dec 14 until Dec 23.

“At present, there is only one machine in Miri division that produces passports. It had happened before where the machine broke down and Miri cannot produce new passports for nearly one week,” he told reporters.

On the extension of passports’ validity, Chiew said other countries like Singapore and Thailand have introduced the 10-year validity for their passports.

Chiew said he would propose the suggestions to the ministry in order to reduce congestions at the immigration offices, not only in Miri but also nationwide.

This, he added, would act as a long term solution to the long queue issue faced by Mirians every festive and holiday season.

He noted that another solution would be to have Malaysians renew or apply for their international passports online.

“Our office had tried the online application to renew our staff’s passports and we found that it is not too complicated except when uploading photographs.

“Bear in mind that the size of the photographs for online application must be between 50kb and 300kb and we strongly advise applicants to go to professional photo studio to take a passport-sized photo that is to be submitted through the online system,” he said.

“Right now, the system is still not very user-friendly if compared to other online application systems,” he said, adding that there are rooms for improvement in the current system.

This issue will be addressed with the technical team in the Immigration Headquarters to see how the system can be further improved, he added.

He also mulled on getting kiosks set up at the immigration office here to assist visitors filling up their passport application forms instead of going to the counters.

The post Miri MP proposes 10-year passport validity, increased facilities at Immigration office appeared first on Borneo Post Online.

from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/MdT0Yz7
via IFTTT