Post
by Machiavelli » Fri Jun 23, 2017 7:22 pm
So my friend went to passport office in Phnom Penh, across from airport today. This is his report;
'We arrived and my GF showed them my passport. They did the usual shuffling around, leaving the counter and returning, and there was a LOT of talk, none of which I could understand. After a while, I asked what was going on, and she said that they would exchange ph#'s and they were going to call her when they knew 'something'. We would have to come back.
She persisted and said this was not acceptable as she took time off work, as well as we were coming from SR and thats not something you do every day.
Deaf ears.
So, we sat at the table in the cheap red plastic chairs and discussed what we should do next. I asked her to call the travel agent who took the passport in the first place, as they claimed to have their 'team' in Phnom Penh, and perhaps they could advocate for us. She did, but I wasn't paying attention to that or the outcome of it. Obviously, it seems I was flagged for some reason.
In the mean time I shuffled through my papers and found some criminal record checks I had completed prior to leaving my country, in the event I may have ever considered a teaching job here. I asked her if she might show them to the officers at the counter and if they were interested in copies for their files. She returned almost immediately and said "they don't need that".
But then, another guy came through the room and asked us to come with him. Apparently this was relevant to them, and so we were invited into the office of the big boss: the chief of visa extension operations.
So we got the interview: they wanted to know all about me, my relationship now, my ex-wife, my children, and any criminal activity I may have ever experienced in my life. I was able to assure them I have no criminal record and a clean criminal record check, both from my local sheriff as well as the national police. They asked what my job was, my previous address and where I was living now. They asked me what my intentions and plans were here.
I explained everything, and then they asked me if I could write all of that out on a piece of paper - they handed me a pen. I asked if I could type it out on my laptop and e-mail it to them which was well received. I did three pages, well organized and in categories. There was some push to have this completed before 12 noon as they were all leaving for lunch. When I was finished, GF tried to barge into the office with the computer to have them print it, however it was then full of people, so I then sat on the stairs and e-mailed it with a cover as usual.
When we saw the room clearing out, we went back and were well received and asked to sit again. He found the e-mail and seemed impressed that I had typed 3 pages. He read it. His colleague read it. Then they asked me to sign it, and then affix my thumb print beside my signature as well as to do it again across the three pages which were a bit more spread apart so parts of the thumb print landed on each page.
He assured us that everything was now in order and that I will get the one year visa, but there will still be some processing time. He also said that we don't have to come back, as they will just return it to my original travel agency who took the passport and application in the first place.
We were told that there are many more people in this situation and we heard last night at dinner that there seems to be some rumblings about a new boss and perhaps some new protocols being enforced, at least for a while before things may settle down again.
In the beginning when it didn't look promising, they did say not to worry about any overstay while they were holding the passport, as they would not create a problem for that kind of thing."
That is his report. As for Ouch Sopheak, I personally wouldn't have been very happy with her broadcasting my name all over the expats page with my passport #. I don't find that very professional. This is perhaps going to be a more common occurrence.
"It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both." ~ Machiavelli