The story of one Saudi passport

Saudi Passport

around 8 months ago, I got a job offer to work in Malaysia for two years .. I took this job and as a normal procedure I applied for a long term visa .. well, I found that my passport will expire in 14 months at that time and there is no way to get a two years visa .. I said to my-self let’s try to renew the passport .. looks like an easy solution right ? of course not ! .. nothing was easy .. when I went to renew the passport they said we can’t do anything unless the passport is at least 6 months to expire .. GUYS !! I’m leaving the country for two years !!.. The expected famous answer was “Sorry we can’t do anything” and they said later you can renew it from the embassy there in Malaysia .. Well, I guess I have no other solution .. I said let’s apply for 1 year visa and later we will see what’s gonna happen .. and I wish If I didn’t say that ..

Recently, around two weeks ago I’ve been assigned to work in Brunei ( Near East of Malaysia ) and this job will be for 12-18 months .. and AGAIN I need a new visa now (It’s very hard for Saudis to get any visa nowadays) .. I totally forgot about the expiration date issue of my passport .. I realized that when my application for a long term visa was rejected .. the passport will expire in around 7 months .. and I can’t go to back to Saudi just to renew the passport .. so the only available hope is to visit “The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia” .. The name sounds cool ha ? ok, Before I go there I had a phone call with them .. and to be honest the guy I called him was very gentle .. I explained my situation and he said just come and everything will be fine .. FINALLY .. and the truth is, nothing is that simple in Saudi .. I talked to my manager about this issue and I took two days off to fly to Kuala Lumpur ..

The day came .. I’m in front of the “The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia” .. The first thing I did is to ask about the guy I talked with .. Unfortunately he was just covering for the guy who is responsible of renewing the passport .. ok don’t panic Ahmad !! I went to the other guy .. I explained everything again .. directly he said NO !! .. What ?? I came all the way here and you are saying it’s not possible ? he said the law states that they can’t extend the passport’s validity unless there is an extremely urgent situation .. MAN !! my situation is what then !? he said why didn’t you renew the passport in Saudi ? why did you wait till the last minute ? .. Honestly at that time I was about to lose my temper .. but I tried to talk with him again .. I’m working here and there is no possibility that I can go to Saudi in the near future .. I showed him my visa .. he said are you working here !? .. WHAT ?? were you listening to me when I was telling you my story ?? .. he said ok I’ll give you one year I can’t give you more .. one year is better than nothing ..

I’m now in Labuan .. we will see what will happen regarding this visa =D

Some point:

• Ahmad Gazzaz, he was so helpful in the embassy .. he even called the ambassador personally to help me .. wish all people like him
• The same story will happen again in 20 months from now =p
• Kuala Lumpur is awesome !!
• The pic was taken by the great photographer MOH