Fastest VISA application ever...!
I'm quite impressed with the Japanese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (at Persiaran Stonor, off Jalan Tun Razak).
I arrived there about 3:45pm (they close at 4:30pm), parked my car right outside the building, walked up to the guard house (to hand over my IC and get a pass), walked right into the VISA application office, handed over my passport (plus the application form and other relevant documents), got it all stamped and got a receipt telling me to come back in a couple of days time to collect my VISA.
And all this took less than 5 minutes. How efficient is that?
Now what really made my day was - as I departed the embassy and walked to my car - I could see the American Embassy from across the street, which had a huge queue of people waiting under the hot sun to get in. Most of whom had to park their cars about 100m away in the nearby empty plot of land.
Which is silly, of course.
If you've applied for a US visa before, you're probably aware of the amount of waiting you have to do just to collect the damn thing. Not only that, you also need to provide proof of employment, bank statements and go through some interview just to prove that you're not running off to their country to gain employment (or to blow stuff up).
All this is fine if you really want to visit that God forsaken country. But for the rest of us who are forced to go there because of business, it's a really annoying hassle.
Especially the condescending way in which the interviews are carried out. One particular bastard actually asked me a trick question to see if I would try to bullshit my way out of it.
Of course, I didn't know it was a bullshit question at first - and started to panic.
Aww, screw it... NIPPON EMBASSY BANZAI!!!
2 comments:
what was the trick question? i'd like to think of a snappy answer just in case, you know, in case i do get to go to the states, god knows why...
Bastard: So, you do camera reviews, huh?
Me: Yup.
Bastard: Good!
Me: Good.
Bastard: Can you tell me about the Olympus WX200?
Me: What, the C-200?
Bastard: No... the WX200.
Me: ?
Bastard: Well?
Me: Well, I've not heard of it before... *cold sweat*
Bastard: Okaaaayyyy.... How about the Canon C2600?
Me: The what?
Bastard: The C2600.
Me: Well... I... erm... I can tell you about the 300D instead.
Bastard: No, I asked about the C2600 - not the 300D.
Me: But... I've not heard of it.
Bastard: That's good cause it doesn't exist.
Me: ?
Bastard: If you had lied to me and talked about it, I would've rejected your visa application.
Ok... just imagine this. I've been waiting there all bloody afternoon. I just saw three people have their visa applications rejected.
Can you imagine how cheesed off I was when he said he was 'testing' me?
What if I was a doctor and his mum's in hospital. I go tell him "Sorry, mate - your mum's dead" and later go "Oh, I was just seeing if you were really her son. You passed!"
I've given him the official invitation letters from INTEL and an official letter from my company, which happens to be one of the biggest English papers in Malaysia.
Why the hell would Intel and The Star try to send some Chinese dude to the USA for vice activities, illegal labour or terrorism???
Wanker...
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