LETTER | Over the past year, I have been diligently learning how to apply for foreign workers and successfully helped a friend bring foreign workers into our country for employment. This time, I am learning how to renew a foreign worker's work permit, a separate procedure.
On Monday morning, I arrived in Putrajaya at 6am.
Due to a problem with the system login for updating foreign workers, I had to go to the immigration office personally. Although I was the first in line, I was informed that this issue falls under the jurisdiction of the Selangor immigration office.
In other words, I had to go to the immigration office in Selangor. However, according to an agent I inquired with, the Selangor immigration office is like hell, and to get work done there, you have to start queuing outside the building at 5am.
So today, I woke up at 3.30am and left the house at 4am. When I arrived at the building at 4.45am, it was still pitch black, and the square had four main entrances. Which line should I join to my advantage?
Keep running
Based on my understanding, the building has four floors, and the immigration office is located on the second and third floors. The department I needed to go to was on the second floor.
Therefore, I chose one of the lines at the entrance of the building. It was 5am then, and I was among the first three in line. When I was feeling excited, an agent who was queuing with me pointed out that queuing at the entrance of the building was just a warm-up.
Just because you are at the front now doesn't mean you will stay in the front later.
The agent advised me that when the doors of the four entrances open at 7.25am, I should remember to keep running, as fast as I can, to the door of the immigration office on the second floor.
He added that although the doors open at 7.25am, the security guards at each gate have different timings. If one of the doors opens a minute early or a minute late, the situation will change.
I felt very anxious as I waited in line from 5am until 7.25am.
Lost the race
When the doors finally opened, it was like a scene from 'Train To Busan', as if you are being chased by zombies. Run, run! But after reaching the second floor, the whole floor seemed huge. I ran towards anyone I saw, and everyone was out of breath. Where was the immigration office? I lost the race because one of the doors opened one minute early.
Yes, I had to join the queue again on the second floor. I received my number and got my issue resolved by 10am. By then, I was in the hundredth in the line.
The entire process was truly exhausting from 3.30am to 10am, especially when the building doors opened. It felt like playing a 'Zombie Game' where you must avoid getting bitten by zombies, so you can only run forward and can't look back.
Government, can you please stop torturing people like this? Can't you establish more separate stations for processing foreign workers in Selangor?
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
