October 02, 2009

It's a breeze with KiPPas

KiPPas? No it's not a fan :-) KiPPas is the acronym for Kios Pembaharuan Pasport, aka passport renewal kiosk. KiPPas was first available in March 2006 at the immigration office in Pusat Bandar Damansara. With KiPPas, one can renew one's passport in just two hours.

I first learnt about KiPPas when looking for information on documents required for passport renewal, as my passport expires in a few days time, and I need a new one to apply for a Canadian visa. But the few websites that Google Malaysia returned on my search query wrote about the availability of KiPPas at the immigration office in Pusat Bandar Damansara. As none mentioned about the availability of KiPPas at the immigration office in Terminal 3 Subang where I was planning to visit, I was prepared to renew my passport the conventional way at the counter.

Anyway, as I was driving into the carpark of the immigration office in Terminal 3 yesterday, I was pleasantly surprised to see the signage "KIPPAS" next to the main office. I made my way to the room and found a lone KiPPas machine, and an immigration officer next to it, assisting a gentleman with his application. The officer was so familiar with the machine and he instinctively knew which button to press at each stage of the application process. My guess is that an officer is stationed there to assist and expedite the process, so that there would not be any bottle neck resulting from people not being able to operate the machine, unlike at Pusat Bandar Damansara where everything is self-service. I was second in line and within a few minutes, my application was completed, and the machine generated a receipt with the instruction to return in two hours to collect my passport. Easy peasy - I think I probably spent less than 15 minutes, from the point of entering, till exiting the carpark.

Note: Even if you need to operate the machine yourself, it is extremely easy to navigate, with an option of using English or Malay. It’s like operating a cheque deposit machine, with detailed and precise instructions provided on the screen. For a more detailed guide on using the machine, see here and here.

I went home and got some housework done before returning to the immigration office, and made my way to Counter #13 to obtain a queue number for passport collection. Within five minutes, my number was called and voila, I've got my new passport. Now isn't it such a breeze to renew your passport with KiPPas?

Now I'd have given full marks to the Immigration Department for their much improved service level, until I noticed an omission in my passport - nothing to do with KiPPas, but rather human carelessness. I checked my new passport to ensure all details were correct. When one renews one's passport, the old passport details would be printed on the second last page but there was none on mine. I alerted the officer at the counter, and she promptly took my passport to rectify it. When she passed me back my passport some five minutes later, I was appalled to find the issuance date of my old passport was wrong. Again, I had to ask them to rectify it.

So that page now is disfigured like this, with the printed information at the top being voided, and the corrected details countersigned by an immigration officer, accompanied by the immigration stamp. Well, I sure hope no complications will arise when I travel in the future.




Anyway, I still think that the Immigration Department deserves a pat on their shoulder for their much improved service. I found this chart on the time taken for passport renewal in Malaysia since 1957 and the last few years have really seen much improvement.


7 comments:

Liew said...

So u can't get away from travelling to Canada? Or you also want to go ;)?

michelle@mybabybay said...

Glad to see Malaysia going somewhere with technology.

Kit said...

Interesting esp the last progress chart LOL

ryeli said...

wah, didn't know such a thing exist and thanks so much for sharing. i'll need to renew mine year end and also do my no.2's passport then.

yea, guess u're going 2 canada soon eh. hope u have stocked up your supply. btw, i've succeeded in bringing my ebm back from bkk on the plane with me in my icebox! thanks for sharing ya!

Cynful Pleasure said...

yes, we got to give a pat to the immigration on the passport issuance!

A Mom's Diary said...

WK - a little bit of both

Michelle/Kittycat/Cynthia - quite impressive I must say

Syn - for new application (for your baby #2), you still need to queue the conventional way. KiPPas can only be used for those with a existing passport.

Yup, have stocked up quite a bit. Should be enough to last her for the duration of my trip. Will still work hard to pump more from now till then.

They allowed you to carry the EBM onboard?

ryeli said...

yes they did. when i checked in at the counter, the lady said i cant bring in ice gel and asked me to check with the custom when i enter the gate. at the gate, they stopped and questioned me. asked for my boarding pass and i waited like several minutes or so for her to come back and when she did, she said "ok, can go!". i didnt even ask whether it was ok with the ice gel packs.

when i was boarding the plane, one of the ground staff asked what's inside the icebox and when i said breastmilk, he jst let thru. i kinda assume it was due to the flight i'm taking - airasia and then 2 KL - heck, i'm not complaining! :D ...will be my first and last. will blog abt it when i can at my blog. will be my 1st and last, i dunno how u traveling moms do it but i totally salute you all! good luck with your trip!