{"id":139467,"date":"2024-01-04T17:11:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-05T00:11:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=139467"},"modified":"2024-01-04T17:11:50","modified_gmt":"2024-01-05T00:11:50","slug":"nic-and-passport-my-ordeal-at-sri-lanka-passport-office-uphill-battle-3-1-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2024\/01\/04\/nic-and-passport-my-ordeal-at-sri-lanka-passport-office-uphill-battle-3-1-24\/","title":{"rendered":"NIC and passport\u00a0-My ordeal at Sri Lanka Passport office\u00a0–\u00a0Uphill battle 3\/1\/24\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

\u00a0My son came for a holiday from the UK \u00a0after 8 years and wanted to renew\/obtain new dual passport which has expired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We went to get one day service at 8 am to the passport office <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handed over all the documents but the \u00a0NIC he had was issued several years later in 2015 hence they needed another letter from the NIC office that he did not have a NiC previously<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He went abroad when he was 8 where he did not have a NIC <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0At counter 17, the passport officer wanted a letter from the NIC office in the same building indicating that my son did not have a NIC previously ( this was never mentioned \u00a0anywhere)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0We went \u00a0to room 20 and handed over forms requesting the said letter to the officer \u00a0who \u00a0is handling the papers\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left office for half an hour after taking over the dossier and all were lamenting and grieving).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0Waited and waited and we were given another letter again by Room 20 \u00a0to go to the legal division of the NIC office on a different floor to get a written confirmation<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0I had \u00a0to limp and walk up again to get another \u00a0NIC copy to give to the legal Branch\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0The waiting time was four hours but a colleague promised to help to get it in one hour as we requested it asap\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The legal office promised to give the said letter in one hour and it never happened <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 We were waiting  and noted  that the  legal ladies walking in and out for tea may be for an early  lunch but our letter never came <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0After three hours \u00a0we got the letter after pestering \u00a0( we thought that we would never get it) we had \u00a0to go back and hand over the documents again to receiving passport counter 17 and to pay 20000 whopping rupees\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally handed over papers by 12.30<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Noon <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the evening I went to collect the passport with an authorization letter from my son<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the counter, I was told to get a Controller to Approve despite my son has signed and given to me\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I told the clerk firmly How am I going to find a controller at 6 pm <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He shouted and said to get it somehow ( <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0My son keeps telling me that he does not need a Dual passport! I told him that he should have one so that he can own some properties after we die!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 He said that he does not need any property because he may never come back <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crux of the matter is that our government servants \u00a0 should work efficiently and serve the people rather than blaming some corrupt politicians \u00a0(like HE said)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another incident <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My daughter wanted to get her dual<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Passport extended in UK and visited UK High Commission in June 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They charged a whopping 140 \u00a3 and sent papers to Colombo on June 24 and the new passport never came\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When reminded the clerk at HC had told her       If you know anybody in Cololmbo get him<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To follow up ) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had to go to the passport office with someone whom I knew\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 The passport office said that they were waiting for a copy of her British passport to include a statement that she is a dual citizen HC in London was keeping mum though<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was handed over I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0After that, I pushed the passport office in Colombo \u00a0and couriered back her passport<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I physically visited the Passport office with my colleague to help<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I told her that it was  couriered <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0When she \u00a0inquired from HC she \u00a0was informed that it was still in Colombo, (it was already lying on the counselor\u2019s table ) I found that it reached London \u00a0after I called the Counsellor from Colombo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was informed that my passport was delivered after four months\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What a mess!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE The High Commissioner should revamp the HC service in London where our own people get harassed all the time <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Over to you JB sir<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards

Dr Sarath Obeysekera<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Sarath Obeysekera \u00a0My son came for a holiday from the UK \u00a0after 8 years and wanted to renew\/obtain new dual passport which has expired. We went to get one day service at 8 am to the passport office  Handed over all the documents but the \u00a0NIC he had was issued several years later in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,116],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-139467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corruption-and-bribery","category-dr-sarath-obeysekera"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}