The Malaysian High Commission in Singapore has been seeing persistent long queues for passport renewal.
In response to the complaints, the consulate allegedly stopped accepting walk-ins on Monday (22 Mar), turning over 400 people away.
On Monday (22 Mar), the Malaysian High Commission stopped accepting walk-in passport renewals, reports The Straits Times (ST).
However, there seems to be conflicting accounts of when the walk-in suspension commenced.
According to screenshots of an email from the consulate, walk-ins apparently closed from 18 Mar 2021.
Nonetheless, over 400 people in line were turned away on Monday (22 Mar).
According to 8World News, some of them had started queuing from midnight.
The sudden move understandably caused frustration among those in line, who claimed they received no prior notice.
Many of those in line reportedly resorted to walk-ins due to unsuccessful online renewals. Others also faced problems when they called the consulate for assistance.
Some even applied for leave to line up at the embassy as their residential permits are expiring soon, reports 8World News.
The Malaysian High Commission did, however, place a box outside its doors for applicants to drop in their forms.
MS News has reached out to the Malaysian mission for clarification on the matter.
While closing walk-ins will likely alleviate the congestion, we hope Malaysians who urgently need to renew their passports will still be able to do so.
We hope the High Commission will soon come up with a smoother and more convenient process for Malaysians to go about their passport applications.
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