It seems that women in Saudi Arabia met and decided to unify their pregnancy schedules, so that they all give birth on a specific day of the year, Nov. 6 to be exact. I sort of think this shows solidarity and compassion!
But to start from the beginning, in passports issued in Saudi Arabia, the birth date slot is always filled with Nov. 6 and then the year which in most cases is accurate or close enough. In the name slot written in English, there is always at least one spelling mistake. I noticed that every time I fill a landing card I start writing my actual birth date and the right spelling of my name, only to remember seconds later that this is not the way my official document has it. So I have to go back again, cross the right info and write the wrong one. The funny thing is my birth certificate has the right details, but my passport does not. I always thought that it was an unintended mistake until I discovered that almost everybody has the same problem.
Someone pointed out to me that this unified date was used in the beginning for people who do not have recorded information. But now, in the 21st century, where all information has been computerized, the only reason for filing wrong information is laziness, a malaise that seems to be deep-rooted in our public offices.
As funny as they sound sometimes and often annoying, these mistakes also have a much serious effect on some people. A woman told me that she had to retire four years before her actual retiring age, 60, because there was a mistake in her birth certificate that she could not change, and thus she had to accept the fact that she must leave her job at a time she needed it most. In this woman’s case, her father filled her details and it was way long before any systematic records system was in place. But then there are other cases where people had to accept the fact that they are officially several years older than they actually are, just because some lazy official forgot or could not check the actual date in their birth certificate. The result is that lots of people have conflicting information in their different certificates and official papers, in school and college certificates, on their ID, and in their passports.
If that was a problem before, couldn’t someone start a correction system so people would actually know the right spelling of their names and stop celebrating a unified birthday with everyone else in the Kingdom?
