Three incidents I would like to share with readers that happened in front of me at the Jeddah airport.

An Indonesian carried his new passport to the immigration office for “exit stamp” prior to his fingerprinting. The officer looked at the passport and asked for the old one. He mentioned that the old passport was lost and that’s why the new passport was issued. He bluntly refused to accept the new passport or discuss it further.

When asked what should we do, he answered nothing. In the second instance, a Bangladeshi went to the same officer carrying his new passport and a copy of his old passport. The officer looked at the copy of the old passport and asked where is the first stamp of entry. There was none. He again refused to accept or discuss the matter any further. When asked what to do now, he again answered nothing.

In the third incident, a Pakistani who was having both his new passport as well as his old one with all the pages intact, was also sent back because the computer did not have any information about him, despite the fact that the passport carried the stamp. When asked, he again refused to answer. Why set a deadline when the procedures are so complicated and those handling the situation are not serious in resolving them? — Alwee Attas, Jeddah