Illegal Kuli

Few days back while I was in Malaysia, I went to Asia Cafe to have my dinner. Half way through my dinner, the workers there ran like crazy. I thought there was a big fight going on until I saw officers with Imigresen written on their back. Those who had legitimate documents made a beeline and walked calmly to the officers.

After I finished my dinner, I had to walk past them. I was shocked to see that they were asked to squat while waiting for the officers to check their document. Come'on, didn't they queued properly and handed in their documents? You don't have to treat them that way right?

Actually I can relate to the foreigners because in a way I'm actually one of them. You see, when I went to Philippines and now New Zealand, I've always used a visitor visa instead of a business visa.

Why didn't I apply for a visa? Well, company usually wants us to fly to a country immediately so there's no time for that. Further more to apply for a business visa to NZ, we need to send in the application to the NZ embassy either in Singapore or Sydney.

While I was coming into Auckland this time, my colleague went through a lot of trouble. It took us almost 2 hours to clear immigration and customs.

I certainly hope that I won't be blacklisted from entering a country, subsequently being barred from other country.

Sidenote:
I spoke to US boss about dates. As I would go there much later than he expected, Canada was out of the picture as they need me there within this month. He said most probably I'll be in Chicago. This feeling is the same like when I joined the company, they can't make up their mind on where to send me to.