20211029 : Octopus
Yesterday I received my new Australian passport. The earlier one had expired. There was no hurry to get it done really - I won't be going anywhere soon 😂 However, every other form of ID like drivers licence, Medicare, etc had expired as well in the last 3 years and a good friend advised to have a valid form of ID, decided to get it done. Normally, its quite impossible to get a passport without a physical appearance in the consulate. Many emails later., Explaining my situation many times and crossing many hurdles, they realised I cannot speak as well to have a call. I was then shifted to WhatsApp chat with their consular officer in Chennai. Lots of back and forth later, and a video call with him, they agreed to use a loophole in the system that they had opened up for folks who were stranded and couldn't go to the consulate due to covid travel restrictions. However, this route could only be taken for Australian residents and the online application would not take inputs for addre