Today, Michael's passport went through the wash and was destroyed. No blame is to be aportioned here, my friends - it is just one of life's little jokes.
What to do?
Michael also has an Irish passport - he needs to go to Paris next week for business - but one of the tricky things about Kuwait is that you cannot leave the country without immigration checking your entry stamp in your passport. This is because, here in Kuwait, if you have any debts - speeding fines, or any other debt that is overdue - you will not be allowed to leave. Someone told me that they know of people who had no idea that they owed money - got to the airport and were refused exit. It may well be that Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are the only countries in the world where this is the case.
So poor old Michael has to go through a long and painful process of filling out long forms in order to replace his passport. It has to be couriered to Canberra, and once reissued, he will then have to get his residency stamp again.
The moral of the story? Guard your passports with your life - it is probably the one most important thing you need to have, especially in certain countries where processes are slow.
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