I came to the Muktar’s office today to renew my passport. But all I found was Elvis…
His cat.
When he came back to his desk, the Mukhtar–a local official who notarizes official documents– told me a previous Beirut Mukhtar had a German Shepard and always kept him in the office.
Wouldn’t it be nice if more Lebanese officials had pets? Maybe they would be nicer to humans.
One thing is for sure, being a Mukhtar must be a decent line of work.
I had to pay 30,000LL just to get a passport renewal form filled out and signed by him, which took about four minutes. Here’s the receipt:
I then had to take the form to Liban Post along with a photo and 312,000 LL to get the passport renewed.
I asked the staff at Liban Post if I had paid the normal rate to the Mukhtar. They said some charge as low as 10,000 LL but that there was no fixed rate.
Mukhtar’s are elected officials so I wonder if they also get a salary in addition to collecting independently set fees. Either way, seems like a better paying deal than journalism!
Where can I apply?
