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How to Renewing Driver's Licence for Expats in Brunei

Car In Brunei

Feb 10^th, 2011 at 10:08am

About Brunei Darussalam, When you're living in Brunei Darussalam, If you have a valid driver's licence from a country where Brunei recognised the Driving license, you could get a Brunei driving licence without going through a driving test.

The driver's licence for expats are from 1-3 years.

You must have your old driver's licence and a valid Brunei IC.

Avoid going at the end of the month. There would be long queues. The best time to go is is from the 10th-20th of the month. Today would be a good day to go renew your licence. There would be no crowd.

Driving Around Brunei

Go to the Land Transport Department next tothe Beribi roundabout.

1. After entering the main entrance, turn left into the "Kantin". This was previous the canteen but has been converted to where you register your renewal.  Note that the ladies there are handicap verbally. It is refreshing to see that the government are employing handicaps to work in the front line.
Get a number from the machine and then go directly to any available staff. Pass them your old licence and they would enter it into the computer.
2. Go to the big rooms with many counters at the other end of the building and wait for them to call your number.
3. Pay $10 for a year renewal and you are done.

4.  If you want 3 years ($30)renewal, you would need to request for a form. Go to the secutiry desk to get a pass then proceed on to Room 5. The officer there will need to sign the form before you can renew for 3 years.
Go back to the counter where you were provided the form and pay $30 and you are done. 

 

Brunei Road

Source
Thanks To JewelleBlog.com for Pictures :
http://jewelleblog.com/

New Brunei Darussalam Citizens

Information About Brunei Citizenship, Brunei Darussalam has granted citizenship rights to 294 individuals share living in Brunei Darussalam, who received their Brunei Darussalam Nationality Certificate yesterday afternoon during the 29th Citizenship Certificate Awards ceremony at the Bridex International Conference 'Centre, in Jerudong.
The ceremony was organised by the Immigration and National Registration Department, Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).

The guest of honour was Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Hj Awang Badaruddin bin Pengarah Dato Paduka Haji Othman, Minister of Home Affairs.

Also in attendance were members of the Legislative Council, deputy permanent secretaries of MoHA, heads of department, deputies, senior officers of MoHA and Penghulus from four districts.

The new citizens swore an oath of allegiance and undivided loyalty to the country and His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan ofBrunei Darussalam and his successors and renounce all loyalty to any country, state or sovereign nation.

It was followed by the singing of the national anthem.

Pehin Dato Seri Setia Hj Awang Badaruddin, in a speech, said those who are granted with Brunei citizenship must swear that they will show undivided loyalty to His Majesty.

Being loyal to this country means fully accepting Brunei as their sovereign country, which reigns under an absolute monarchy, and to uphold the country's philosophy of Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIB).

He added that in the last 42 years from 1962 to 2010 (under the Citizenship Law Act 1962) a total of 42,370 people have been granted Brunei citizenship at an average of 865 individuals every year. Of the total figure, 21,522 (56 per cent) are Malays, 11, 432 (27 per cent) Chinese, 5,945 (14 per cent) from Borneo local tribes and the rest 3,471 from other nationalities.

About 60 per cent (25,386) of the total figure are/were children whose parents or guardians are/were Bruneians and most of these children are/were adopted since they were babies.

The number of women granted citizenship as their spouse is/was Bruneian stands at 8,988 (21 per cent), with 5,164 being Malays, 1,999 Chinese, 1,117 from Borneo local tribes and 708 from other foreign nations.

The minister said the granting of Brunei citizenship will continue under the Citizenship Law Act and this also means protecting the country's interest in the long run.

Furthermore, there are some foreign citizens who have stayed in Brunei for a long time and have applied and gained Brunei Permanent Residents (PR) status.

Some of them have been granted citizenship after fulfilling some requirements.

Until December 2010, about 50,000 applicants have been issued Permanent Resident status with entry permit to enter Brunei under the Immigration Act Chapter 10 and Residence Permit under 1956 Immigration Law (No 23 of 1956 law).

Some of them have been awarded Brunei citizenship either through registration or naturalisation.

The MoHA is now in the process to quicken the citizenship process to Permanent Residents, especially for the `stateless'.

Although these processes will be enhanced, the strict procedure in assessing the applications will be continued in Brunei's interest.

Therefore, the consideration of granting Permanent Residents with Brunei citizenship will not be influenced by their economic or professional contribution, the minister added.

Among the 294 recipients, 137 received their citizenship certificates under Chapter 5 (1), as they were Permanent Residents born in Brunei Darussalam and reached 18 years of age and held entry permit not less than 12 years since it was issued and had continuously lived in the country for not less than two years before applying for citizenship.

Under Chapter 5(6), a total of 127 recipients were granted Brunei citizenship.

Under this Chapter, the citizenship is granted for wives whose spouses were Bruneian citizens and should have continuously lived in the country for not less than three years and must have remained married to the Bruneian spouse when the application was mate.

Under Chapter 8(1), citizenships are granted for permanent residents who are born outside Brunei and reached 18 years of age but hold entry permits and continuously stay in Brunei for not less than 20 years.

Under this chapter, 30 recipients were granted Brunei Darussalam citizenship yesterday.

Aside from these chapters, among other requirements to acquire a Brunei Darussalam citizenship, one must have a good command of the Malay Language and customs and especially have strong knowledge in Malay Islamic Monarchy (MIB).

Mr Fang Tech Chi, 64, who got his citizenship yesterday, said, "I felt grateful and happy when I was finally granted Brunei citizenship.

I applied for it 30 years ago, sat for the written test three times and today I finally earned my citizenship rights.

"Before the test, I did some reading by referring to Malay newspapers and listened to Malay radio stations and used Malay in my daily conversation just to improve my Malay Language and my understanding of MIB philosophy," he added.

In an effort to enhance the understanding of their roles and responsibilities as Bruneian citizens based on MIB, the Immigration Department had organised briefings from various agencies such as Adat Istiadat Department, Information Department, Language and Literature Bureau and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The briefings were conducted in phases before the citizenship ceremony.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
January 25, 2011

Brunei Holidays : Taman Hutan Berakas

Holidays in Brunei, Taman Rekreasi Hutan Simpanan Berakas (Berakas Recreational Park) Brunei Darussalam, trailing the jungle than pass through the campaign huts area, jogging track and finally reach the beach....This park is really an interesting place for you to relax, jogging, hiking, campaign, picnic and whatever...You won't regret if u come over this place. I love the scenery and the fresh air here.

 love this evergreen park

 feel relax

 uphill...downhill..here we're go the jungle

 Jungle track to the Berakas beach

 Berakas Beach

 sunset in Berakas Beach

source :

http://lizakbar71.blogspot.com/2010/12/jungle-tracking-at-taman-rekreasi-hutan.html

Pekan Bangar in Brunei Darussalam

  

Pekan Bangar 

Pekan Bangar is Temburong Town In Brunei Darussalam. It is the second largest district out of four districts in Brunei Darussalam. For further information you can surf about its geography. The ticket fare to Temburong cost for an adult is $6, senior citizen (Warga Emas) is $5 a student is $5 and a child below 12 is $3. This fare is only one way trip to visiting Pekan Bangar Brunei...so you have to pay with the same amount if you want to return to Bandar Seri Begawan...

Pekan Bangar

Pekan Bangar

Pekan Bangar

Pekan Bangar River

Rainbow in Pekan Bangar

Welcome to Temburong

Pekan Bangar river

Pekan Bangar highway

source :
http://lizakbar71.blogspot.com/2010/12/trip-to-pekan-bangar-temburong.html

Brunei Tours Tips

Your most economical option to visit Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei from Manila is most likely Cebu Pacific, which frequently has promo airfares to Brunei. The caveat is that flights are not daily so you have to plan your Brunei trip carefully, and you most likely have to take days off from work.

Assuming you take the same flight schedule we did, you will have the following itinerary:

• Depart Manila on Saturday, 11:45 PM, arrive in Bandar Seri Begawan on Sunday, 1:40 AM
• Depart Bandar Seri Begawan on Wednesday, 2:25 AM, arrive in Manila on Wednesday, 4:20 AM

The schedule is tricky and you have to be very careful when planning your Brunei Tour around this itinerary.

Tip #1: book accommodations correctly
Arrival in Brunei is on Sunday at 1:40 AM, which means you still need to sleep that night. This qualifies as a Saturday check-in (albeit a very late one). Departure from Brunei is on Wednesday at 2:25 AM, which means that at around midnight, you should be heading to the airport already. As such, you don't need to book a room for Tuesday night anymore (otherwise, you pay for a room you won't really use). Given this, make sure you check into your hotel on Saturday and check out on Tuesday. That's a total of three nights - Sat, Sun, and Mon - which makes sense because you will spend 3 full days there (Sun, Mon, and Tue). A group of Pinoys checked into the same hotel and they made the mistake of not booking a room for Saturday night, and no standard rooms were available which caused them a significant amount of hassle.

Tip #2: if you are on a budget, stay at the Jubilee Hotel
It's a very basic hotel, probably 2-star, with basic amenities and no room service. However, the Jubilee Hotel Brunei is pretty cheap - about BN$70 or P2,400 a night - so if you are not fussy and just need a place to stay, this hotel is for you. The biggest selling point, though, is the free airport transfer: transportation is provided to the guests during pick-up (yes, even at 1:40 AM!) and departure. Given that taxis to and from the airport cost about BN$30, you save $60 or about P2,000. That means you effectively spend "only" P1,700 a night on accommodations. That's a steal in my book. The hotel also has free wifi access.

Tip #3: buy a travel book and bring it with you
It isn't too difficult to get around in Brunei tours so you are better off spending about P1,000-P1,500 on a good travel book instead of spending big bucks on a tour. I find Brunei tours to be quite limiting in terms of flexibility. Figuring out what you want to do when you want to do it allows you to explore the city more, and it gives you a lot more time to take the photos you want. You could also read the internet to prepare for your Brunei Tour and mark the places you want to visit, but I prefer having a book with me so I can read and re-read the details of the places I want to go. It also helps a lot when your plans change and you have to figure out what else to do and how to get there.

Tip #4: Proposed agenda
We share what we did in each of our three days in Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei. But there were things we wanted to see that we were unable to visit. As such, assuming health and weather conditions permit, here is my proposed itinerary:

Day 1 (Sunday)

• Late morning: Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. Try to climb the stairs of the minaret to see a great view of the city, or take the elevator (we didn't get to do this).
• Mid afternoon: Jame'asr Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque.
• Early evening: Jerudong Park Playground. This amusement park is closed on Mon and Tue, so Sunday will be your only chance to visit. (We weren't able to go here since we were too tired.) It might be hard to get a taxi from the Park when you are there, so try booking the transportation from your hotel.
• Note: if you are Catholic and want to hear mass, you can go to the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. You can catch the 9:30 AM mass if you wake up early enough, but if you miss it, you can still catch the 5:30 PM mass.

Day 2 (Monday)

• Early morning: Royal Regalia Museum. If you are interested in buying souvenirs, this is actually the best place to do it. A lot of items carried in their souvenir shops like post cards and magnets are cheaper than anywhere else and they have some inexpensive shirts that you can't find anywhere else. Try to go the museum at around 830-9 AM so you can leave by 1030-11 AM.
• Late morning/Noon: take a trip to Seria to visit the Brunei oil fields. The bus terminal is in Jalan Cator and buses to Seria leave every 40 minutes. The trip itself takes about 2 hours. If you catch the 11 or 11:40 AM bus, you should get to Seria by 2 PM at the latest. Once you are in Seria, you can take photos of oil fields from afar and the Billionth Barrel Monument up close. You can also visit the Oil and Gas Discovery Centre. It is closed on Tuesday hence my recommendation to visit it on Monday. You can spend a couple of hours here before heading back to Bandar Seri Begawan in time for dinner or maybe some more souvenir shopping.

Day 3 (Tuesday)

• Mid-to-late morning: Kampong Ayer water tour (including a trip to the mangroves for a backyard view of Istana Nurul Iman)
• After lunch: You have the option of dropping by Istana Nurul Iman for a quick photo op outside the gates. If you don't feel the need for this, you can instead move quickly to
• Mid-afternoon: Empire Hotel and Country Club. Take photos while the sun is still up in the afternoon. You could even have dinner here before heading back to the city center. Make sure you check out one of the souvenir shops here since they also offer some items like shirts and pewter mugs that cannot be found elsewhere.
• Evening: you could make a return trip to the main mosques so you can take photos of them in a different light.

The important thing to remember is that some of the sights are not open daily, so make sure you map out your itinerary to take into account days and times of the day when these tourist spots can be visited.

source :
http://christianpobre.blogspot.com/2010/11/brunei-travel-tips-and-suggested.html

How to Renew or Make New I/C in Brunei

Oct 26^th, 2010 at 2:59pm  

About Brunei Darussalam I/C , When I'm Living in Brunei Darussalam, I am sharing my experience in renewing IC at the Brunei Immigration office in Bandar Seri Begawan to make life easier for you expats in Brunei.

Things to Bring
1. Passport
2. Photocopy of your passport photo page with your details and the page where your employment pass is stamped on.
3. BND20.00 for the fee.
4.Remember to bring along a pen

Steps:

1. As you walk through the main door at the immigration building, turn left immediately into the I/C section.
2. Walk straight to the counter and ask for a form. Fill up the form and submit it to the person at the counter. You should be given a number. It should be a number starting with 2xxx if you are a foreigner. Citizens and PR would get a number starting from 1xxx.
3. Look at the electronic display queuing number. Look only at the number starting from 2xxx. Look at how far down the queue is your turn. If the current number is 2001 and your number is 2101 then you are 100 away from the next person.

4. It takes about 1 hour to go through a queue of 50 persons. So if you are 100 person away from the current number then you should go off to do some other things like shopping and come back in 2 hours. There is no point sitting there for 2 hours.

5. There are 10 counters of which Counters 6-10 are for foreigners and the other Counters 1-5 are for locals. Usually there are lot less locals renewing their IC so the local queue would be empty by around 10:45am. When the local queue is empty, they would then allow foreigner to come into counter 1-5 and speed up the queue.

6. At the counter, your fingerprints and photograph will be taken electronically. You will need to pay $20.00 to the officer. You will be given a temporary IC which is also your receipt to pick up the IC when it is ready in 2 weeks.

7. Go back to the same office after 2 weeks. Submit your temporary IC/receipt to the main counter at the IC section. Your name will be called and you wil be given your new IC. Occassionally your I/C may not be ready within the 2 weeks and you would be asked to go back again.
So what I suggest is that if you don't have an urgent need for an I/C, pick it up after 4 weeks. 

Source :
http://forum.bruclass.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1288076390