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And You Thought Your Passport Took Forever

Given all those new passport woes during 2007, we're sure plenty of you have sob stories about how long it took to get a new passport. But spare a thought for Maria Kostova in Macedonia who had to wait more than 20 years to finally get her right to travel.

Part of Maria's problem was she was born in 1898, and the Macedonian authorities had misplaced the birth records from the nineteenth century. So when she applied for a passport back in the 80s, they said she didn't officially exist and couldn't have one.

Recently, the Macedonians unearthed an old archive and told Maria they could now issue a passport. Whether or not a 110-year-old woman still plans to go abroad on vacation is a question the authorities haven't stopped to consider, and Maria simply said "It's a nice surprise." We're not gonna print what we'd say if we'd had to wait 20 years for a passport.

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· Woman, 109, Gets Passport [Ananova]
· HOWTO: Get A Passport Fast [Jaunted]

[Photo: lilit]