In December I posted about getting a scan/photo of Parbhu's immigration pass. His wife, Ramdai had come to Fiji with him on the same boat. Our cousin had one immigration pass, but not the other. So, we set about trying to get a copy of it. We already knew the name of the boat, the date, the name of the passenger and even the passenger number (thanks to death and birth certificates that listed the info). You'd think it would be an easy thing to find.
First, we looked online. We knew the LDS church family history library has the microfilm that contains these records. But, it turns out, for no known reason, they don't allow you to 'check them out' from the main library. So, unless I take a trip to Salt Lake City, I'm not gonna see them.
So, we called Salt Lake. The people at the family history library were very friendly, but not helpful in the least. At first they didn't seem to understand the problem. They thought we needed help to order the film. Then they thought we needed help to find the film number. Then they thought maybe they could transfer us to some other department for help. The second department couldn't figure out our problem either and wondered why we were transferred there in the first place. An hour on the phone, remote computer support, and still no one could just take ten minutes, find the film, take a photo of it and e-mail it to us.
As a last resort, we e-mailed Fiji. The Fiji Archives were very helpful and nice. They found the info and returned our e-mail in less than a day. All we needed was a family member to pay the 60 cent finding fee and they'd e-mail us a copy. So, an uncle visited the archives and paid the fee for us.
Long story short, we now have the immigration pass for Ramdai, Parbhu's wife!
