Updates: How To Apply For A Philippine Passport

The Department of Foreign Affairs has announced several improvements in the passport application system, including faster passport appointments, electronic payments and issuance of passports with 10-year validity. The announcement comes after the department experienced a huge backlog is passport issuance.

According to the Inquirer, applicants can now expect a shorter waiting time for appointments. At one point in 2017, applicants needed to wait for 3 months before their appointment. Now, the waiting time has been reduced to 6 weeks or 1 and a half months. As of Dec. 10, slots for January 2018 appointments have already been opened.

Aside from online appointments, another improvement that is coming in 2018 is electronic payment, which allows applicants to pay for their passport fees after they schedule their appointment. Also in 2018, 10-year validity passports will be issued, except for those under 18 years of age.

How To Apply For A Philippine Passport

1. Secure your appointment online. There is no escape from doing this, so if you do not have access to the Internet, you can either go to your nearest Internet cafe or ask a friend or a relative to help. Bear in mind, you need to have a working email address in order to do this. The appointment system will send you your appointment details through email. Go to www.passport.gov.ph/appointment to schedule your appointment.

2. Prepare your required documents.  Among the documents you need to bring with you are:

a. Printed application form (which you accomplished through the online appointment system)

b. Birth certificate (BC) in Security Paper issued by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), or Certified True Copy of BC issued by the Local Civil Registrar and duly authenticated by PSA. If unreadable, the BC must be transcribed by the Local Civil Registrar.

c. At least 1 valid identification document (Digitized SSS ID, GSIS e-card, Driver’s License, Senior Citizen’s ID, among others – see list of valid IDs)

d. At least 2 supporting documents or documents issued at least one year prior to application (PSA Marriage Contract, NBI Clearance, Police Clearance, Barangay Clearance, digitized Postal ID, among others – see list of supporting documents)

3. Show up for your appointment. Make sure to come to the consular office 30 mins. ahead of your appointment time.

Take note that you do not need to bring any photo IDs as your passport photo will be taken during the appointment.

Once inside the consular office, you will go through document checking, followed by getting biometrics information such as your fingerprints, then your digital signature and photo.

After this is done, you may pay the passport fee of P950 for regular processing (20 days) or P1,200 for express processing (10 days), if you have not yet done so through the online payment system.

Those who are exempted from going through the online appointment system are the following: Senior Citizen with Senior Citizen ID; Person with Disability (PWDs) with PWD ID or visible disability; Solo Parent with Valid Solo Parent ID; Pregnant women with medical certificate and Minors seven (7) years old and below, accompanied by a parent or guardian.