I just got back from the Department of Foreign Affairs office an hour ago. I have been out of the house since 6:30am, an ungodly hour for anyone working nights, just so I can be there in time for my 8:00am appointment. The entire process was quick, and I was out of the building by 8:30am.
So how was I able do this?
First, I made an online appointment through the DFA’s website. This is the most important step if you don’t want to wait for hours at the DFA. Notice that there are two choices: one for the recently introduced biometric passport and one is for the machine readable passport. If you are not traveling within the next 10 weeks, you’re okay to make an appointment for the biometric passport. If you are traveling within the next 10 weeks, I suggest you apply for the machine readable passport.
The reason behind this is that the DFA will only process 100 biometric passport applications per day, and this 100 is only for those who made an appointment online. When I tried to make an appointment last week, the earliest date that they can schedule me is October 14, which would not work for me, since I’ll be going out of the country again before then. So I went back to the DFA website and made an appointment for the machine readable passport. I got into the September 14 slot, at 8:00am to 9:00am.
It is important to be at the DFA office within the time that has been allotted to you, else they will not let you inside. By the way, when going to the DFA, ignore all the touts loitering out in the streets, and even near the gates of the DFA. Ignore, ignore, IGNORE. You don’t need any of their services, as DFA has everything inside their compound, even a photo booth.
Before I go on, here are the things you need to bring with you when you go to the DFA to renew your passport:
- The print out of your DFA appointment confirmation. The guards will not let you in if you do not have this.
- Your old passport. If your passport is still the old brown passport issued prior to May 1, 1995, you need to bring supporting documents that shows your complete middle name.
- Photocopies of your passport pages. Copies of the inside front and back cover, the amendments page, and the latest departure and arrival stamps are needed.
- At least four passport-sized photos. Two photos will have to be attached to the form, while a third photo will be submitted to the officer at the last step.
- A completed passport application form. This can be downloaded from here. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to open the file. Be sure to print the form in a legal sized-paper (8×13inches). The DFA will not accept it some parts of the form are missing or distorted. If you have no access to a printer, you can just get a form at the basketball court right across the DFA gates.
- Ballpen. Either black or blue. No pinks, reds or greens, please.
- Adhesive. Glue or paste or double sided tape, whatever’s your fancy. This is for attaching your photos to the form.
- Wet tissue. For cleaning up your thumbs after affixing your thumbmark. You’d need to do this twice.
Steps in renewing your Philippine passport at the DFA:
- From the entrance, proceed to Gate 2 for passport renewal. If you do not have the application form yet, go to the basketball court and pick up an application form from the Information booth (right across the entrance). Complete the form, attach your photos and stamp it with your thumbmark.
- After completing the form, go out of the court and head to Gate 2. This is the gate for passport renewals. Since you made an appointment online, you can line up at windows 1 through 4. You will need to present your documents here for checking, and confirmation of your appointment. If you want to expedite the processing of your passport (normal processing takes 14 working days, express processing takes 7 working days), tell the officer here.
- Once your old passport has been invalidated and your documents verified, you must then go to the auditorium to pay the passport renewal fee.
- After paying, you must line up again for the final step. The officer will encode your details to the computer, and you will be asked to verify the information. After verifying, you will be asked for another passport photo, to sign another document and to affix your thumbmark once more.
- That’s it.
You would need to go back to the DFA office once more to pick up your passport. But if you don’t have the time or don’t want the hassle of going back just to pick up your passport, you can authorize the courier to deliver it to your doorstep instead. If you want to take this option, go back to the basketball court and take your pick among the three courier services all vying for your business. Both LBC and Air21 charge Php100 pesos for deliveries, while 2Go charges Php99. All the courier services take 1 day to deliver. This means if your passport is released on September 22, it will be delivered to you by September 23.
Not that wasn’t so bad, was it? Since a personal appearance is required for ALL passport applications, there really isn’t much need to have your passport renewed through an agency or Pilipinas Teleserv. There are also plenty of signs at the DFA office, so you can’t lose your way from one step to the next (unless you’re Ryoga Hibiki).
By the way, in the appointment confirmation notice that I received from the DFA for the biometric passport, they said, “your picture will be taken by the ePassport processor so we suggest that you wear a decent attire with collar at the date of your application.” So does that mean there’s no need to bring a passport photo? I tried calling the DFA office, but I can’t get through (and I stupidly forgot to ask while I was there earlier, doh). If you have any other questions or inquiries about passport renewal, call the DFA passport information (Manila) at 556-4081 or 556-4082.
UPDATE (November 10, 2009): Turns out you do not need to bring a passport photo when you apply for a biometric or an e-passport, since they will be taking your photo at the DFA. This mean you have to be wearing proper attire when you go. Earl has a comprehensive guide on how to renew your Philippine passport to an e-passport in his blog. I suggest you visit it, as he noted that there are differences in renewing to a machine readable passport and renewing to a biometric passport.
UPDATE: Some information about biometric passports and validity of the green passport.
What is an e-passport? What is biometrics?
The answer comes from the DFA website:
An ePassport is a passport which features microchip technology. An integrated circuit (chip) within its pages contains the data that are essential in verifying the identity of the passport holder. These data include the personal data found on the data page of the passport, the biometrics of the passport holder, the unique chip identification number, and a digital signature to verify the authenticity of the data stored on the chip.
The chip technology allows the information stored in an ePassport to be read by special chip readers at a close distance.
Biometrics are the unique and measurable physical characteristics of an individual that include face recognition, fingerprints, and iris scans.
The Philippine Electronic Passport (or Philippine ePassport) uses the digital image of the passport photograph that can be used with face recognition technology to verify the identity of the passport holder.
It captures the fingerprints of the passport holder, for identification using the Automated Fingerprint Verification System (AFIS).
Source: DFA.gov.ph
How true is it that they will no longer honor the old green passports even if you still have up to 2012 to use it?
Again, from the DFA website:
Previously issued passports (MRP and non-MRP) are valid until their expiry. It is a good practice to make sure your passport is valid at least six months before intended date of travel to avoid any inconvenience.
For any other questions, head on over to the FAQ section over at the DFA website.
Popularity: 22% [?]
Posted on September 14, 2009
Filed under Philippines, Preparation
Tags: dfa manila, dfa passport appointment, machine readable passport, passport renewal, philippine biometric passport, philippine passport
Visited 6625 times, 73 so far today
Haha. Tnx tnx for this. Mukhang kelangan ko ng magpa renew ng passport really soon
Go for the biometric passport na Ferdz if you have time
Pa-schedule na ngayon habang maaga!
Hi Nina, this is a very helpful post
I’m curious though, is the biometric passport the green one? Or are there two kinds of machine-readable passports [the current one?] Thanks!
Am just curious as to what is the difference between the MRP and the biometric passport? 1 year valid nalang ang passport ko so I need one soon…
There is no biometric passport available in Singapore yet though.
teeyah: The green is the old old passport, replaced by the maroon machine-readable passport in 2007. The new biometric passport is also maroon, I think
Mr Whattaworld: I think sa DFA Manila palang available yung biometric passport. Di ba you’re coming home naman sa December? Pa-schedule ka na sa DFA, para maka-apply ka when you come home
The biometric passport contains a chip that contains your biometric data (unique and measurable physical characteristics of an individual that include face recognition, fingerprints, and iris scans)
Thank you for your reply, Nina
I tried to schedule an appointment online before going to DFA couple of weeks ago but the site is down so i ended up waisting my time in DFA for 8 hours.. I just got my passport two days ago.. its the maroon one but not the biometrics enabled version..
Melo: Eew, 8 hours. I’ve no patience for that. But at least you got your passport na di ba?
Galing. Should come in handy for when I renew my passport!
i love how this article covers all the basics, nina
it is exactly what many people need to read before securing their passport renewals as unfortunately common sense isn’t so common these days :/
Sumthinblue: Glad I could help!
magnetic_rose: True dat. Well, hopefully this would give them the answers they’re looking for. As long as they read the entire article first before firing off demanding questions
The DFa gave me a September 28 sched for e-passport. I’m leaving on october 28. Will i have my e-passport by then?
I didn’t know you can also make an appointment through the DFA website! a few months ago, some of my family members renewed their passports. I had them processed via passport.com.ph (by PilipinasTeleservInc).
Let me share our experience, for those who have a bit more time to apply or renew their passports:
1. apply online passport.com.ph
2. after filling up the application form online you can see the available schedules (for pickup and personal appearance) and change the date if you’re not available. the estimated delivery date will also be shown.
they’re pretty quick. i entered a sample application, and the pick up date for an app submitted today is sept 22, and the personal appearance is sept24.
3. on the pick up date (pick up time cannot be specified so you have to look out for the messenger), the messenger will collect all your photos, expired passport and will ask you to sign and affix your thumbmarks on the application form. Php1,300 fee will be given to the messenger, and they give the receipt.
4. on the personal appearance date, bring your receipt. enter the DFA entrance along Libertad St. then proceed to the Pilipinas Teleserv area. Their staff will assist you and bring you directly to the personal appearance area.
On the day my family had to make the personal appearance, i waited for them at Jollibee. i ordered and had taken only a few bites of my food when they got back from the DFA. the whole process took only 10mins or so.
btw i just checked and it seems they’re still accepting applications for the machine readable passports. siguro until the DFA can accommodate more than 100 e-passport apps per day, yun lang muna hahandle nila.
Great info, Nina. Still, I wonder why they seem so flippin’ strict about renewing passports? Now, what if you didn’t do the passport renewal online? What’s the average wait there? I know in the U.S., it’s not too bad; I had to mail my Filipino passport off to the designated embassy for the area I was in (Colorado at the time), pay a fee, and they sent it back within a week or so. It was actually pretty painless.
. Hopefully, they continue to improve passport services in the Philippines and maybe it’ll be even faster in the future! 
I had just finished my passport renewal. The online appointment on DFA’s website made the 30-minute renewal possible. It saved me from an agonizing queue (and more time doing my other errands). Para lang akong napadaan sa DFA sa bilis : ) I wouldn’t have known of this crucial step had I not read it on your blog. Super thanks Nina!
Hi Nina, thanks for linking my entry, haha. I sincerely appreciate it. I also am grateful to this blog entry of yours because I wouldn’t even be able to try scheduling for an online appointment in the first place.
I wanted to ask for an exchange link, but I noticed your links are mostly travel blogs. My two blogs wouldn’t qualify, haha. Also, I was only able to travel outside Philippines once, so I’m still far from being a traveler.
Keep it up and happy traveling.
p.s. are you a pexer? what’s your pex nickname?
am set to travel dec22, hindi ko napansin na expired na passport ko…kaya pa kaya if sa monday, dec14, ako mag renew?
hi nina. Thanks for this very informative renewal procedures/info. Im curious if I can submit a computerized filled-up application form of the passport renewal. Any idea? Thanks a lot…
applicable po ba sa cebu?
if not, pwede po ba punta kami manila?
Very informative Nina, I will be renewing my passport soon and this info will surely help.
hey! just had my green passport renewed yesterday! it was fast and convenient!. it just took me 10 minutes.
[...] Passport Renewal my bro and i just renewed our Philippine passports. thanks to justwandering.org, it was a generally breeze. i’ll write my supplemental instructions [...]
i was browsing the net when i came across your blog. thanks for this post. very informative!!!!
I got my new Biometric Philippine passport! Hooooray!
hi, just want to ask if it is possible if I will get my renewed passport next week then is it surely be completed by the end of February? or else not be?
how much it will cost in renewing the passport especially rush? can I have the lists?
hello im anne from adelaide australia, how are you? i red your blog and just try to message you. im going back to phils this coming march 6 till april 7, im so worried ccos my passport expiration will be expired on july22,2010 and like what people says i need 6months valid passport.. what should i do??
im so stressed right now.hehe i dont know what to do. i dont know which embassy will i contact, the embassy in canberra australia or embassy in philippines. and how will i renew my passport? and how long does it takes?
im sorry i got so many questions..=/
i hope to hear from u soon. thank you very much in advance..
-anne
hi thanks for the info and dfa’s contact numbers i have been calling this number 5560000 i found this in their website but i cant get through it rings and rings then a busy tone the whole day thanks! my passport was renewed last year feb2009 but due to typhoon ondoy it was damaged and i don’d know what to do thats why i have been calling trying to inquire thanks again
Before you add that comment...
I do read each and every comment posted in my blog, and I do try to respond as best as I can to your questions. You may not see me always commenting here, but I do reply via e-mail. Please understand that I am NOT affiliated with any airline, hotel, restaurants or other services featured here, unless otherwise stated. So if you have complaints about them, it would be better if you contact them directly. Often, their contact details can be found in my post.
Add A Comment