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MANILA, Philippines -- Starting April 15, a full-service passport satellite office at the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration on Ortigas Avenue will serve Filipino workers who are going abroad, the Department of Foreign Affairs announced Monday.
The new passport office is meant “for the benefit and convenience” of an estimated 2,000 Filipinos who leave for work abroad every day and who process their documents at the POEA.
The DFA said passport applications of OFWs filed at the POEA office would be processed and released after a maximum of seven working days for a fee of P750, or after 14 working days for a fee of P500.
“These passport fees remain among the lowest in the world. Moreover, most countries in the world take at least six weeks for passport processing,” it said in a statement.
Since July 2007, DFA has been issuing maroon-colored machine readable passports (MRPs), each containing a data summary pertaining to the passport holder in a format that a machine can recognize and read. Before that, the Philippines was the only country left in the world whose passports were manually prepared and were therefore not as secure.
“All countries in the world now issue and use MRPs,” the DFA said, adding that the Philippine passport now meets all the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization, making for faster passport check at port of entry, higher credibility for the Philippine passports, and better security for the passport holder's identity.
At the same time, the department has encouraged the public to file their passport applications way ahead of their intended travel date and not to wait until the last minute.
Passport application requirements include personal appearance and submission of the completed application form, three colored passport photos with royal blue background, authenticated birth certificate, and at least two government-issued identification cards and documents proving the applicant's identity and citizenship.
The passport application form and guidelines may be downloaded at their website.
