Renewal of Philippine Passport

by Ronel Forbes

September 1, 2022

One identifying document (ID) is required if you intend to travel overseas, and that document is your passport. You must take this travel document with you wherever you go because it serves as proof of your identity and citizenship. In the Philippines, the Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for issuing passports (DFA). Your passport is valid for 10 years if you are 18 years of age or older. It will be good for five years if you’re under the age of 18. Even though applying for or renewing a passport is straightforward, it’s simple to overlook one or two steps if you are unaware of the prerequisites. The guidelines and steps for applying for or renewing your DFA passport are outlined in this guide.

Online DFA Appointment

Step 1:

To make an appointment, go to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) section on the internet. The appointment sub-site is different from the primary website.

Step 2:

Pay the processing charge. The email that will be sent to your designated email address will contain instructions on how to make a payment. It should be noted that the appointment is not yet official. After the payment is made, confirmation takes place. To see if you received the email, check your SPAM or Junk bin. If your email is overflowing, remove some of the items to make room. Paying in advance will allow you to skip one step during the real session. You may avoid the lineups at the cashier because you already paid. I saw that the wait is empty and there is now only one cashier booth during our appointment. The majority, if not all, of the applicants have likely already paid the processing fee outside the consular office.

Payment Guidelines for DFA

The full sum must be paid in cash. Any more funds are forfeited (thank you very much!). On the other side, an insufficient payment will prevent processing. When paying, enter the reference number. Pay each reservation’s reference number separately. Pay for them individually rather than all at once. One reference number may be utilized just once. If your initial payment is incomplete, don’t try to pay again. For assistance, it would be best to contact DFA’s hotline.

DFA Hotline for Appointments

The DFA hotline, specifically for appointment-related concerns such as wrong email, payment, etc., is (02) 8234-3488.

DFA Costs

The standard charge for all offices is Php 950. It will take 12 days to process. For P1,200, you can have it expedited to take 6 or 7 days (for the Metro Manila and provincial offices, respectively). Foreign Service Posts cost $60 and might take 28 to 60 days to process. Processing time for lost passports will increase by 15 days. The processing fee is not transferable or refundable. Fees already paid will be refunded if:

The candidate misses the appointment as arranged.
The applicant canceled their appointment without changing the consulate office or rescheduling it.
The applicant offers forged papers
Due to incomplete or inaccurate information on the application form, the applicant’s application was declined.

Gateways for Authorized Payment

These are the approved partners who are able to handle DFA payments (*the list is subject to change at any time without notice). 2GO, Bayad Center, Clothers Asia Corp., DA5, EBIZ, ECPay, LBC, Netopia, PERAHUB, PHILPOST, and ALLCASH are a few examples of payment centers. Isetann, Landmark, Metro Malls, Robinsons Business Center, Robinsons Department Store, Rustans, SRS (San Roque Supermarket), and Sta are a few of the participating malls. Mall Lucia. For more information, simply check the business or customer services section or the mall’s directory. Merchandise outlets: 7-Eleven Citystate Savings Bank, Country Builders Bank, Own Bank, and Luzon Development Bank are a few banks. Centers for Remittance: USSC BHF, Capital, CBE, Cebuana Lhuillier, CVM Pawnshop, M. Lhuillier, Raquel, Sinag, and Villarica are pawnshops. Additionally, Bayad Center Online, Coins.ph, GCASH, J6W / Posible.net, Paymaya, and Touchpay accept payments online. We chose to pay through 7-Eleven and paid a 50 peso convenience fee on top of that. Typically, most businesses that process payments levies a similar fee. The price must be paid within 24 hours otherwise your chosen schedule will be released and made available once again on the appointment website.

Schedule for DFA Appointments

You should be aware of the possibility that reserved slots will become available so you can retry in relation to the schedule. Simply reload the DFA appointment schedule calendar occasionally until you locate a day that is more suitable. To see if there are other available days, you can also select a different DFA branch, including consular offices housed in shopping centers. This has happened to us. For almost two months, every available date was taken. The day after refreshing the website virtually all day, a timetable was published. Important! The new date should not be more than 30 days from the original appointment date and rescheduling must be done no later than 3 days before the original appointment date. On the email, there will be a link for rescheduling. Email the consular office where your initial appointment was scheduled if the link doesn’t work.

Renewal requirements for passports

I made an appointment with the DFA first, and because it was months away, I was able to obtain a birth certificate from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) before the appointment. Applicants who are married must also acquire a marriage certificate from the PSA.

Philippine Passport Renewal Steps

Step 1: Processing

At the allocated cubicle, the completed forms and produced required documents will be processed for reasons including authenticity and legality. Make sure to only obtain certifications from authorized offices, such as the PSA for Birth Certificate and/or Marriage Certificate, as expired and false documents can be recognized and promptly rejected. Make sure to respond honestly because the officer assigned will ask questions to validate or verify the information you’ve provided. If you already paid the costs online, you can skip the following step when the written materials have been approved.

Step 2. If not an online payment, the cashier.
Step 3. Data capture and encoding.
Step 4. Courier/Delivery (Optional).

At the processing step, it will be determined whether the passport is to be picked up in person or delivered via courier. It’s possible that you paid for it before the appointment. See the section above about DFA fees. Although normal processing should take 12 working days, delays caused by community quarantine are possible. After two weeks—well over 12 days—we checked and collected the passports. Pick the expedited option if you require it sooner.

Conclusion

Today, having a passport is really necessary because it serves so many different purposes, including travel and even identity. Getting one takes a lot of time, but the wait is worthwhile.