What is the trend of passport production since 2009?
Passport production has steadily increased despite no significant increase in the number of consular offices and staff.
The increase in the demand for passports can be attributed to the following factors:
Steady growth of the middle class who have a considerably high purchasing power
Boom in international travel
Increased availability of affordable airline options
Opening of international airports outside Metro Manila
Increase in the number of international flight options linking regional hubs such as Clark, Cebu, and Davao, among others to international destinations
Attractive overseas employment opportunities for Filipinos
What are the actions the DFA is taking in order to improve the passporting system and to make it more convenient for the public?
1. Deployment of four (4) Passport on Wheels (POW) vehicles to decongest the consular offices in Metro Manila.
• Each POW vehicle has the capacity to process 500 applicants daily, creating a total of 2,000 additional daily slots upon its launch on January 15, 2018.
• POW will initially be deployed around NCR and other key areas.
2. Continued deployment of weekly Mobile Passporting Services in key locations nationwide.
• In 2017, the DFA conducted mobile passport services to over 45 local government units accounting for 50,528 issued passports.
• This brings the DFA’s services closer to the public, especially to those who do not have access to a Consular Office.
What are the actions the DFA is taking in order to improve the passporting system and to make it more convenient for the public?
6. Streamlining the passport application process
• In order to make the passport application process faster and easier, the DFA streamlined the requirements that applicants need to submit in order to apply for or renew their passports and lessened the number of steps that they need to undergo during the entire process.
• The requirements for passport application have been simplified as follows:
▪ Confirmed appointment schedule (if applicable)
▪ Duly accomplished passport application form
▪ Personal appearance
▪ Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) authenticated birth certificate
▪ Valid national government-issued ID
What are the actions the DFA is taking in order to improve the passporting system and to make it more convenient for the public?
7. Overbooking of appointments in the different
consular offices
• To offset the no-show rate and to allow more applicants to be accommodated in the appointment system, the DFA overbooks the appointments thereby maximizing the Consular Offices’ capacity to process passport applications.
What are the actions the DFA is taking in order to improve the passporting system and to make it more convenient for the public?
8. Increasing daily processing capacity of DFA ASEANA from 1,900 to 3,300 applications
9. Cancellation of more than 50,000 bogus appointments
▪ The cancellation of bogus appointments has enabled the DFA to open more passport appointment slots to the public.
10. Removal on August 1, 2017 of 1,200 appointment slots previously reserved daily for travel agencies
11. Restriction effective August 1, 2017 of DFA employees’ access and referral to the courtesy lane
What are the actions the DFA is taking in order to improve the passporting system and to make it more convenient for the public?
12. Restriction of the use of the courtesy lane to those who are entitled to it:
• Senior citizens and one family member
• Persons with disabilities and one family member
• Children 7 years old and below, their parents and minor siblings
• Pregnant
• OFWs
• Solo Parents and their minor children
13. Availability of courtesy lane for OFWs
The DFA has coordinated with the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA) and their accredited Licensed Recruitment Agencies (LRA) to include even those who will be working abroad for the first time.
What are the actions the DFA is taking in order to improve the passporting system and to make it more convenient for the public?
14. Improvement in the Online Appointment System (OAS) by making it more user-friendly
Presence of pop-ups for instant information on walk-in/courtesy lane eligibility
Improvements in user interface:
• Next soonest appointment indicator • Color coding on the availability of appointment slots
• Feedback mechanism
Extension of Passport Validity from 5 to10 years
Effective 1 January 2018, all passports issued to applicants 18 years of age or older will have a ten (10) year validity pursuant to Republic Act No. 10928 or AN ACT EXTENDING THE VALIDITY OF PHILIPPINE PASSPORTS, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE SECTION 10 OF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8239, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “PHILIPPINE PASSPORT ACT OF 1996", AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES which was signed into law by President Rodrigo R. Duterte on August 2, 2017.
Why is the 10-year validity passport a good thing?
This extended validity is seen to benefit the OFWs, particularly those who are assigned in areas far from an embassy or consulate where they can apply for a new one.
The 10-year validity passport is also one way to address decongestion among the various consular offices.
Why is having a passport appointment system better
than walk-in system?
The passport appointment system was created as a way of making the passport application process easier and more convenient to the public.
• Before the appointment system was implemented, passport applicants would queue as early as midnight outside the premises of the different consular offices with no assurance of being accommodated on the same day. This practice is inconvenient, unsafe, and a waste of resources.
• With the passport appointment system, the public is assured of being accommodated on the day specified in their confirmed appointment.
• This means that the applicant can show up minutes before the designated appointment time to process his or her passport application.
• Applicants no longer need to wait for hours outside the consular office hoping to be accommodated.
• Almost all Consular Offices are in malls which offer convenience, comfort and security.
