My Philippine Passport Application
A couple of months ago my father, mother, younger sister, and I decided to apply for a Philippine passport. Before, you had to fall in line in front of their office in order to apply for a passport, but now the process is "faster". The first step is to schedule for an appearance on the DFA office. You can schedule it at their online DFA Appointment System. Mind you, we scheduled ourselves on February and the next available slot for us was on April (2 months!). However, sometimes some slots open if you keep refreshing the page. I saw a slot for March after I signed up for my schedule. We decided to stick with April 19 since we have other requirements we had to get and take care of. Me and my parents were scheduled on April 19 at 8 am, while my sister was scheduled on the same day but at an earlier time of 7:30 am. Each of us received an email confirming our schedule and asking us to print it, so we did.
The next step was to gather all the document requirements. Below are the list of things that I brought to the DFA when I applied for passport.
Perhaps we arrived at the right time. My sister was immediately invited to enter the building when the security guard saw that her schedule was 7:30. My father, because he is a senior citizen, was asked to enter the building as well. My mom and I went to the waiting area. There were already a few people sitting in the waiting area, but after only sitting there for 5 minutes the security guard on the door of the building asked everyone sitting to fall in line before we enter the building. The guard checked each of our schedule and let us inside.
Inside are a group of sitting chairs much like those you see in airports. You're supposed to seat on the chairs as if you're falling in line, so the person on your right will go first, and the person on your left will follow you. In front of the chairs are 20+ booths where the DFA people will check the required documents you have with you. According to a sign I saw, office hours are 7 am to 3pm, but the processing started about 7:15 am. Since there are a lot of booths, the line moved quickly. Someone will call out the booth you will go to, so I just waited and moved with the line, sliding to the next seat as people moved. When it was my turn, the guy who calls out the number told me to go to booth number 4. I went there and gave my documents. I was crossing my fingers because the only valid ID I had was my old school ID. I decided to bring it and have it photocopied because I read a blog that said sometimes it was accepted. It was! The girl in the booth actually kind of tossed my other IDs back at me like it was useless haha! She took the photocopy of my IDs, the original NSO certificate, the original NBI clearance, and gave back my other documents. She was friendly, even asked me if I was related to someone she processed earlier. I said yes, that was my sister. After approving my application, she gave me a slip of paper and I proceeded to the 2nd floor.
At the 2nd floor, I got kind of confused as to where the cashier was, but the guards were friendly and after asking them for directions they told me where to go. I paid the 950 pesos fair for the regular processing. For rush processing you have to pay 1,200 pesos. After paying I proceeded to the next station where a guy asked me to get a number. After getting a number, I saw my sister already there sitting on a chair waiting for her number to show up on the monitor, so I sat on a chair beside her to wait for my own number. The monitor displays the current number and the data-capturing booth number you were supposed to go to. While waiting, a woman was standing and walking around offering services for the delivery of the passport. It costs 120 pesos, so I got one. I paid her the money and she gave me a receipt. She told me that after the data capture, I should proceed to the courier section (you can see it from the waiting area).
When my number was called, it showed that I had to proceed to booth #69. When I got there, the lady behind the desk in the booth asked me to sit down in front of the digital camera. She typed up my details based on a program and asked me to double check. After confirming, she took my picture, and also got my fingerprint and signature using some digital devices. Then I proceeded to the courier section.
At the courier/delivery section, I wasn't too sure what to do so I kind of stood there looking for signs or people to assist me. I someone behind the desk wave me over and I approached him. He took my receipt and a slip of paper that I forgot where I got from and recorded it and told me that I should be getting my passport on May 27th. They gave me a slip of paper from LBC with the date of the delivery of the passport. And that was it!
When I exited the building I waited for my sister. When we saw each other, we compared our delivery slips. Her's was 2Go. I joked that mine was better since it's LBC. We texted our father since he was not yet done and we found out later that the senior citizen office started around 8 am. So much for the senior citizen priority!
Outside the DFA grounds we saw our mom and we found out she was denied because her NSO Birth Certificate has a different name than her birth name. She has a lot of things to do just to get a passport, but that's probably for another topic.
Now I'm just waiting for my passport to be delivered on May 27! I hope everything goes well!
The next step was to gather all the document requirements. Below are the list of things that I brought to the DFA when I applied for passport.
- NSO Birth Certificate
- IDs - Postal ID, old company ID, old school ID
- Supporting documents
- Transcript of records with dry seal
- Baptismal certificate with dry seal
- NBI clearance (purpose: For Travel Abroad. Printed on GREEN paper)
Perhaps we arrived at the right time. My sister was immediately invited to enter the building when the security guard saw that her schedule was 7:30. My father, because he is a senior citizen, was asked to enter the building as well. My mom and I went to the waiting area. There were already a few people sitting in the waiting area, but after only sitting there for 5 minutes the security guard on the door of the building asked everyone sitting to fall in line before we enter the building. The guard checked each of our schedule and let us inside.
Inside are a group of sitting chairs much like those you see in airports. You're supposed to seat on the chairs as if you're falling in line, so the person on your right will go first, and the person on your left will follow you. In front of the chairs are 20+ booths where the DFA people will check the required documents you have with you. According to a sign I saw, office hours are 7 am to 3pm, but the processing started about 7:15 am. Since there are a lot of booths, the line moved quickly. Someone will call out the booth you will go to, so I just waited and moved with the line, sliding to the next seat as people moved. When it was my turn, the guy who calls out the number told me to go to booth number 4. I went there and gave my documents. I was crossing my fingers because the only valid ID I had was my old school ID. I decided to bring it and have it photocopied because I read a blog that said sometimes it was accepted. It was! The girl in the booth actually kind of tossed my other IDs back at me like it was useless haha! She took the photocopy of my IDs, the original NSO certificate, the original NBI clearance, and gave back my other documents. She was friendly, even asked me if I was related to someone she processed earlier. I said yes, that was my sister. After approving my application, she gave me a slip of paper and I proceeded to the 2nd floor.
At the 2nd floor, I got kind of confused as to where the cashier was, but the guards were friendly and after asking them for directions they told me where to go. I paid the 950 pesos fair for the regular processing. For rush processing you have to pay 1,200 pesos. After paying I proceeded to the next station where a guy asked me to get a number. After getting a number, I saw my sister already there sitting on a chair waiting for her number to show up on the monitor, so I sat on a chair beside her to wait for my own number. The monitor displays the current number and the data-capturing booth number you were supposed to go to. While waiting, a woman was standing and walking around offering services for the delivery of the passport. It costs 120 pesos, so I got one. I paid her the money and she gave me a receipt. She told me that after the data capture, I should proceed to the courier section (you can see it from the waiting area).
When my number was called, it showed that I had to proceed to booth #69. When I got there, the lady behind the desk in the booth asked me to sit down in front of the digital camera. She typed up my details based on a program and asked me to double check. After confirming, she took my picture, and also got my fingerprint and signature using some digital devices. Then I proceeded to the courier section.
At the courier/delivery section, I wasn't too sure what to do so I kind of stood there looking for signs or people to assist me. I someone behind the desk wave me over and I approached him. He took my receipt and a slip of paper that I forgot where I got from and recorded it and told me that I should be getting my passport on May 27th. They gave me a slip of paper from LBC with the date of the delivery of the passport. And that was it!
When I exited the building I waited for my sister. When we saw each other, we compared our delivery slips. Her's was 2Go. I joked that mine was better since it's LBC. We texted our father since he was not yet done and we found out later that the senior citizen office started around 8 am. So much for the senior citizen priority!
Outside the DFA grounds we saw our mom and we found out she was denied because her NSO Birth Certificate has a different name than her birth name. She has a lot of things to do just to get a passport, but that's probably for another topic.
Now I'm just waiting for my passport to be delivered on May 27! I hope everything goes well!
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