In Dubai, Filipinos applying for passport renewal are now required to bring a copy of their birth certificates to easily facilitate processing thereof, otherwise, there may be a possibility that processing may take longer than usual.
This is required from Filipinos whose passports do not reflect specifically the city or municipality of their birth place. The copy of the birth certificate should officially come from the National Statistics Office, which is now known as the Philippine Statistics Authority.
According to Vice Consul Elizabeth Picar Ramos, the new advanced system requires the complete birth place of the passport applicant to be keyed in. Passports with incomplete data such as province only without the city or the municipality without a birth certificate to back it up will not be processed.
We are now required to input the city or municipality of birth. This is why we require our compatriots to bring their birth certificates so we can scan it together with the passport application and send it to Manila, Ramos said in an interview.
If the application does not have a scanned copy of the birth certificate, the printing gets suspended in Manila. So we do not accept or process applicants here unless they have all the required documents because lifting the suspension is a difficult process, Ramos emphasized.
As such, if a passport applicant only writes Cebu as his birth place, the system will not recognize the information. It has to be with the city or the municipality like, Talisay, Cebu.
This new requirement has been implemented since the start of August. The consulate even sent reminders to the applicants with their appointments online but unfortunately, a lot of applicants still miss out bringing the needed document.
Ramos urged the applicants to comply with all the needed documents to facilitate easy, fast and efficient passport renewal procedures. However, Ramos reiterated that Filipinos can apply for a renewal online or book an appointment with the agency as early as 10 months before their passports expired to give ample time for the delivery of the passports thru their courier.
Passport applications are free of charge and strictly by appointment only through Passport Appointment Portal except for applications done by domestic helpers, senior citizens, seafarers and children who are below 12 years of age.
For those applicants who were unable to show up on their appointments dates since June 1, they are required to set another appointment which they can do online.
Meanwhile, the guidelines on the newly approved provision for a 10-year validity of the passport was not yet issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Manila.
Currently, the consulate processes about 360 passport applications within their 8-hour working period with no lunch break.
Juan in Oman
Online appointment plus birth certificate? Padami ng padami ang kailangan sa mga document na needed ng mga kapwa OFW. Di kaya pwede nilang pasimplehin na lang lahat