I’m scrolling down on social media news feed and saw some of my friendsand acquaintances went out of the country to travel or doing their own jobs. Ofcourse I’m a little jealous and curious how did they do it? So I do a littleresearch and ask them how. Whether it would be for vacation, employment orother reasons, securing yourself a Passport seems to be the first step.

With the technology such as online booking and booking apps,traveling is sure to be convenient. Airports are rapidly emerging in remoteplaces and new airlines are welcome to the country time after time. Passport is growing in demand and I think itwill be a must in the future. So I’ve decided to get my passport.
So I visited www.passport.gov.phand schedule an online appointment. When I check out the appointment schedulefor DFA* Cebu (where I live) the slots are unavailable leading me to secure anappointment with DFA Bacolod. I waslucky enough to secure an appointment. It takes a small amount of time to havethose slots filled. If I didn’t take it, I will probably wait until the DFAannounce to add another batch of appointments. After filling up my details thewebsite provided me with the Application Form for me to print and show it ontheir office. In addition, an original Birth Certificate by the PSA and atleast 2 two IDs are required.
I was on DFA Bacolod Office 2pm, 2hrs ahead of my appointment, andwent to the information desk and begin the process. It was very going fine butwhen they evaluated my requirements, they told me to secure a latest birthcertificate issued by the PSA**. Mine was an outdated birth certificated dated2009. So I went to the PSA office and secure one for two hours and not be ableto process on the day. I went back to the office on the first hour in themorning and finish the whole process in just an hour. Since I’m from Cebupicking up my passport there is not convenient. They have courier service (LBC) insidethe office and let it send it to me after 20 days.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) headed by Secretary Allan Peter Cayetano, has launched Passport on Wheels (POW) to speed up passport processing and decongest the consular offices in Metro Manila and other regional offices. The Passport in Wheels Program will have four (4) buses that can serve at least 500 people a day – a total of 2000 slots per day. If you’re a returning seafarer or an OFW, you can have your passport renewal at DFA Cebu. In less than 2 hours, you can have your passport renewed and be valid for 10 good years. You don’t need to have an appointment to have your slot. As you know, OFWs have their dedicated lanes for their passport renewal.

TIPS:

Dfa Cebu Slot

  • Print your Accomplished Application Form, and Confirmed OnlineAppointment
  • Secure latest Birth Certificate, theyrequire the original.
  • Photocopy your IDs.
  • Dress appropriately.
  • Bringing a pen doesn’t hurt.
COSTS: (as of January 2018)
  • It will took 20 days for Regulartransactions that will cost you P950.00 and 10 days for Expedite transactionsthat costs P1200.00
  • P150.00 cost of courier (LBC)
  • Birth Certificate costs P140.00
Cebu

I will update this blog when I receive my passport.

*DFA - Department of Foreign Affairs
**PSA - Philippine Statistics Autority

UPDATE:

I got my passport shipped by LBC.

Early of 2017, slots for passport appointment are closing one by one much to the frustration of many applicants. This did not change by the start of 2018 where an increase of over 100k slots was added but still, this addition did not cater every past applicant and even the new ones.


UPDATE: How to renew your PASSPORT online.

Due to the increasing backlog, many Filipino are cursing the incompetence of the Department of Foreign Affairs or DFA in opening more slots to cater all those who wants to apply or renew their passport. The passport appointment system was controversial in January of 2018 due to the slots being fully booked until March of the same year causing many workers and travelers so much inconvenience.

This is why to accommodate the influx of applicants, TheDepartment of Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano released a statement on Thursday announcing that the DFA will open about 100,000 appointment slots for those who want to apply for a passport and those who wished to renew their passport.

Related: DFA Launches ePayment to Help Address Surge in Passport Appointment Demand

He clarified that the 10k appointments are on top of the 336,743 appointment slots for June 1 up to the 30th of September 2018 that are already taken. He also said in the briefing that the 50k slots will be open and available at the DFA website from noon and the other 50k will be open at around 9 p.m.

He added that the department also plans to open another 10k slots from Mondays to Saturdays at aroud 12 noon onwards until 9 p.m to further accommodate the rising number of passport applicants nationwide. However, only 12k slots are open for online applicants while 1,000 slots are available for the first time overseas Filipino workers through their licensed recruitment agencies, 4k slots for passport on wheels, and 2k slots for walk- in applicants.

The earliest appointment available in the website for the DFA office located at Aseana is on June 25. The agency reminded the applicant to refresh the website for the opening of more appointment slots.

Source: http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1038265

Dfa Cebu Passport Renewal

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