Friday, July 3, 2009

Philippine Embassy: New Machine Readable Passport Fee, Requirements and Validity

According to the Philippine Embassy Press release:

    The Philippine Embassy's issuance of the new Machine Readable Passports (MRP) is in compliance with the requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for all countries to issue Machine Readable Passports not later than 01 April 2010.

    This global standard is inter-operable and harmonized with all participating countries. Because of this, compliance benefits for the governments, the travelers, the airports and the airlines, primarily in document security and ease of travel.

    In response to the ICAO directive, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) will be phasing-out the green passport and has instructed all its regional passport offices and foreign service posts, including the Philippine Embassy in Singapore, to begin issuing the MRP.

    The Philippine Embassy in Singapore started accepting applications for the new Machine Readable Passports (MRP) since 1 June 2008.

    All regular green passports earlier issued will remain valid and will be honored by immigration authorities worldwide until their stated expiry date.

If you currently hold a valid Philippine passport (green passport that has not expired), there is no need to worry as the green Passport will still be honored as a bonafide travel document issued by the Republic of the Philippines until it expires, even after the roll out of the new Machine Readable Passports.

Despite having more security features and more pages--44 compared to 36 pages for the old green one, take note: there will be no increase in the passport fee. Like the green passport, the MRP will be valid for five (5) years.

REQUIREMENTS

All passport requirements will remain the same except that the applicant will be required to personally appear and submit three (3) passport-size photos (4.5x3.5 cm), which should have a royal blue (instead of the usual white) matte background.

Personal Appearance is required for data verification, finger-printing and signature capture. Applications by mail will not be accepted. This will be easy for us here in sunny Singapore since it won’t take an hour to get to the embassy but it might be a problem to those Filipinos living in other countries where the presence of Philippine consulate is limited.

New Photo Requirements:
· Background – ROYAL BLUE
· Size – 4.5 cm X 3.5 cm
· Pose – image of applicant is 70 – 80% of the photograph
- Straight frontal shot (no tilting of head)
- “Medium” smile is allowed
- Collared shirt / decent attire
- Both ears visible
- Prescription eye-glasses allowed, provided there is no glare
- Head scarf / veil for religious or health reasons allowed

Photos can be rejected for the following reasons:
- Distorted image – head is tilted or smile is too wide
- Women - excessive makeup, large earrings
- Men – wearing makeup, earrings
- colored contact lenses
- use of headgear other than scarf / veil for religious or health reasons
- use of dark eyeglasses / shades
- photos with “red-eye” effect
- dirty photos / poor photo quality / poor or uneven lighting
- digitally altered photos (rendered with photoshop or other imaging programs) / unnatural skin tones

It would be wise to apply for the MRP at least three (3) months before the expiration of your green passport since all the applications received by the Philippine Foreign Service Posts abroad will be sent to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila via diplomatic pouch. Because of the transit time, it will now take SIX WEEKS for a passport to be released to the applicants, from the time the application is accepted at the Consulate General.

So, what does the new Machine Readable Passport look like?

New MRP

11 comments:

  1. Is the six-month renewal before expiration of passport necessary if the holder is a US Immigrant. Passport will expire in August 2009 but holder will be returning to US on March 24, 2009. Is there a need for holder to apply for new passport. She may not be able to get new passport as holder is leaving in 10 days. Holder of passport has a re-entry permit to US.
    Question is can holder go back to US without need of renewing her passport before departing on March 24? Thanks. ricfojas2002@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Is the six-month renewal before expiration of passport necessary if the holder is a US Immigrant. Passport will expire in August 2009 but holder will be returning to US on March 24, 2009. Is there a need for holder to apply for new passport. She may not be able to get new passport as holder is leaving in 10 days. Holder of passport has a re-entry permit to US.
    Question is can holder go back to US without need of renewing her passport before departing on March 24? Thanks. ricfojas2002@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Most of the time, the 6-month rule apply specially when your going out of your home country. Better check with DFA or US Embassy regarding your case since you have limited time frame and near impossible to process the renewal....

    Let us know the outcome.....

    ReplyDelete
  4. Most of the time, the 6-month rule apply specially when your going out of your home country. Better check with DFA or US Embassy regarding your case since you have limited time frame and near impossible to process the renewal....

    Let us know the outcome.....

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm currently a PERMANENT RESIDENT here in Singapore. My passport will expire in April 2010. I will have a business travel to Indonesia(from Singapore) in November and December. will the 6mos rule still apply? or is there a workaround on this until I completed my travel?

    Btw, is there a fast track in case I need to renew my passport before I travel

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm currently a PERMANENT RESIDENT here in Singapore. My passport will expire in April 2010. I will have a business travel to Indonesia(from Singapore) in November and December. will the 6mos rule still apply? or is there a workaround on this until I completed my travel?

    Btw, is there a fast track in case I need to renew my passport before I travel

    ReplyDelete
  7. I suggest you contact the Philippine embassy for this matter. They may be able to expedite your request for a Passport renewal.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I suggest you contact the Philippine embassy for this matter. They may be able to expedite your request for a Passport renewal.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi, Lawrence. Please share the response given by Philippine embassy. I may have a similar situation where I'll be travelling frequently (monthly) prior to expiry.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Hi, Lawrence. Please share the response given by Philippine embassy. I may have a similar situation where I'll be travelling frequently (monthly) prior to expiry.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi,I am currently a PR here in S'pore.I am goin to Brussels a month from now.For Holiday purpose and planning to stay there for 2 weeks.Is there any way that i can get any idea hows the application or how to get a visa to go there? Philippine Embassy can be of any help to get it ASAP? will appreciate the answer that i can get from this.Thank you, God Bless!

    ReplyDelete