New Philippine passport requirements

Update —— September 14, 2011 ——

The DFA has implemented a new passport processing system. Philippine passport applications and appointments must now be done online via the official DFA passport application website at http://www.passport.com.ph.

You will no longer need to bring passport-sized pictures since your picture shall be taken at the DFA premises. Here are the guidelines that you need to follow when having your picture taken at the DFA Enrollment Section: http://dfa.gov.ph/main/index.php/guidelines-on-photo-capturing.

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We were finally able to apply for CJ’s passport yesterday, Friday, for our upcoming trip this December which was, as expected, accompanied by the usual hassles prevalent when applying for, or securing, any government license, certification or identification document.

We just found out that the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) recently issued new passport application guidelines, specifically on the new colored photo requirement where the photo of the applicant should be taken against a royal blue background.

We already had a passport-sized picture of CJ taken a month ago with a white background, the old requirement. And it’s a good thing that Conne checked out the DFA website to verify the requirements, otherwise she would have wasted a trip to the DFA office if she brought along CJ’s old pictures. And so we had a new set of CJ’s pictures taken last Thursday, his 2nd birthday.

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Update: Here’s a link to the new PASSPORT PHOTO GUIDELINES dated August 14, 2008: http://dfa.gov.ph/?p=234 and you can download the PDF file here: http://www.dfa.gov.ph/consular/PHOTO%20GUIDELINES.pdf