22 June 2008

PHILIPPINE CONSULATE TO ISSUE MACHINE READABLE PASSPORTS

The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney will begin the issuance of the new Philippine passport on August 1, 2008 and informs holders of Philippine passports about changes in the procedure for passport issuance.

The Philippines has changed the format and features of its passport, to comply with the international standard set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the United Nations agency that governs and coordinates concerns of international air transportation. 

The Consulate will now issue Machine-Readable Passports (MRP) which can be read mechanically when swiped through a passport reader machine. The MRP will provide Philippine travelers greater convenience and security in their entry and departure at airports all over the world.

The Philippine MRP has security features which make it very difficult to forge or tamper. The new passport is printed on security paper woven with UV threads and microscopic texts. It also has a super-thin laminate embedded with holographic images, laser perforated pages, and other optical features.

The Consulate informs Philippine passport holders that the processing of the MRP will now take a minimum of six weeks, for both first-time issuances and renewal of passports, because the production of the passport is done at a central facility in Manila. After August 1, the Consulate will cease to issue same-day or next-day issuances of renewed passports.

An important requirement of the new MRP procedure is the applicant’s personal appearance at the Consulate. The applicant must confirm the correct entry of personal data and the taking of fingerprints and signature is a delicate and precise process. The only applicants exempt from making a personal appearance are applicants less than 8 years old or more than 65 years old.

The other requirements and fees for acquiring the MRP basically remain the same as the manually-scripted green passport. However, passport photographs are required to have a royal blue background. There are guidelines and specifications for passport photographs, which are outlined at the Consulate’s website at www.philippineconsulate.com.au

The Consulate will only receive passport applications and requirements and forward the applications to Manila for passport production. The processed passports are returned to the Consulate, for release to the applicant. The Philippine Consulate General in Sydney will process passports applications only from applicants within New South Wales.

Filipino citizens are strongly advised to keep their passport current and to renew their passport at least two months before it is needed. In view of the six-week processing time, the Consulate will no longer be able to address requests for the early release of passports, such as by those who neglected to check the validity of their passports before purchasing an airline ticket.