Philippine Government issues New Passport Requirement

The Department of Foreign Affairs recently launched the new passport requirement for the year 2010. This is in line with the international security and safety that are being imposed in order to prevent terrorist threats. The passport laws 2010 include the correction of the picture being submitted by the applicants. Applicants are requested to submit passport pictures with no eyeglasses, ears should be shown and facial marks should be clearly shown. Pictures should also have white background and applicants must wear collared shirts or business attire. Applicants are also advice to renew their passport 6 months before the expiration date of their passport to prevent penalty. The Department is also proposing ID cards to make it easier for Filipino people to travel to and from around the country and even abroad. The proposed passport id card cost about P1,500 and is renewable every 5 years. The proposed ID card contains a chip that is similar to an atm card. It contains the basic information of the passport holder like name, birth date, country of origin and can just be swipe when they are passing through immigration. This would help increase the speed of traffic during immigration procedure that travelers are complaining about. Immigration authorities can now put their concentrated efforts with the airport security since they no longer have to check the passports manually. The proposed ID card if approved by the Congress and pass into law by the Senate will help immensely in improving the travelling experience of travelers. The Department is also expecting the return of more OFW’s and Balikbayan as these steps are aimed at them since this is much cheaper than having to pay agencies to process their papers.