Passport releasing schedules to resume on April 15

MANILA, Philippines - Normal passport releasing schedules will resume on Tuesday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced yesterday.

The DFA said regular processing of passports from DFA Aseana and satellite offices is 15 working days and seven working days for express.

For regional consular offices, passport processing will take 20 working days for regular and 10 working days for express.

Those who applied in foreign service posts will have to wait for three to four weeks.

The DFA said those with urgent travel needs due to emergency reasons, such as medical emergencies or death in the family, could also apply for the early release of their passports as long as they present documentary proof of their emergency situation.

The DFA announced the implementation of a temporary passport-releasing scheme on March 28 to allow them to undertake technical maintenance for the e-Passport system.

The move was to prevent any breakdown and malfunction of the system and ensure that passport services will not be disrupted.