How I Renew My Passport Without DFA Scheduled Appointment?

I am planning to go to Korea before the year ends. Unfortunately, my passport will expire on February 2019 and it will be affected by the “6 month passport validity” period requirement for visa so I have to renew it early.

I tried to schedule an appointment on DFA website but to my horror, all slots are already full and I am really panicking. My friends suggested for me to keep on refreshing the website because DFA sometimes open a slot so I did but failed. Then, DFA released an announcement that they will open slots for all DFA satellite location every 12noon and 9pm, I waited everyday but failed to get one because it’s either the website crashed or there are sections not functioning on the website. It was really frustrating! Argh!

I’m even triggered to pay a travel agency to help me with my passport renewal or even pay for a fixer but my friends stop me from doing it!

I am ready to give up thinking “I won’t make it this year!” when a pop up showed up the moment I refreshed the DFA website.

The pop up says that…

SENIOR CITIZENS CAN USE THE COURTESY LANE AND ARE ALLOWED TO BRING 1 COMPANION.

I could not help but SHOUT FOR JOY!!!

This is it… I can renew my passport without hassle!

I told my mom who is a senior citizen if we can renew our passport together since both our passport will expire on the same month and she is cool with it! Yey! 🙂

The next day… We went to DFA Megamall to have our passport renewed. From the entrance, my mom showed her senior citizen ID to the guard, then the guard gave us a number to fall in line on the “Courtesy Lane”.

WHO CAN USE THE COURTESY LANE ON DFA SATELLITES?

Courtesy Lane Guidelines

The following can avail of the Courtesy Lane Facility without need of an online appointment:

1. Senior citizens (60 years and over) with proof of age.
   • Senior citizen is allowed one (1) companion
   • The companion of the senior citizen must be an immediate family member, i.e. spouse, siblings, adult children, adult grandchildren, and children-in-law of the senior citizen and must show proof of relationship.
   • If the companion is not an immediate family member, the companion has to show proof of travel arrangements (e.g. confirmed plane or hotel booking) with the senior citizen to be able to avail of the courtesy lane facility.
2. People with disabilities (PWDs) with proof of disability
   • PWD is allowed one (1) companion
   • The companion of the PWD must be an immediate family member, i.e. spouse, siblings, adult children, adult grandchildren, parents-in-law, and children-in-law of the PWD and must show proof of relationship.
   • If the companion is not an immediate family member, the companion has to show proof of travel arrangements (e.g. confirmed plane or hotel booking) with the PWD to be able to avail of the courtesy lane facility.
3. Solo parent must present valid solo parent card, and his/her minor children
4. Minors seven (7) years old and below and his/her parents and minor siblings
5. Pregnant women
   • If pregnancy is not visible, applicant must present medical certificate/records.
6. Overseas Filipino Workers (Land and Sea based) with valid proof of status, such as:
   • Valid iDOLE card
   • Valid Employment contract
   • Valid Work Visa
   • Seaman’s book stamped at international border less than 365 days from date of application

Full content can be found here: DFA Courtesy Lane

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Then from the Courtesy Lane line,  we were given a renewal form. We filled in the form with our personal details and gave it back to the DFA staff for processing.

Passport Renewal Requirements

The DFA staff reviewed our requirements which are just the following:

• Physical copy of our epassport.
• Photocopy of our passport data page.

We didn’t need other requirements since our passport is already an “epassport”. Epassports are those passports with chip on the cover. The chip looks like a camera icon. (Please see photo below for reference).

By the time our requirements has been confirmed, the DFA staff put a circle marks on our old passport using a puncher. This means that our old passports are already invalid. Then, they sign the form and gave it back to us for payment.

Courtesy Lane Payment Terms

My mom paid Php 950 processing fee while I paid Php 1,200 automatically in accordance to DFA Courtesy Lane Payment Terms.

Based on the payment terms, senior citizens can choose whether they want to pay for the Php 1,200 (expedited processing fee) or the Php 950 (regular processing fee). While his/her companion is required to pay Php 1,200 for the processing fee since companions are not really entitled to use the courtesy lane and are only accommodated for the convenience of the senior citizen, pwd, pregnant women, etc.

Courtesy Lane Passport Renewal Process

After we paid the processing fee, we proceeded to another lane for passport picture taking. We gave the form to the DFA staff and waited for our names to be called for the picture taking.

When our names are called, we went to the cubicle and removed our earrings and ponytails for the picture taking.

• Do not wear too much make up.
• Do not wear any hair and earring accessory.
• Do not smile on the camera.

We also have our finger prints and signatures recorded digitally for the new passport.

After all process are complete, we checked if all our information are correct before signing the complete / agreement paper.

Note: You have to thoroughly check all the information because if there is a mistake, you will have to pay again for passport application. 

The last process will be the delivery. We have an option to pick it up or have it delivered at home. For our convenience, we choose the “delivery method”. We paid Php 300.00 for the delivery fee. Delivery fee is Php 150.00 for each passport. Since my mom didn’t pay for Php 1,200, her passport will be delivered on a later time than my passport.

Then that’s it!

We just have to wait for our passport to be delivered to us!

I’m really happy that we already had our passport renewed!

I think the whole process only took us 45 minutes. It’s so fast and convenient.

OUR NEW PASSPORTS ARE ALREADY VALID FOR 1o YEARS!!! 

I won’t be needing to stress out about the passport schedule appointment every 5 years! 🙂

I just hope that the passporting system in the Philippines will improved within the 10 year period.