Ahh. How I dread going to government offices. I hate it when the time comes that I need to renew stuff. Passport Renewal. Drivers License Renewal. In the Philippines. But then, it’s what I needed to do since I love travelling, and my passport is almost expired – hindering me from leaving the country six months before it expires. So, the ultimate sacrifice happened today, as I spent my morning at the Department of Foreign Affairs building to renew my passport.
Good thing my sister was with me to renew her passport as well, for it would have bored me to tears in being alone. I remember way back, when we applied for passports, we had them done by our trusty travel agency, as we just entered the old DFA facility, signed, and left. It was that easy. But I heard and researched that companions weren’t even permitted inside the DFA main building anymore so paying extra to make it easier wouldn’t really help much. With that, I decided to book my appointment with DFA online. Apparently, DFA’s in sync with technology as they make us book online for our passport application and renewal needs, with the DFA Passport Appointment System.
My appointment was at 10 am, while my sister’s was at 9: 30 am. Silly me for not being able to realize that for every half hour, DFA allows 50 people to make an appointment. I should have just had my sister and I have the same time.
We were pretty early that day, as we arrived at 8:30 am, anticipating crowds of people. Turned out, yes, there was indeed a crowd, so off we start with our adventure!
Here are our tips, coupled with some comments and narrations from our adventure that day in having our passports renewed :
Step 0 : Look for the new Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFA ) Building
The Department of Foreign Affairs has a new building in a bigger, and better location!
It is located in Macapagal corner Bradco Street, near the Mall of Asia in Paranaque. If you’re going there from CCP, drive til you see Blue Wave, as it is one block away from the place. Nearest landmarks include a Petron Gas Station with a McDonalds beside it ( this is just right across the new DFA Building ).
Step 1 : Enter Gate 2.
Turns out, there is no separate queue for passport application, and passport renewal. Everyone’s bunched in together. The first step is to enter Gate 2, fall in the moving line, as you take your turn for the DFA Officer to check your Application Form.
When my sister and I entered Gate 2, the line was moving, and it just drizzled, so it wasn’t so warm. We kept on moving and waiting for our turn, until we were at the front, with the DFA Officer checking our printed Application Form, as they highlighted our control number.
Turns out ,the control number contains the time ( the second and third number indicates it ), and the last four numbers indicate the date of the appointment.
After that, we were directed by the DFA Officers to queue at the area on our left.
Step 2 : Get in the Main Building.
The next step is to get in the main building, obtain a queue number, for the documents to be verified. Well, it wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
We saw a queue near the main entrance, so we immediately queued there. Turns out, it was the queue for those who had their appointments on 8am! Time check that time? it was 9 am already! Because of that, our appointments being 9:30 am and 10:30 am respectively, we were rejected by the female guard who was in charge of letting people enter – she definitely checks on the schedule before she lets people in.
I noticed that people who arrived just as the same time as us with appointments on 7 am or 8 am were immediately admitted by that lady guard. Hmm, I am thinking strategy.
Wasting time on the queue, we saw that there was a disorganized scatter of people across the line to enter the building. We just thought that they were people waiting for their family members there, but no! They were queues. There were two looong queues across the primary queue – apparently, you have to queue there, if it’s still not your time, to be able to be led to the “primary queue”. We queued at the line for 9 am, and waited around an hour there.
Let me just say that that was the worst part of the wait because there was no shade, and we were quite burning up – it was very hot and the sun was just unforgiving that time! Good thing that we brought our fans – lesson learned - BRING UMBRELLAS !
After an uncomfortable hour of waiting there, around 10:00 am , the 9am queue was finally allowed by the DFA Officer to go to the primary queue. Oh yay!! And within ten minutes, we were able to get in the main building.
One word : aircon!
Step 3 : Get a Queue Number, Wait For Your Documents To Be Verified.
Ahhhh, finally, aircon!!! The agonizing experience outside the DFA building was offset by the very cold airconditioning inside the DFA Building.
We went to the front desk, and showed the DFA Officers our Application Form, and they gave us a queue stub. Good thing that my sister and I were together, that we only needed one number! Stub number 1810. By the time we entered the building, around # 1650 was being served. Great. More than a hundred to wait for! But then, really, the waiting area was really comfortable with that full blast air conditioning system with air condenser, that it was getting colder by the minute! And also, there were 23 counters, so in no time ( I’m guessing one hour , or max, one and a half hour ) , it was our turn already.
We submitted our forms, our photocopied pages from our passport to the assigned DFA officer, presented our Valid ID, and surrendered our passport. The checker signed the photocopied pages, stamped something on it, and let us sign our Application Form, and punched ( using puncher. not what you’re thinking! ) our Passports that means that our old passports were cancelled. He also wrote a payment slip, asking us to bring it to the second floor on the Passport Enrolment Section.
Step 4.1 : Go to the Passport Enrolment Section and Pay
As our business in the waiting area for document verification was finished, we walked to find our way to the second floor. Wow. An escalator inside a government office. Very, very nice! It reminded me of Singapore’s ICA when I had to apply my student permit there a year ago. Very, very impressive.
The second floor was less crowded, and it was just a sight to behold. Very, very nice! Take a look :
Anyway, we entered the Passport Enrolment Section, and was led to the first line that we saw – accounting. We fell in line and paid our passport fees ( P 950.00 for regular processing and P 1,200 for expedited/rush processing ). It was really quick since there were not much people there, and there were two officers accommodating the people.
Step 4.2 Get Queue Number, and Wait For Your Turn for Data Encoding
Okay, the last step! ( well, almost there! ) we went in the Data Encoding Entry ( which was also located inside the Passport Enrolment Section ) , as we were given a queue stub again, to wait for our turn. There’s also a waiting area ( much smaller than the one located at the ground floor ) , but with more than 50 stations, it all explains why it wasn’t so crowded in the area!
Within 30 minutes ( waiting for 30 ahead of us ) , we went to our designated station, and we presented our checked documents to the DFA Officer. Our Application forms were scanned. Our pictures were taken ( I just had to wonder – she told us that it was optional to wear a collared shirt! But still, I brought one with me because I wanted to look formal in my passport ) , we were asked to sign digitally on the tablet, and the officer started encoding our information from our Application form, printed it out, and let us double check on the details before signing it. After that, bam! Done! ( I almost whooped in glee! )
Step 5 : Book a Courier
Okay, we’re almost out of the building! Just right outside the Passport Enrolment Center, on the left side, are courier companies offering to pick up your passport for you, and have it delivered to your doorstep. Definitely more convenient than going back and waiting for it to be released, if you ask me! We paid P 120.00 each for the delivery, and I chose Air 21, as I use this courier for my deliveries, and I trust it, having delivered NSO Birth Certificates and my Japan Visa. There’s also LBC and other couriers there.
Okay, we’re DONE!!!!! Time check? 12 noon!
Okay, it might seem a long wait ( three and a half hours! ) , I shouldn’t be totally satisfied with what I’ve heard from other people having their passports renewed in 45 minutes or an hour, but what compensated it was the full blast airconditioning inside. It really made the wait much, much, more bearable. The only challenge in this entire process is getting IN the main building. After you get in, you won’t need to worry about anything else anymore.
Here are some tips, according to our experience, to help you with your DFA Passport application or renewal :
* Better go with your family to make it a one-time-big-time effort to queue, as you decide to spend the entire morning, or entire afternoon to renew your passports. It also saves you from boredom from waiting.
* Be 30 minutes early than your expected appointment. Do not be too early as you will not be allowed to enter the main building unless they have let those with appointments earlier than you enter.
* Just my observation – it was better to be late than early. Well, not too late, of course! I’ve seen those who have their appointments on 8am to arrive the same time as we did ( around 8:30am ), who were admitted to the building without going to the “waiting area” outside. I must admit that the waiting area outside after the first entrance before the main building can be really uncomfortable as there is no shade. BUT THEN, I would not want to encourage you to be late!
Okay, bottomline, don’t be too early, just be there on your designated time, to avoid being queued in the informal queue. Or maybe just bring umbrellas.
* Restroom is located near Gate 2, just in case. No need to panic. Haha!
Extra Notes :
Kudos to the McDonalds branch just across the Department of Foreign Affairs ( DFA ) Building for being so darn efficient!
My dad asked to meet us there for lunch before we go home, and as we crossed the street and saw McDonalds, boy, it was really packed from the outside. As we entered Mcdo, we were so shocked with the swarm of people inside! The place was around one to one and a half square foot per person, and people were eating back – to – back, tables so near each other that you can befriend the person seated at the next table! We were about to convince dad to just go home to eat, but we saw that my dad got a table ( almost a miracle! ) My dad told me that when he entered McDo, one of the staff immediately approached him and asked, “how many?” as he got my dad a table in no time. My dad was impressed with the customer service amidst the crazy crowd.
As my sister and I fell in line to the counter to order food, we were also intimidated on how many people were lining up. There were so much! But the surprising thing was, the line was just moving so fast, that in no time, we were in front, with our orders being served so quickly! I promise, the staff here are so trained with working during rush hours, that they perform better than normal McDonalds branches, that take longer to serve orders. I’m so impressed! Kudos to the McDonalds branch in front of the DFA Building for being so darn efficient! I hope that they renovate and get a second floor for more customers, as the place is really, really, really cramped!
Tags: department of foreign affairs, dfa new building, macapagal blvd, passport application, passport online appointment system, passport renewal
Thanks for this Soph! I need to renew mine as it’s expired by a month.
Hi, Sophie! Thanks for this. My brother will renew his passport soon.
Thanks for this Sophie. It’s very helpful for me. I’ll spread the good news about the “fully airconditioned” office DFA’s got!