Planning to get a new passport in the Philippines? New Info!

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

It doesn't solve all the problems, but it will help a bit!

 

I have to renew my almost 5 year olds soon.  Personal appearance at embassy required.  I hope they drop that!

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Seal with white background
United States Embassy Manila, Philippines    
United States Consular Agency Cebu, Philippines     
April 8, 2021    
Coming Soon: Online Fee Payment for Adult Passport Renewals 
Currently, all U.S. citizens in the Philippines who wish to renew their passports by mail must pay using a dollar demand draft obtained at one of three banks or arrange for in-person payment of the application fee at the Embassy in Manila or Consular Agency in Cebu.  We understand that this situation is inconvenient for U.S. citizens and have been working on a solution. 
The U.S. Department of State is pleased to announce that U.S. Embassy and Consular Agency in the Philippines have been selected as a pilot location to allow eligible U.S. citizens residing in the Philippines to pay their DS-82 passport renewal fees online.  The pilot program is expected to begin in the next few weeks. 
We will send another announcement when this online payment pilot system has launched, along with specific instructions to help you confirm your eligibility to renew your passport by mail and pay the required fee online.  Please monitor our website and your email for updates on our mail-in passport renewal program and the online fee payment option. 
For further information:    
-See the State Department's travel website for the Worldwide Caution, Travel Advisories, Alerts, and the Philippines Country Specific Information.    
-Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.    
-Contact the U.S. Embassy in Manila, Philippines, located at 1201 Roxas Boulevard, at +(63) (2) 5301-2000, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. After-hours emergency number for U.S. citizens is +(63) (2) 5301-2000.    
-Call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).    
-Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

[flicks1998 1,044]

I doubt they will drop the under 16 years of age personal appearance requirement. That seems to be required worldwide for a minor US passport.  Both parents have to go as well but there is a form that one of the parents can have notarized if they can’t be there in person so the other person can take the child for the passport.  Normally this has to be notarized at an embassy if your overseas but the embassy waives the notary fee so the service is free of charge. 
 

I believe your both in Subic so you both would have to make the trip to Manila unless there was an outreach program at Clark and one of the services is minor passport renewals. 

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

7 minutes ago, flicks1998 said:

I doubt they will drop the under 16 years of age personal appearance requirement. That seems to be required worldwide for a minor US passport.  Both parents have to go as well but there is a form that one of the parents can have notarized if they can’t be there in person so the other person can take the child for the passport.  Normally this has to be notarized at an embassy if your overseas but the embassy waives the notary fee so the service is free of charge. 
 

I believe your both in Subic so you both would have to make the trip to Manila unless there was an outreach program at Clark and one of the services is minor passport renewals. 

Yes, wishful thinking on my part.  If they thought out of the box a bit, they could do video interviews for some things like a child appearance.  I don't think it would be easy to cheat.

 

In the past, we have done everything at the outreaches.  Previously they would have them here in Subic as well as Clark.  Hopefully they can restart them before we need the passport.  Her passport expires in Feb. 2022.  We also need to renew her Philippines passport.  We have done all kinds of things at the outreaches.  I think the only time we had to go to the Embassy was when my step-daughter got her tourist visa.

 

Some good news as far as a child passport renewal here in the Philippines.  A friend is moving back to the U.S. in May/June and just realized in mid-March that his USC 15 yo daughter's passport was expired.  He was able to get an appointment at the Embassy for March 23.  He could not believe it when the new passport arrived on April 5th!  Only 13 days!  He was very worried because an adult nephew in the U.S. just applied for his first adult passport, 5 weeks ago, and was told it would take 11-15 weeks!  Still waiting.

[flicks1998 1,044]

6 minutes ago, seekingthetruth said:

Yes, wishful thinking on my part.  If they thought out of the box a bit, they could do video interviews for some things like a child appearance.  I don't think it would be easy to cheat.

 

In the past, we have done everything at the outreaches.  Previously they would have them here in Subic as well as Clark.  Hopefully they can restart them before we need the passport.  Her passport expires in Feb. 2022.  We also need to renew her Philippines passport.  We have done all kinds of things at the outreaches.  I think the only time we had to go to the Embassy was when my step-daughter got her tourist visa.

 

Some good news as far as a child passport renewal here in the Philippines.  A friend is moving back to the U.S. in May/June and just realized in mid-March that his USC 15 yo daughter's passport was expired.  He was able to get an appointment at the Embassy for March 23.  He could not believe it when the new passport arrived on April 5th!  Only 13 days!  He was very worried because an adult nephew in the U.S. just applied for his first adult passport, 5 weeks ago, and was told it would take 11-15 weeks!  Still waiting.

The good thing about being an American overseas is that when you renew your passport at an embassy, it’s done extremely quick and always seems to get priority over all of the domestic applications. I have renewed passports at USEM, as well as the US embassies in Singapore and Hong Kong and they always arrived in 2 weeks. Sometimes they will tell you 3 weeks but one of the Officers told me nearly always it will be within 2 weeks.  But yes, this past year it was 11-15 weeks with no expedite option inside the US.  
 

I requested a second valid US passport at USEM and had to have an interview for that. I had travel in10 days to countries that would give me problems due to previous country stamps but I had that passport in exactly 7 days. Pre-Covid I always found the embassy to be the most efficient way to do anything government related.