Setting appointment for passport application needs to be taken more seriously now since starting June 1, those who don’t show up on the date of appointment will be penalized with a 30-day ban. This information is according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, as reported on GMA News Online.
Almendras said, “If you don’t show up you’re not going be able to reserve for 30 days. So please take your reservations seriously.”
This system will be implemented due to some applicants who practice disregarding of schedule, which resulted to many other applicants who have to wait two months or more before they can find an available slot. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) received a lot of complaints about this. Additionally, they found out that 47% of applicants who made reservations don’t show up.
Since there is no fee for reserving a schedule for passport application, Almendras observed that many applicants take their reservations for granted because they could easily apply for a new one.
Almendras added, “The intention is to make the Philippine passport a really respectable identification and that means security check left and right.”
The DFA receives at least 15,000 passport applications daily. At present, according to Almendras, the fastest passport application recorded was 20 minutes while the longest is 1 hour and 42 minutes. They are targeting a one-hour turnaround time.
