MANILA, Philippines — The processing of some 17,000 passports have been delayed due to the erroneous information that applicants had provided in their application papers, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Saturday.
“The DFA urge(s) the public to ensure accuracy with their personal information,” it said. “(A)pplicants with errors on their forms are now required to return for another appointment.”
In a statement, the DFA said the backlog in passport applications actually reached more than 26,000 since July, prompting the department to establish new temporary offsite passport services centers in the provinces to address the problem.
It said the pandemic also hampered the processing of passports after several DFA employees were infected with thex coronavirus.