No more fast lane privileges for travel agencies to process passports for their clients.
Today, everyone has to line up for a passport.
This is the only thing that has changed since new guidelines were issued by the DFA for passport processing said Regional Director Elias Balawag of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Central Visayas.
The new scheme has drawn complaints from several travel agencies.
“In the past, they could come here and not have to line up. The new direction is to level the playing field for everyone so now they are required to line up,” Balawag told Cebu Daily News.
Before the policy change this year, the DFA scheduled appointments for travel agencies to process passports for their clients.
“We divided them into two groups – one group of 33 agencies could process three passports each every Tuesday and Thursday while the other group could process every Wednesday and Friday. Now we don’t do that,” said Balawag.
Asked about the travel agencies’s complaints about further limiting the number of passports they could process, Balawag said he couldn’t do anything about it because the guidelines were part of the DFA’s national thrust.
Travel agencies are allowed to process on behalf of their clients a reduced volume of passports from 20 percent of the DFA’s daily quota to five percent starting June until December.
Despite the new limitation, the DFA regional office in Mandaue City is still processing more than the quota of the travel agencies daily, said Balawag.
The DFA regional office can process 350 to 380 passport applications and renewals a day, including about 50 from travel agencies despite the five percent limit.
He said the DFA regional office was trying to accommodate more passports from travel agencies despite the limit because not all 500 slots allotted daily are used up especially with some applicants lacking requirements.
Balawag also said that by next year the DFA Call Center would be operating.
People can call in to ask information about application requirements, and set up appointments for personal appearance in the office.
“The system now uses biometrics which requires one to come personally to the office and not rely on a representative so people will really line up,” said Balawag.
Profile photos and fingerprints are captured during a visit, which eliminates the use of “fixers”.
As early as midnight people start lining up at the DFA office in Pacific Mall in Mandaue City to wait for priority numbers to be distributed at 7 a.m.
“If you come at 7 a.m. you can still get a number but you will be entertained in the afternoon. Everyone has to go through this process, including the representatives from travel agencies,” said Balawag.
Rates remain at P950 for regular processing and P1,200 for express processing to get a passport within 10 to 15 days.
“We hope to make processing faster. Maybe the DFA headquarters can put someone here to authenticate documents because we have to send the documents to Manila,” said Balawag.
Some applicants, however, still find the process confusing.
“That is why some people who are willing to pay just process through the travel agencies but now we were told it will take more time if you go that way,” said Yvonne Macachor-Stichtenoth, a Cebuana married to a German.
She’s renewing her passport because she plans to leave for Germany on Oct. 5.
“I was told that we can set up appointments online which I did. I was instructed to be here today by 9:30 a.m only to be told that I still have to line up and get a number. I’ts very confusing,” said Stichtenoth.
She suggested that the DFA separate those applying for new passports from those renewing them and to place signs with step-by-step instructions on the work flow.
Manny Taghoy, 26, of Mactan plans to go to Qatar for work. He lined up at 4 a.m. yesterday and was still waiting for his turn as of 11 a.m.
“I had to file a leave from work so that I can process my passport. For me it’s okay that they are limiting the travel agencies.”
“The problem really is the flow of the processing. It really takes time,” said Taghoy.