DFA scored for ‘delay’ in release of ePassports
Recruitment agencies have scored the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for the supposed delay in the processing and release of electronic passports (ePassport) despite the agency’s modernized facilities.
“This is very deplorable especially [since] overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have to be at their jobsites at the agreed time and any delays in their arrivals are hurting their chances in earning income for their families," said Jackson Gan, vice president for marketing of Federated Association of Manpower Exporters.
Gan said passport processing has gone from 20 working days to 40, resulting to backlogs. He said even the more expensive express service to speed up passport processing is now taking longer than usual.
“Even if the applicant is willing to pay the express service fee of P 1,200, the current backlog still results in a long processing time of 15 working days, [even as] the applicant was promised that the passport would be released in 10 days," he said.
Waiting time
The DFA, for its part, said the delay was not in the processing of passports but the waiting time to get an appointment, adding that passports are released 10 days from application for expedited passports, 20 days for regular passports, and even less than 10 days for emergency cases.
“It is the waiting time to get an appointment that is longer due to a number of reasons, including non-appearance," the DFA said in a statement posted on its Website.
“The processing and releasing time is in fact faster (here) compared to other countries. In the United States for instance, passports are released four to six weeks from the date of application," it added.
The DFA explained that 40 percent of individuals who set appointments do not show up on the designated dates. It said that despite this, the Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) still accommodates these slots since these were not cancelled by the applicants.
The OCA is urging the public to appear on the dates set for their appointments, or cancel their appointments if they will not be able to show up so that these could be allocated for other applicants.
Peak season
The DFA also attributed the two-month waiting time for appointments to the peak summer season and the huge demand for the ePassport, saying it has been accepting 3,500 applicants daily.
It said the number is expected to go down by July.
Still, OCA offices will be open on Saturdays starting next month to accommodate applicants.
While short of saying that its new modernized consular building is congested with applicants, the DFA said it is looking at “increasing the absorptive capacity" of the edifice.
The DFA recently transferred its OCA to a multimillion-peso facility along Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City. The building, leased by the Development Bank of the Philippines, houses, among others, the facility for the issuance of the ePassport.
The ePassport features an embedded integrated circuit chip for identity verification, which includes the biometric information of the holder and a unique identification number. - KBK, GMANews.TV
“This is very deplorable especially [since] overseas Filipino workers (OFW) have to be at their jobsites at the agreed time and any delays in their arrivals are hurting their chances in earning income for their families," said Jackson Gan, vice president for marketing of Federated Association of Manpower Exporters.
Gan said passport processing has gone from 20 working days to 40, resulting to backlogs. He said even the more expensive express service to speed up passport processing is now taking longer than usual.
“Even if the applicant is willing to pay the express service fee of P 1,200, the current backlog still results in a long processing time of 15 working days, [even as] the applicant was promised that the passport would be released in 10 days," he said.
Waiting time
The DFA, for its part, said the delay was not in the processing of passports but the waiting time to get an appointment, adding that passports are released 10 days from application for expedited passports, 20 days for regular passports, and even less than 10 days for emergency cases.
“It is the waiting time to get an appointment that is longer due to a number of reasons, including non-appearance," the DFA said in a statement posted on its Website.
“The processing and releasing time is in fact faster (here) compared to other countries. In the United States for instance, passports are released four to six weeks from the date of application," it added.
The DFA explained that 40 percent of individuals who set appointments do not show up on the designated dates. It said that despite this, the Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) still accommodates these slots since these were not cancelled by the applicants.
The OCA is urging the public to appear on the dates set for their appointments, or cancel their appointments if they will not be able to show up so that these could be allocated for other applicants.
Peak season
The DFA also attributed the two-month waiting time for appointments to the peak summer season and the huge demand for the ePassport, saying it has been accepting 3,500 applicants daily.
It said the number is expected to go down by July.
Still, OCA offices will be open on Saturdays starting next month to accommodate applicants.
While short of saying that its new modernized consular building is congested with applicants, the DFA said it is looking at “increasing the absorptive capacity" of the edifice.
The DFA recently transferred its OCA to a multimillion-peso facility along Macapagal Boulevard in Parañaque City. The building, leased by the Development Bank of the Philippines, houses, among others, the facility for the issuance of the ePassport.
The ePassport features an embedded integrated circuit chip for identity verification, which includes the biometric information of the holder and a unique identification number. - KBK, GMANews.TV
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