The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) reminded the public on Monday to avail themselves of the appointment system in applying for a passport and avoid fixers at DFA premises.

The DFA will be opening by first quarter of this year its new Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) Bldg. in Aseana Business Park in Parañaque, near Mall of Asia to ensure more efficient and modern consular services.

DFA Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Renato Villapando said that once the new OCA Bldg. will be opened to the public, passport application will be on appointment basis. Walk-in applications will no longer be available except for emergency situations.

The DFA has already issued an appointment system but they receive more walk-in applicants than those on appointment basis. This will not be the case when the new OCA Bldg. opens in a bid to decongest the number of passport applicants as only those with appointment will be entertained.

Once the new OCA Bldg. becomes open to the public, passport applicants would have to enter through Gate 2 on Bradco Ave. for document evaluation and processing. They would have to get a queue stub once inside and wait for their number to be called. There will be 23 windows devoted to processing, according to Villapando.

After data processing, applicants will be asked to proceed to the second floor for enrolment and data capturing.

This means that there will be no need for applicants to have their pictures taken before going to the DFA as photo, signature and finger printing will be done inside the premises.

After which, the applicant would be able to proceed to the cashier for payment.

Regular passport processing is pegged at P950 and can be claimed after 14 working days while overtime or expedited processing amounts to P1,200 for a seven-day period. Replacement of lost valid passport will be charged an additional P200.

Villapando said the new passport application procedure is expected to take 30 minutes or even less as the new facility will be equipped with 60 new data capturing computer stations.