The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Saturday reminded passport applicants to schedule an appointment with the DFA to ensure that their applications will be accommodated.

The DFA’s new Office of Consular Affairs (OCA) building near Mall of Asia will be open Monday, thus decongesting the DFA Main Office (along) Roxas Blvd., Pasay City.

“Only those with confirmed appointments will be accommodated at the new facility,” the DFA said.

“This appointment system will be strictly implemented to enable DFA to pre-process information submitted in advance by an applicant, thus avoiding long queues, as experienced by walk-in applicants at the DFA-OCA main office in Roxas Boulevard,” Office of Consular Affairs Assistant Secretary Renato Villapando said.

According to the DFA, passport applicants may set an appointment by going online (www.passport.com.ph) or by calling 737-1000. Travel agents can secure an appointment at www.dfa.gov.ph or email at scheduler@dfa-appointment.net. They may also call 834-4961, 834-4855 and 834-3707 for other details.

“Applicants are no longer required to bring photographs since they will have their pictures taken using ePassport data capturing machines at DFA-OCA,” the DFA said.

However, applicants are still required to bring their application form, which may be downloaded from the DFA website, www.dfa.gov.ph.

“Applicants are advised to deal only with DFA-OCA personnel inside the building. No escorts are allowed to accompany individual applicants,” the DFA stressed.

Earlier, Villapando said that once the new OCA Bldg. is opened to the public, walk-in applications will no longer be available except for emergency situations.

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 is equipped with 60 new data capturing computer stations.

Courier services are also available so that applicants who have no time to claim their passport may have their passport delivered right on their doorstep.

Villapando said they are also working on the availability of passport application appointments through phone or text messaging.

Philippine Ambassador to Kenya Domingo Lucenario had said the new OCA building is a “long-term solution” to get rid of passport fixers.

The new OCA Bldg. houses the e-passport, which has enhanced security features equipped with a tamper-proof electronic microchip. The enhanced security features prevents identity fraud and multiple identity cases frequent in the old green passport.

“It is at par with the best passport systems in the world,” Lucenario said. The new 7,000 – square meter, four-storey OCA building, including the lot and physical structures, amount to P530-million. It houses the electronic authentication system, the electronic visa system, and digitized consular records system.

It is equipped with fiber-optic lines, closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras and other high-tech communication infrastructure.

The DFA issues about 3,000 to 4,000 passports everyday at its main office with more than two million passports issued to individuals in November 2009. There are also more than 18,000 e-passport holders since it was launched in August 2009.