Filipinos in UAE asked to apply for e-Passport

Filipinos in the UAE are urged to apply for the e-Passport as early as possible, especially when their passport validity is less than a year to avoid any travel woes, which they may encounter if their passports are still Machine Readable-Ready Passports (MRRP; green passports) and Machine Readable Passports (MRP; maroon passports).

E-passports will have a chip within the passport with all the biometrics, including photographs and finger prints stored in it. Such passports were introduced in 2011.

Consul Giovanni E. Palec, who is in charge of passport issuance at the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai, said that Filipinos holding MRRP (green passports) and MRP (maroon passports) will no longer be allowed to apply for an extension of the validity of these passports after October 31 which is a year before the deadline set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) .

“They must instead apply for an e-Passport as soon as possible before the expiry of their current MRRP or MRP passports. Those who fail to do so will likely encounter difficulty at immigration checks when traveling through any ports of entry around the world after October 2015 as per requirement by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO),” Palec said.

Palec added that the consulate in Dubai is currently strictly implementing the rules for applying for an extension of the validity of expiring or expired passports and only allows extension in emergency cases. In such cases, the applicant has to present proof of urgency such as a copy of the death certificate, medical certificate, valid employment contracts processed by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) or any of the Philippine Overseas Labour Offices (POLO), along with plane tickets with confirmed flight details.

Passports that are valid for less than six months or those that have already expired may be extended once only under the following circumstances: death in the family requiring the Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) and members of his/her dependent family to urgently travel to the Philippines; medical emergencies requiring the OFW and members of his/her dependent family to urgently travel to the Philippines or another country for medical treatment; OFWs returning to their employers abroad with valid employment contracts processed by the POEA; and those going home on final exit visas (for Filipinos in the Middle East).

He said the consulate grants only seven months’ extension instead of one year as practised earlier, to passports under emergency cases, and within the seven-month period, the passport holder should follow his affidavit of undertaking, which entails for the application of the new e-Passport.

Consul Palec said the Philippine Consulate will find a way of making arrangements with the Dubai Immigration to allow Filipinos holding passports with less than six months validity to leave the DubaiInternational Airport if they will be traveling on direct flights to Manila. “If their aircraft has stopovers in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand or Malaysia, we have no guarantee if they will be allowed embark and enter these countries where they may encounter difficulties at check-ins and other points of scrutiny with their old passports with less than six months validity,” he said.

He urged all Filipino expatriates and their families here to retain a photocopy of their passports so they can personally check the validity of their passport and visa evenif their passports are sometimes held with the company or, in the case of domestic helpers, in the possession of their employers.

Consul Palec said that as per the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Manila, a non-machine readable passport may no longer be extended beyond October 31, 2015 and have to be completely phased out by November 24, 2015.

The new e-Passport is in compliance with the ICAO standards.

lily@khaleejtimes.com