Filipinos urged to renew passports at the earliest

"They must check the validity of their passports and renew them early if the expiry date is less than six months," he said.

He also said the Filipinos whose passports do not expire in the near future could also apply for the machine-readable passport since the Philippine government has not imposed any ban on renewing passports early.

Earlier, the Philippine Embassy had announced that it would accept only applications for the new machine-readable passports. From June 1, when the country started issuing machine-readable passport, applicants have been queuing up at the Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Philippine Consulate General in Dubai.

Ambassador Cabactulan also appealed to the employers and sponsors to allow their employees to apply for the new passport to avoid the last-minute rush just before the time for visa renewal.

In the past, several employers used to come to the Philippine diplomatic missions to renew the passports of their Filipino employees, especially domestic servants, just a few days before the expiry of their passports because the UAE authorities would not stamp the visas on passports that had expired.

The ambassador said this cannot be done now as the printing of the new passports is being done in Manila and the Philippine Embassy and the Consulate General only receives the applications to be sent by courier daily to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.

He stressed that there is no need to surrender the current passport when applying for the MRP. "Only a photocopy of the current passport needs to be submitted to us. The current passport will be cancelled only when the new passport is released," he clarified.

Manila has set 30 days for the new passport to reach the UAE. Yet, it has been able to process all applications sent within 18 days from the day the application is received in the emirates.

lily@khaleejtimes.com