Philippine mission limits passport applicants

“We started the cut-off system because we have been deluged with passport applicants”, much more than the maximum the embassy can accommodate on a daily basis. “(Thus) we had to establish a fair system to accommodate all while maintaining the efficiency of our passport renewal services,” Adelio Cruz, Consul-General of the Philippine Embassy, told Khaleej Times.

He noted that the increased number of applicants in the Capital started a month-and-a-half ago.

With the new system, only the first 100 applicants are being entertained and those who come after are being given token numbers for the following day. Those who fail to reach the embassy the following day by 10am lose their time slots, which are being given to that day’s walk-in applicants.

The number of walk-in applicants accommodated in a day depends on the available slots.

Although the embassy primarily provides services to Filipinos living in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region, “a busload of people” from Dubai has also started coming here for the last few weeks to process their applications, according to Jose V. Jacob, first secretary and consul at the embassy.

Since the issuance of e-passport or biometric passport from June 2010 in the UAE, two dedicated encoders work full time to process passport applications at the embassy and the Philippine Consulate in Dubai.

With hundreds of applications everyday in Dubai, the Philippine Consulate has implemented an appointment system to accommodate between 100-160 applicants daily.

“They (have) also sought a system that is fair and efficient,” said Cruz.

However, some Filipinos who had queued up before 8am, when the embassy opens, but could not get the day’s tokens were not pleased with the new system.

“I took a day off from work today to renew my passport, which is expiring on March 11. I was not expecting this. I don’t know if my employer will allow me to come back again tomorrow,” complained Leony Borromeo, who works in a salon in Al Ain.

Jeffrey Julao, who works in Mussafah, was also not pleased as his passport was expiring on Monday and was given a day off only on Sunday for this purpose.

Cruz urged the Filipinos to check their passports’ expiry dates and start the process of renewal at least six months prior to expiry.

“Don’t come on the day of the expiration of your passports. The passport is getting processed in Manila and right now, the turnaround time is within six weeks. If you know your passport is about to expire, you have to find time to come,” Cruz stressed.

Asked for the reason on the surge of applicants, Cruz attributed this to the growing number of Filipinos in the UAE. It is estimated that between 600,000 and 7000,000 Filipinos live and work in the UAE, and 30 per cent of them are residents of Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and the Western Region.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com