New tech to speed up Philippine passport processing

The new passport data capturing system at the Philippines Consulate in Dubai

The Philippines Consulate in Dubai has rolled out a new passport data capturing system to expedite the processing of passports.
Consular officials announced it at a town hall meeting on Sunday night. "Three new machines have arrived from Manila and we tested one on 30 passport applicants on Sunday. It is still in the trial stage, and we would like to know how the hardware will perform," Consul Ferdinand Flores told Khaleej Times. "We're highly optimistic that the new system will enable faster passport application processing times, since it uses the latest software.
"The new machine uses the latest Windows Operating System and comes with a digital SLR camera for photo capture. Its new security feature scans the thumb and index fingers, compared to the previous machine that uses an old Windows OS, low resolution digicam and one-finger biometric scanner," Flores added.
The Philippine Embassy in Abu Dhabi has also received a new passport data capturing machine which they will start using in August.
Flores, however, said the Consulate is still using the three existing, older machines as they are "not yet fully migrating to the new system" due to the high volume of applicants received every day, and until the new machines are tested.
The Dubai consulate has now increased its quota of receiving passport applications to 380 per day, up from the previous 350.
Flores added that a new appointment system for passport application will be introduced in September or later this year, with applicants required to input their personal information online to cut down encoding time during his/her personal appearance at the diplomatic posts.
"We will launch a massive information campaign before we implement this new appointment system," Flores said.
angel@khaleejtimes.com