Hey Guys! Ever since I posted a photo of my baby's passport on Social Media (with the details covered, of course!), I have been bombarded with loads of questions from my friends and acquaintance on what steps I did to be able to get my 3-month young son a passport.
So here's a "sort of" quick blog post that I made for those who are interested for them to get a rough idea on what requirements to get or steps to do to be able to get your LO (Little One) a Philippine Passport.
Disclaimer: These are the steps on what I did and is based on my actual experience on how I got my 3 month young son a passport.
Let's start with the requirements first
Before going to DFA, I chanced upon this website and prepared the documents listed there (click HERE to go to that page). But as for the actual and per my experience, there were 5 important requirements that were asked from us by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA):
- Parents' Passports (already on hand)
- Parents' PSA Marriage Certificate (which we already have on hand)
- Baby's PSA Birth Certificate (steps on how to get this is written below)
- Government Issued ID of any parent
- Filled Out Application form - you can download and print it from this LINK.
Before the actual steps on how we applied for the passport, allow me to share with you on how I was able to secure the PSA copy of my son's birth certificate quickly below:
1.) After getting the ORIGINAL birth certificate of my son, I went to Davao City's LOCAL CIVIL REGISTRY (LCR), showed them the original birth certificate and asked to produce 10 certified true copies of the birth certificate. I paid 70 pesos per copy for that one. While I was there, I asked them on when I can get my son's PSA copy. The lady at the counter told me that it would take around 6 months to a year after birth to be able to request a copy online. Hence, she suggested that I request a "FAST TRACK" so that I can get my son's PSA copy earlier. I thought it was going to be hard but I only filled out a short form with my son's important details and just paid 100 pesos for that. A claim stub was given to me which I kept secured in my wallet. The lady then told me to go back 2 to 3 months after to check if the PSA will be available by then.
2.) Around a month after I requested for the "FAST TRACK", I just took my chances (since I was already around the area) and went to City Hall and asked where I can inquire if my son's PSA Birth Certificate was already available. I was led inside the sort of records division department. I showed the guy behind the counter my claim stub and the told me that my son's PSA Birth Certificate was already available (wow, I didn't expect it to be that fast!). He gave me a print out and told me to go to the PHILIPPINE STATISTICS OFFICE (PSA) at Cabaguio, Davao City to make a formal request. I did just that exactly a week after.
3.) At PSA, I was instructed to fill out a small piece of paper with my son's details and also how many PSA copies of his birth certificate I would like to request. I decided to get 3 copies just in case I would need those in the future (hey, you'll never know when you might really need them, right?). I paid 155 pesos per copy and paid a total of 465 pesos. I waited about just two hours at PSA since there were so many people during the time I went there and went home afterwards with the three copies of my son's PSA copy of his
birth certificate.
Now we're done with the requirements, let's move on to the actual steps we took at the Department of Foreign Affairs:
1.) For minors below 7 years old, NO ONLINE APPOINTMENT IS REQUIRED. So we went to DFA as walk in clients since we have a baby in tow. We told the guard the purpose of our visit and told us to have all our original documents photocopies at the right side of the room (P.S. They charge higher than other photocopying services outside of DFA so make sure to have all your documents photocopies ahead of time). Also make sure that the application form has already been filled out by the parent who will claim the passport on the minor's behalf. In our case, this was me.
2.) Afterwards, we were asked to sit on the left side of the room at the priority section together with Senior Citizens, Pregnant women and persons with disability. We just waited for around 10 minutes then it was finally our turn. We showed the lady behind the counter all our documents (original and the photopies). She also looked at our baby since his personal appearance was also required. She then gave us a small slip to give to the Cashier for payment.
3.) We paid 1,200 pesos for baby's passport application since we went on a Saturday versus the 950 pesos charge during weekdays. After payment, we were told to wait at the area and wait for baby's turn to have his photo taken.
4.) Now this was the most challenging part! When it was finally our turn, we were told to hold baby in a position that would allow the camera to get a decent passport photo of him. We had a bit of a hard time since he was crying the whole time! So we spent around 5 minutes at this step. Turns out, baby was already hungry that time! Ha ha!
5.) After baby's photo was taken, the lady showed me a mock image of baby's passport with his photo and asked me to check each detail one by one if the spellings were correct. After giving her the go signal, she told me that we were good to go and gave us an approximate date on when we can claim our baby's passport (which was 16 calendar days after we applied that day.)
6.) VERY IMPORTANT! Keep the Claim Stub given by DFA secured! This is very important on the day that you will claim your child's passport.
7.) PATIENCE is the key. Expect a long line while claiming your infant's passport. I waited in line for around 30 minutes so it wasn't really that bad.
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| Here's a photo of my baby's passport which is valid for 5 years. |
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