I noticed that my post How to Cancel Appointment in DFA for Philippine Passport Application is attracting a lot of visitors lately. Many of the readers of that post complained about not receiving their confirmation code and not able to cancel their appointment with the DFA.
I believe that many of the problems cited by commenters may be avoided by doing the following 5 tips when applying or renewing Philippine passport at the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA):
1. Use Gmail or Yahoo Mail E-mail Address
The DFA website warns the public that their Passport Appointment System don’t work with email addresses hosted by Hotmail, Live, MSN, and Outlook. Using these email addresses means that you will not receive email confirmation of your passport appointment.
DFA recommends passport applicants to use Gmail or Yahoo! accounts when applying or renewing their passport.
2. Avoid Passport Appointment Cancellation
Getting a schedule with the DFA is very difficult because of so many applicants vying for a slot. There were reports that some passport applicants can only get a slot that was scheduled three months in the future.
Treat your appointment schedule like gold. Cancel unnecessary plans that fall on the date of your appointed schedule. Keep in mind that it is hard to get a new schedule. Canceling your appointment is also difficult since DFA’s Passport Appointment System is running into many problems.
3. Make Sure that You Type-in the Right Information
Incorrect information typed in the online forms of the Passport Appointment System is a big no-no. A commenter in my post said that he mistakenly put female as his gender. Others mistakenly spelt their name.
Making a mistake in the Passport Appointment System is not the end of the world, however. You can still correct it when you go to the DFA. Just tell the DFA clerk to correct the wrong information.
4. NEVER Misspell Your Email Address
This is the worst mistake that you can do while processing your appointment in the Passport Appointment System. DFA sends a confirmation email and the forms that you need when applying or renewing your passport. Wrong email address means that you will not receive DFA’s email and it means that you can never go to the DFA process your passport.
5. Re-Schedule Instead of Cancelling Your Appointment
There are events, like a very important meeting, that will prevent you from going to the DFA for your appointment. If this happens, I suggest that you better schedule your appointment with the DFA instead of canceling it. A commenter to my post said that she was able to re-schedule her passport appointments three times and she got her passport after that.
Do you have questions about applying or renewing your Philippine passport with the DFA? Post those questions and your experiences at the comment box below. Make sure that you use a Google account so that you can receive my replies to your email.
More tips? Read about the Acceptable IDs for DFA Passport Application
Also read How to Renew Your Philippine Passport
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