With their electronic Passport (ePassport) equipment data capture equipment in place, the Philippine Embassy in Canberra and the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney are now able to issue Philippine ePassports to Filipinos in their respective areas of jurisdiction.

The Philippine ePassport is a passport which features microchip technology.  An integrated circuit (chip) within its pages which contains the data that are essential in verifying the identity of the passport holder.   The chip technology allows the information stored in an e-Passport to be read by special chip readers at a close distance. 

The Embassy will continue to accept applications for machine-readable passports (MRP) only until Thursday, 23 December 2010. 

In view of the personal appearance requirement for ePassport photo and fingerprint capture, effective 04 January 2011, passport applicants can only apply at the Embassy, the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney or with a mobile passport service team. 

The passport processing service fee is A$ 108.00, both for new applications and renewals.  A fee of A$270 will be charged to applicants who lose their ePassports and would like to re-apply for a new passport. 

Applicants can expect to receive their new passports 4 to 6 weeks from the date of application. 

Applicants are advised of their options in applying for a Philippine passport: 

1. Apply for an MRP at the nearest Consular Mission before 23 December 2010;
2. Apply for an ePassport with the Embassy of the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney;
3. Apply for an ePassport during the mobile passport service in your area (schedule to be announced);
4. Apply for an e-Passport while in the Philippines;
5. Apply for a passport extension (Green passport and 1 extension only.  An extended passport can  no longer be extended); or
6. Apply for a Travel Document with the nearest Consular Mission (A travel document is good for a one-way direct flight to the Philippines only.)

The shift from the MRP to the ePassport is in line with the Philippine Government’s efforts to offer the Global Filipino a world-class and internationally-compliant travel document. 

(For more information on the Philippine ePassport, please click here.)