What is e-passport?
On August 26, 2009, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has started issuing the latest passport that is more advanced which is the Philippine e-Passport. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was the first ever Filipino to receive the said e-passport. In time, machine readable will be obsolete. Any Filipino or OFW’s who plan to travel or work abroad must be familiar with this e-passport. On October 2009 the issuance had commenced and for those who complied the required documents benefited the e-passport but only in limited numbers since initially e-passport has operated which include the renewals through Online Appointment System.
e-passport
With the amount of Php 950 one can avail it together with the other documents required which are the same in the Machine Readable Passport requirements. One might say that it’s quite expensive but it’s all worth it with its additional security features, and yet the cheapest compared to other countries. With e-passport, personal appearance is required and obligatory because applicants undergo a procedure called biometrics. This procedure assures every person availing the passport is not using other identities. Biometrics registered physical characteristics like face, fingerprints and iris scans. Every page of the e-passport has a chip (integrated circuit) that keeps significant information of the holder. Its state-of-the-art features make e-passport unique and different from other kind of passport.
Philippines is now using e-passport to follow the latest standards and to enhance the security of its travel documents together with the other 60 countries all around the world.
