Public Advisory Regarding Passport Appointment Booking and Applicant’s Email Confirmation

26 June 2023 – The Department of Foreign Affairs – Office of Consular Affairs (DFA-OCA) informs the public that it has been alerted by  APO Production Unit, Inc. (APO), the  Government-Owned and Controlled Corporation (GOCC) engaged by the DFA for the printing of passports, that it is encountering technical difficulties in the remittance of payments generally  made through the Maya ePayment system, causing the non-receipt of passport appointment confirmation emails containing the application packet.

DFA-OCA is working to resolve the issue and has directed APO to fix the problem with its payment system and to send confirmation emails immediately to affected clients.

It may be noted that only booked appointments that were successfully paid online are confirmed and shall receive the application packets. If no proof of payment and/or payment reference code was received after 72 hours since booking of appointment, applicants are advised to secure a new appointment.

Applicants with appointments who have successfully booked and paid for their appointment but have yet to receive their confirmation emails are advised to regularly check their email inboxes, including spam or junk folders. They may also send an email to [email protected] to follow up their application packets or coordinate with the concerned consular office (CO) to facilitate the receipt of the confirmation emails. For contact information, please refer to the following pages:

For COs: https://consular.dfa.gov.ph/transparency/co-directory

For Temporary Off-site Passport Services (TOPS) sites: https://consular.dfa.gov.ph/transparency/tops-directory

Applicants who received their application packets beyond their original appointment date will still be accommodated within 30 days from the receipt of the email from DFA-OCA. Applicants are requested to coordinate with the concerned consular office (CO) for the new schedule.

Alternatively, applicants may be accommodated on their original appointment date at their respective appointment site, upon submission of accomplished passport application form (https://dfa-oca.ph/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Courtesy-Lane-Passport-Application-Form-Fillable.pdf) and printed proof of payment.

DFA-OCA wishes to assure the public that it is doing its utmost to address the inconvenience and disruption caused by APO’s technical issue, and requests the public’s continued patience as the DFA-OCA continues to find ways and exerts all efforts to improve the delivery of its consular services. END