Renewing your U.S. passport while living in the Philippines can be a very simple process. There is quite a bit of information currently available for this procedure, including the clear instructions from the U.S. Embassy.
As I recently had to renew my passport, I thought it would be good to relay my experience and point out the issues that arose. Obviously if you live in Manila everything is easier. I don’t, so there were a couple more wrinkles for me.
Here are the official U.S. Passport Renewal requirements and instructions. You don’t need to go any further if you want to do things on your own. That’s what I did, and what follows are the things I learned along the way.
Renew before six month expiry
Most experienced international travelers probably know this already, but I didn’t. I knew my passport would need to be renewed this year as it would expire in August. I didn’t think that was a problem until I found out that I had need to use it earlier than that. It was then that I learned of the six month rule. To get back into the Philippines I needed at least six months remaining on my passport. From what I understand that may be true for all countries.
Calling the courier
To have your application and current passport picked up (meaning you aren’t going to Manila or Cebu to process it) you need to call a special number for the exclusive courier that the embassy uses, Air21. It won’t do any good to go to a local Air21 office, as they have a specific routine to handle this. You need to call.
For me that was a minor issue as I don’t have a landline and the number to call is landline only. No email or text. So I needed to buy load specifically for the purpose of having them pick up my package.
The other issue I had is that there is no one regularly at my residence, so I needed to have them call first. Of course they didn’t, but I got lucky and caught the driver. Unfortunately on the return my number had changed, and even though the driver had said he’d call first I couldn’t get ahold of anyone to give them my new number. Air21 said they couldn’t accept it until my package was on the way back and the embassy had extremely limited phone hours which always returned a busy signal.
I wrote a letter authorizing my neighbors to accept my package and hoped for the best. As it turned out that worked fine.
Payment
Even though you can renew remotely, you must pay ($110) in person before the embassy will process the renewal. You can authorize someone to do that for you, with payment in Manila or at the consulate in Cebu. I had my brother in Manila do that for me.
For whatever reason they didn’t give him a receipt. So after two weeks I was wondering if they were really processing it or not, and if the lack of receipt was going to be a problem. Again I had no way of knowing. There is an email address you can contact to ask questions. I tried that but never received an answer.
After two weeks and 1 day my renewed passport arrived, much to my relief, with the receipt stapled to the back of my old passport. The process was pretty simple even though I had a few small problems. Most people I had talked to about this procedure indicated that they got theirs back much quicker than I did. So I think two weeks is probably the most you would normally need to wait.
Now I’m good for another 10 years, so I’ll see what the procedure is then, if I’m still around to be concerned with it.
Feb 27, 2015 @ 03:27:11
Also, the US embassy phone line is currently hopeless. No answer until a voice says to try again. An alternate number no longer works too.
The Cebu consulate is another option that is closer (if you can’t wait and willing to fly), but don’t try emailing them because the email account no longer exist (a bayantel email account for some strange reason).
I’m currently renewing my kid’s passport so, yeah.
Feb 27, 2015 @ 05:28:34
Yes, the Cebu Consulate is closer. Their hours of operation are very limited, and it is my understanding that it takes a lot longer to process from there. I had a friend that processed it as I did, but flew to Cebu to make the payment. So that is an option.
All in all, as things go here, it went pretty smooth.
Mar 01, 2015 @ 18:23:24
Excellent rundown Randy. I didn’t understand one sentence, though:
You don’t pay $50 at the embassy, you pay $110 for s normal adult renewal.
Now some people (like me 😉 ) will go to the embassy and make the payment for those who have no other choice. I charge $50 for this service. BUT, as you point out another person you trust can also go and make the payment on your behalf. Does not have to be a US citizen either, may be any nationality, including Filipino as long as the have a simple letter from you authorizing them to make payment on your behalf and at least one government issued photo ID.
The actual payment process is simple and painless, you don’t need an embassy appointment, you go right into the embassy to a specific window to make the payment and yes, they don’t issue a receipt to the person who makes the payment. Why? I don’t know. The whole system is convoluted and made overly complex by the embassy not accepting electronic bank transfers as they do with charges like visa applications but then again, this is the way it currently is.
Like you I hope they change it within the next 10 years, because I sure don’t enjoy making trips to the Embassy, but this is the Philippines and it is what it is 😉
Mar 01, 2015 @ 18:38:11
Sorry about that, you are right the charge was $110. I confused that with the notary service ( a different issue but during the same time). Anyway I’ll make that change. Thanks.
I wasn’t so concerned with the lack of receipt, but lack of anyway way to track it or know they were actually working on it. What if they came back and said they never received payment, and therefor didn’t process it? I’m sure it would get worked out, but how long would that take?
Nice of you to offer that service. But like you said, it’s not fun to go there so I hope it’s not to often for you.