MANILA: TRAVEL – Philippine Passport applicants to pay fees in advance through banks when they make online appointments for application or renewal.

Starting next year, passport applicants will have to pay the processing fee in advance through banks when they make online appointments for application or renewal.

Foreign Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano has announced that the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) would issue in the next few weeks guidelines for the bank “e-payment” that would require applicants to pay at least half of the passport fee.

He said the advance payment should discourage the high percentage of no-shows, since the wait to get an online appointment now takes months.

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“Just like anything in the Philippines, when there’s a backlog, some take advantage. Like now, 40 percent of those who make appointments do not show up,” Cayetano said.

According to Cayetano, the DFA plans to ask passport applicants to pay the processing fee in half or in full upon making an appointment.