DFA Megamall - LIKE!

Last Saturday, my youngest son had an appointment to get his passport for the first time. Since he is an infant, he was eligible to use the courtesy lane. Although we had an appointment, I can't help rave about this courtesy lane. In a nutshell, we were done in less than 20 minutes. I am not doing justice to this post. I mean, I forgot to bring my passport. So, I had to photocopy other IDs. This took some time so the 20 minutes should have been much less. I did not even use those chairs to wait for anything! My son and I went from window to window. Let me just list the series of events:

• Lined up outside the main entrance
• Approached the guard to ask if there is a special lane for infants.
• Guard said we could just enter as soon as the office starts to accept applicants.
• Opening time
• While others go to the VERIFICATION area, senior citizens and infants go to INFORMATION
• After this, I was instructed by the guard to go to WINDOW 3. This is where they looked for my passport, which I forgot!
• So I had to photocopy the other government IDs I have with me. Photocopying cost Php3.00 per page
• When I presented the photocopies, the personnel wrote something and we moved on to the cashier
• Afterwhich, we were escorted to a cubicle for the picture taking and encoding.
• After some signatures, I got the claim stub and we were free to go!

The wait time is before the DFA opened and for the photocopying. Otherwise, wow! My advice, if you have children less than a year old, get them their passports. Try the malls, there is another one in Robinson's Galleria but I think where the Megamall office is situated is more convenient for those with vehicles.

Really amazed that it was that fast but still think it could be quicker if they will not re-encode what was encoded online for the application form. The data should just be verified. It would take another 3 minutes off their processing time. It would be significant especially towards the end of the day since these 3 minutes would accumulate and build the queue. Still, kudos to DFA Megamall.

Some useful information:

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

•Personal appearance
•Confirmed appointment
•Birth Certificate (BC) in Security Paper (SECPA) issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) or Certified True Copy (CTC) of BC issued by the Local Civil Registrar (LCR) and duly authenticated by NSO. Transcribed Birth Certificate from the LCR is required when entries in NSO Birth Certificate are blurred or unreadable. (Report of Birth duly authenticated by NSO if born abroad)
•No need to submit a passport size photo
•Valid picture IDs and supporting documents to prove identity (Please refer to List of Acceptable IDs and List of Supporting Documents)

NSO Birth Certificate

Birth Certificate (BC) in Security Paper (SECPA) issued by the National Statistics Office (NSO) or Certified True Copy (CTC) of BC issued by the Local Civil Registrar duly authenticated by NSO depending on the NSO signatory.
http://megamall.passport.com.ph/requirements

Passport Fees

•Regular Processing (15 working days): P950.00
•Express Processing (7 working days): P1,200.00

Please be advised that appointments from 5:00PM onwards and during Saturdays will be considered rush processing.
http://megamall.passport.com.ph/passport-fees

You may call (+632)570.3230 to make sure your passport is ready for pick-up. Please don't call before the date specified to help reduce the call volume.