U.S. Passport Renewal

[AlwaysRt]

 

I do not see a recent update to this so I am sharing my experience:

U.S. Passport expires in July this year and have travel plans so need new passport to comply with the 6 months remaining requirement the Philippines and other countries have.

I filled out the application using the wizard on the embassy website and printed it out. On the application you can request the larger passport which has twice the pages as 'normal'. The cost of the regular and extra page passport is the same, the State Department no longer issues extra pages to add to your passport so if you think you will need them get them on renewal.

Per the instructions on the website, I went to BPI and got a bank draft for $110, had to put my wife's name and account number on the BPI request but they put my name on the draft. Not sure, but sounded like you need an account to get the draft. The exchange rate they used was better than xe.com (over p50.00 to $1 on a P49.xx to $1 day) and charged p250 (best I can remember) service fee.

Since the Air21 phone number at the Embassy does not work (per the instruction sheet, I believe it is finally working now) I just went to Air21 in Duma. Instead of p240 round trip door-to-door, it was p300 to send from their office and I will have to pay the Air21 return fee COD to the driver.

2 weeks since I was at Air21 I checked the Embassy Passport Status website, it said my new passport has been printed in the US and sent to the Manila Embassy. 

Final result, I recieved my old and new Passport (with extra pages) via Air21 COD to my door today. COD fee was p120. That makes it mailed to Embassy via Air21 in Dumaguete on Friday 27 January and received via Air21 in Valencia on Wednesday 1 March, 2 days short of 5 weeks.

[Jollygoodfellow]

37 minutes ago, AlwaysRt said:

U.S. Passport expires in July this year and have travel plans so need new passport to comply with the 6 months remaining requirement the Philippines and other countries have.

Maybe in other countries but the Philippines does not require 6 months remaining anymore for those from the countries listed..

Note: The passport shall have at least six months’ validity beyond intended stay, unless the alien belongs to a non-visa required country who may be admitted into the Philippines with less than six months’ valid passports upon arrival and whose embassies/consulate extend or renew their passports in the Philippines.

Pursuant to Operations Order No. SBM-2015-026, nationals of the following countries may be admitted into the Philippines with passports of less than six (6) months validity from date of arrival:
 

1. Angola                                    22. Korea

2. Argentina                                23. Kuwait

3. Australia                                 24. Laos

4. Austria                                   25. Mexico

5. Belgium                                  26. Myanmar

6. Benin                                     27. Netherlands

7. Brazil                                     28. New Zealand

8. Cambodia                               29. Niger

9. Canada                                  30. Papua New Guinea

10. Chile                                    31. Peru

11. Cyprus                                 32. Portugal

12. Ecuador                                33. Romania

13. France                                  34. Saudi Arabia

14. Germany                              35. Singapore

15. Greece                                 36. Spain

16. Iceland                                 37. Switzerland

17. Indonesia                             38. Thailand

18. Ireland                                 39. Turkey

19. Israel                                   40. United States of America

20. Italy                                     41. Venezuela

21. Japan

http://www.immigration.gov.ph/faqs/travel-req

[AlwaysRt]

15 minutes ago, Jollygoodfellow said:

Pursuant to Operations Order No. SBM-2015-026, nationals of the following countries may be admitted into the Philippines with passports of less than six (6) months validity from date of arrival:

I highlighted the key word there. I was not aware of this and BI officers I have talked to all said 6 months remaining is a requirement. US Passport holders may be admitted with less than 6 months remaining and a BI officer at the airport may not let you in the country. Now with 10 years on my passport again, at least I know that won't be a problem for me.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

Glad to see the time frame. I need to renew mine before November.  I have to get my 13a renewed first, in June... hope it is no problem having them stamp the new passport... 

[not so old china hand]

On 03/02/2017 at 2:24 PM, Jollygoodfellow said:

Note: The passport shall have at least six months’ validity beyond intended stay, unless the alien belongs to a non-visa required country who may be admitted into the Philippines with less than six months’ valid passports upon arrival and whose embassies/consulate extend or renew their passports in the Philippines.

Pursuant to Operations Order No. SBM-2015-026, nationals of the following countries may be admitted into the Philippines with passports of less than six (6) months validity from date of arrival:
 

I note the UK is conspicuously absent from this list. Presumably because the FCO has ceased renewing passports at British consulates.

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I just got an email from the US Embassy. They will be here in Iloilo on 17MAR2017 and I can apply for my new passport then. That is convenient. 

[snowridr]

Get the bigger size passport book.  I got the regular size and wish I had gotten the bigger one In less than one year of active use I have used a few pages (My Philippine visa uses 2 pages, the one timeChinese visa sucked up a whole page)  plus a bunch of stamps makes me think I will run out of usable space a lot sooner than 10 years!

[OnMyWay]

57 minutes ago, snowridr said:

Get the bigger size passport book.  I got the regular size and wish I had gotten the bigger one In less than one year of active use I have used a few pages (My Philippine visa uses 2 pages, the one timeChinese visa sucked up a whole page)  plus a bunch of stamps makes me think I will run out of usable space a lot sooner than 10 years!

There was a notice from U.S. passport service a few years ago that said that the smaller one would no longer be issued.  I'm not sure if that every became strict policy.

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, OnMyWay said:

There was a notice from U.S. passport service a few years ago that said that the smaller one would no longer be issued.  I'm not sure if that every became strict policy.

Both the fewer and extra page passports are available. There is a box to check on the application if you want an extra page version. They do this for no extra charge as long as the books are available at the time of your request. The supplemental add-in pages is what they no longer issue anymore. Once your passport is full you need another.

[robert k]

I think I will get the more pages passport before I return. My old passport has years and pages left but it was regular size and the occasional mistake and correction taking up an entire page, careless stamps that take up more room than necessary has me thinking I should have got the more pages in the first place.