Writing this for future reference. I tried to schedule a passport renewal appointment at DFA Ali Mall last June, but the only available schedules by then were in November. Imagine that! So my father decided that we should just go as walk-in applicants at DFA Aseana.
As before, being an immediate family member of a government employee made passport renewal a breeze because of the courtesy lane. We didn’t have to wait too long for processing and data capturing. The entire family was done in about an hour.
First, we submitted the accomplished application forms to the guy manning the desk on the second floor. Each member of the family had to have a photocopy of my father’s government employee ID. I had filled out the forms at home, opting to type the information instead of writing it down so it would be easier to read, so we didn’t spend much time at the desk. Then we entered the courtesy lane (more like courtesy room) and waited a bit for our numbers to be called for step 1, processing. We had e-passports, so the only thing they asked for were the scans of the data page and last page of our old passports. That’s it. They didn’t even ask for a valid ID. A receipt and a queue number was given.
Afterwards, we paid the passport fee of P1,200 for rush processing (which means you will get your passport after 7 working days, provided there are no problems with your account). The fee for regular processing (15 working days) is P950. Then we waited for our turn to be photographed.
Then we went outside the room and paid for the LBC delivery fee of P150 per passport. (Really, they couldn’t just have put all our passports in one package?) My brother filled out the delivery information on each package, submitted our passport receipts, and got LBC receipts in return. That’s it; we were done! We expect the passports to be delivered around 2 weeks from now. Unfortunately, we’re not getting the new passport yet!
To summarize, these are all we needed for e-passport renewal:
- Accomplished application forms
- Photocopy of data page and last page of passports
- Photocopy of government ID
There are other requirements for other passport types. Check out dfa.gov.ph for details!
I get new glasses every year or so because my frames break every year or so. Since 2013, I’ve been buying cheap plastic frames (P200 to P300) from the department store and having the lenses replaced with graded ones in optical shops. I spend around P1,000 for them. I don’t really mind shelling out around a thousand pesos each year for glasses because it’s exciting for me to shop for new frames. I never get the same frame twice because that’s just boring. 
