Monday, Jan 27, 2014
Dubai: A Philippine consul official has urged Filipino expatriates in the UAE to switch to e-passports this year if they still have the old passports — the green and maroon ones — that will be phased out in 2015.
All non-machine readable passports, the green Machine Readable-Ready Passports or MRRP and maroon Machine Readable Passports or MRP, will be completely phased out by November 24, 2015 under a directive from the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila.
Holders of these passports are advised to apply for e-passports as soon as possible. E-passports’ covers are dark maroon with a logo of the International Civil Aviation Organisation below the word “PASAPORTE”.
Vice-Consul Geronimo Suliguin said old passport holders in Dubai and the northern emirates could still run into the thousands since the consulate only started issuing e-passports in November 2010.
“So, if we issued a minimum of 100 MRP passports daily from January 2010 to October 2010, these old passports could still be valid until 2015. This is why we are encouraging these passport holders to schedule their passport renewal this year,” Suliguin told Gulf News.
Suliguin said green and maroon passport holders will no longer be allowed to apply for an extension of the validity of these passports after October 31, 2014.
Exemption will be given to those citing emergency cases like death in the family, medical emergency, among others, provided there are documents to support this. For more information, visit www.pcgdubai.net.
Meanwhile, Filipino expatriates who have not claimed their new passports issued in May and June 2013 or longer from the consulate have until February 27 to claim them or these will be cancelled and disposed of.
By Janice Ponce de Leon Staff Reporter
Gulf News 2014. All rights reserved.
