Philippine e-passport now available to Filipinos in Malaysia, Los Angeles

The Philippines’ transition to modern e-passports continues with Manila’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur and consulate-general in Los Angeles beginning to accept applications from Filipinos there.

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs, the new Philippine e-passport features an integrated circuit chip within its pages that contains essential data in verifying the identity of the passport holder.   

Aside from the information found on the data page, it includes the biometrics of the passport holder, consisting of fingerprints, digital signature and photograph, as well as a unique identification number, said the DFA.

Applicants for epassport in Los Angeles are required to pay $60 as application and processing fee.

Three types of Philippine passports are currently in circulation: the old-style green passport, the maroon machine-readable passport and the e-passport.

While all of them remain valid until their individual expiry dates, the DFA now only accepts and processes e-passports.