A week ago, I'd sent my passport renewal form at Consulate General Philipines in San Francisco. Three days after that, they sent me a letter back saying that I send the wrong background of my picture.

The Consulate is receiving applications for the new Machine Readable Passport (MRP) beginning June 02, 2008. The old “green” passport is no longer issued. Each applicant must personally appear at the Consulate, except for minors 8 years old and below and senior citizens 65 years old and above, and bring with them the following:

Duly accomplished passport application form
Most recent Philippine passport
*One (1) copy of the passport data page(s)
For brown passports – copy the pages which show the data and picture of the applicant
Two (2) identical photos taken within the last six months of size 4.5 cm by 3.5 cm on a Royal Blue background. Complete details on photo requirements for the MRP may be viewed at www.dfa.gov.ph/consular/PHOTO%20GUIDELINES.pdf.
USPS Express Mail Postage Stamps

It takes about six (6) weeks to process the MRP as the approved applications are sent to a central processing facility in the Philippines.

If the applicant’s last passport is the brown one – which only shows the applicant’s middle initial, – a copy of any VALID IDENTIFICATION which shows his/her WHOLE MIDDLE NAME must also be provided. Acceptable forms of identification are:

Birth Certificate
Marriage Certificate
Baptismal Certificate
State ID or Driver License, or
Permanent Resident Card (Green Card)

First time applicants must also bring the original and a copy of

NSO certified Birth Certificate, if born in the Philippines; or
Report of Birth, if born outside the Philippines (Please see requirements for Report of Birth)

The fee for the issuance of a passport is $50.00Accepted forms of payment are cash, money order, cashier’s check or bank draft made payable to the Philippine Consulate General. Personal checks, credit or debit cards are not accepted. All consular service fees are non-refundable.


Due to this changes, I had to run around all over Seattle yesterday and find a some place where they have a blue royal or dark blue background, we end up in Beacon hill in Seattle, which is the Genesis Travel. To be able to have the philippine passport6 photo done, you have to have a top that cover the chest and hair should pull back to show both ears. And on the top of that you need to have a tumb print done. It is very complicated and prostrating ( never done this kind of hassle before). But I got it done, and sent it today. Hopefully everything will be fine now.