Foreign Affairs Secretary Jose Rene Almendras has recently announced that starting June 1, 2016, those who will not show up on their passport appointment date will be banned from reapplying or reserving their slot again for 30 days.
Early in February of this year, my brother asked me to book an appointment for his passport application. I tried, however, the next available date was already in April.
So he decided not to push through with the reservation because that’s 2 months away and he couldn’t wait for it anymore.
He got busy in the next few weeks and he forgot about his passport application until he asked me again to book for a new appointment in April.
I checked the next available dates and the nearest was scheduled on June 11.
That’s also 2 months away just like our first attempt to reserve his passport appointment.
I thought maybe that was the normal waiting time so I finally booked his passport appointment together with mine and some other family members.
Secretary Almendras said that people complain that it takes two months to take a slot to be interviewed.
I agree on this because that’s exactly how long we’ve waited for our appointment.
I didn’t understand why people had to wait that long just to reserve an appointment.
When I booked my mother-in-law’s appointment for her passport renewal last year, it only took us 3 weeks to wait.
It’s ridiculous how it suddenly jumped to 2 months this time.
Mr. Almendras is right that a lot of people booked their appointment, but don’t actually show up on the date that they reserved.
In fact, statistics show that 47% of people who applied for appointment for passport do not show up.
“They just apply now, they don’t show up again so starting June 1, if you do not show up for your appointment you’re gonna be put aside for at least a month. You are not going to apply for a new slot,” he said.
People tend to disregard their application, not minding if they make it or not on their appointment date because they can book again anytime they want.
With this initiative, people will really have to plan and choose the best date that fits their schedule and commit to it.
As a result, I’m sure it would no longer take 2 months to wait for the appointment date.
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