Good news to all overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), seafarers, capitalists and travelers abroad! The Republic Act No. 10928 extending the validity of passport for 10 years had been finally approved.
Last August 2, 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte signed Republic Act No. 10928, the Passport Law extending the validity of passport from the current 5 years of validity to 10 years.
The provision only apply to those regular passport holders, the minors (under 18 years of age) will still have the issuance of passport for five (5) years of validity.
However, the government state that under this law, they may limit the validity period to less than 10 years “whenever this is necessary for the economic or political stability of the country”.
What are the benefits of 10 years passport validity?
- It makes travel abroad more accessible aside from reducing the burden of renewing passports.
- It saves time especially for OFWs, who would no longer need to travel every 5 years to Philippine Consulate Office for passport renewal
- It may lessen the workload of DFA (the assigned department to issue passport)
- Backlogs in issuance of passport may be avoided.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) it is the department that is assigned to work on the Implementing Rules and Regulation (IRR) of the new ten- year passport validity.
A new passport maybe issued to replace only if the validity has expired.
This new law will take effect after it is published in the Official Gazette or in national newspaper of general circulation.
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Thank you. God bless everyone!
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