Having a husband working abroad while I take care of our newborn son is difficult. All I can wish for is for us to be together. Initially, our plan is for my hubby to come over and visit us once a month but looking at it financially, it seemed impractical. So we decided that it would be more reasonable for my baby and I to just fly over to Singapore to visit him and stay there for a month or two.
But before we can do that, our almost 2-month old baby Zeb must have his passport first so last March 18, we went to the DFA office in Aseana Business Park along Macapagal boulevard to apply. By right, an applicant must book an appointment first on their website {or call 737-1000} before heading down to their office but luckily there are exemptions -- senior citizens,
infants and minors below 1 year old, person with disability and OFWs. Yay!
As I walked in, the guard instructed me to proceed to the 2nd floor of gate 5 which is where the priority lane is. There I was given an application form and a queue number {tip: download the form online and fill it out at home to save time}. As soon as my number was called, the lady behind the counter asked me to produce the original copies of the required documents one by one and then asked for the photocopied versions. For my Zeb's application, I was asked to show my passport, his birth certificate in security paper {or SECPA as they call it, which you can request from the local civil registrar of the municipality where your baby was born} and our marriage contract. After that, I was instructed to proceed to the cashier and pay Php1,200. Regular processing fee is Php950 but those who used the priority lane is subjected to pay a higher amount {don't ask me why}.
After settling the fee, we proceeded to the picture taking booth dedicated for infants. The staff laid out a blue blanket on the table and asked me to put Zeb down. Luckily, he was cooperative that day and it only took us one shot to get this photo {good job baby!}.
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On my way out, I stopped by the LBC booth to have it delivered to our house instead of picking it up. I paid Php120 for the delivery charge and I was told that it will be delivered after 7 working days which happens to be today, March 28! I've been waiting for it since this morning so when I heard the door bell ring this afternoon, I knew that was it! We are so excited to be with daddy :)
Anyway, the whole process only took me around 30 minutes. It could have been faster had I filled out the form beforehand because carrying a baby and filling out a form at the same time ain't easy. I do hope that this pleasant experience can be applied to everyone, not just to those in priority lane. But overall, I can still see some glare of hope in our system.
Thanks for reading guys. Hope this helps!
Ciao!
