Renewing a Philippine Passport at DFA Bacolod — Booking, Documents, On-site Photo, and Why Filipinos Find Passports Hard to Get

Renewing a Philippine Passport at DFA Bacolod — Booking, Documents, On-site Photo, and Why Filipinos Find Passports Hard to Get

A Korean-Filipino couple living in Bacolod renews the wife's passport at the DFA inside Robinsons Mall, and talks about why many Filipinos rarely travel abroad.

💡 Key takeaways

[Application steps and documents]
• You can't apply for a Philippine passport fully online. Book a date and time with the DFA (the passport agency), pay the 1,000-peso application fee, and then you can download the application form.
• Documents: application form, payment receipt, a copy of your old passport (if any), and a copy of another government ID.
• Scanning and printing 7–8 pages at a photo studio/print shop cost 90 pesos. The host thought printing was expensive.
• The wife's passport expires in 2028, but its remaining validity was awkward for a new visa, so they renewed it for 10 years.

[At DFA Bacolod]
• The Bacolod DFA is inside Robinsons Mall. The mall opens at 10 AM, but the DFA line forms before that.
• Slots are usually fully booked for the next 3–4 days, so they booked about a week ahead. There are about 6 slots a day (9, 10, 11, 12 o'clock, etc.), and within a slot it seems to be first come, first served.
• Only the applicant goes inside. Staff check your ID and passport copies at the entrance and point you to the photocopy shop near the exit if you don't have them.
• With about a dozen people ahead, it took about 20 minutes; around 20 minutes later the line had tripled. People also come from places 3–4 hours away like San Carlos and Kabankalan.
• Release date was November 16, about a month later.

[Passport photo]
• You don't bring a photo — it's taken on-site inside. Makeup must be very light, almost bare-faced; no mascara or eyeliner.
• You may be told to brush your bangs back, so the wife pulled hers back beforehand. The photo is taken at roughly webcam quality with no retouching, so it comes out very honest.

[Why passports are hard for Filipinos — host's view]
• The host says the 1,000-peso fee equals two days of minimum wage in Bacolod, plus document costs, so few people get a passport without a reason. Most applicants have a purpose such as working abroad (OFW).
• The host estimates about 70–80% of Filipinos never travel abroad in their lifetime (he says there's no separate statistic). In the past year, roughly 30% traveled abroad.
• By the host's research, Hong Kong is the top destination for Filipinos (about 15–20%) — close and visa-free. Next are Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. He says visas for Japan and Korea are both hard to get.
• For Koreans, Japan is first at about 35%, then Vietnam and Thailand, with the Philippines at about 5%.

[Japanese restaurant Nezu]
• At the budget Japanese restaurant Nezu, they had aburi crab nigiri (torch-seared crab meat), 8 pieces for 195 pesos; the host recommends the place for this dish alone.
• Gyudon and ramen are each worth about 6,000 won. No miso soup with the gyudon, and the ramen was supermarket instant broth with local noodles, so not good. It was packed even before noon.

[Travel and season notes]
• There's no direct flight from Bacolod to Boracay (you transfer in Cebu), so going overland by bus and boat is easier. They plan to go in the 2nd–3rd week of November.
• November is peak season and big cities get crowded, so they chose quieter Boracay over Cebu.
• A Korean marriage visa has to be applied for in Manila.
• October felt like the start of the hot dry season (usually October–February is a bit cooler, he says).
• Around Halloween the Philippines has Undas, about a 3-day holiday including the weekend. People go to their hometowns or travel and visit family graves.

⏱ Chapters
00:01 Why renew & printing documents
01:03 Application steps and requirements
04:07 At the DFA — applicant only
05:09 On-site passport photo & travel stats
08:12 Japanese restaurant Nezu
10:16 Overland trip to Boracay
11:18 Filipinos' top overseas destinations
13:22 Halloween and Undas

💬 What viewers said (81 comments)
• Most comments cheered on the couple's baby plans and the 100K-subscriber milestone.
• Viewers shared experiences: passports taking over a month, lines from 4 AM in Baguio, and a pregnant wife skipping the line.
• Tips on marriage visa documents and income proof, and that a Japan visa is easier to get when applying from Korea.
• Some compared passport photo systems in Sweden, the US, and other countries.