The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has launched ePassport Renewal Centers in three key cities in Saudi Arabia to ease the passport renewal process for Filipinos living and working in Saudi.
The centers were the result of DFA’s contract signed with VFS Global, the world’s largest visa outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, to provide Passport Renewal services in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al Khobar.
H.E. Adnan Villaluna Alonto, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Sumanth Kapoor, Head of VFS Global – KSA & Bahrain, inaugurated the first Philippine ePassport Renewal Centre in Riyadh city in a formal ceremony on 15 September 2020.
The ceremony was also attended by Abdulaziz Alsawaly, Director, Business Partnership, the Diplomatic Quarter General Authority, Riyadh.
Similar centre was inaugurated in Al Khobar by Christopher Patrick T. Aro, Minister and Consul General of the Republic of the Philippines to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the centre in Jeddah was inaugurated on 05 October 2020 by Edgar Barrairo Badajos, Consul General of the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah.
All three centres have started to accept passport renewal requests from Saturday to Thursday between 08:00 AM to 08:00 PM.
This is the first time The Republic of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs has outsourced its passport renewal process in KSA.
Prior to this, Philippine residents in the KSA had to visit the Philippine Consulate in Jeddah or the Embassy in Riyadh for passport renewal. With the opening of the new ePassport Renewal Centres, customers will have an additional avenue to complete the process.
Chris Dix, Head of Business Development, VFS Global, said, “We would like to thank The Republic of the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs for their faith in us. Our Passport and Consular services have been growing from strength to strength, and we look forward to bringing those best in class services to the Philippines nationals here in the Kingdom.”
In order to ensure a safe environment for employees and customers, VFS Global has established standardized protective measures to be followed across the centres, including specific social distancing and sanitation mandates.
All customers are subjected to body temperature checks at the entrance to assess their health conditions. Any customer exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, including fever, cough and breathing difficulties will not be permitted to enter the centre and will be requested to return once the health condition improves. Additionally, all customers and VFS Global employees are required to wear a face mask and gloves within the centre.
The Philippine ePassport Renewal Centre in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
|
Branch |
Address |
|
Riyadh |
1st Floor, 2591, Al Hada District, Besides Courtyard Marriott Hotel |
|
Jeddah |
TasHeel Commercial Plaza, Ground Floor – Suwaid Bin Sakher Street, Off Jundub Bin Kaab Street, (Off Prince Sultan Street), Al Mohammadiyah District 1 |
|
Al Khobar |
2nd Floor, Al Khateery Centre, Opposite SABB Bank, Al Rakka |
To schedule an appointment, visit https://www.vfsglobal.com/philippines/saudiarabia/passport-services/. For further information, customers may call the helpline on +966 920029773 or write an email at info.phpptksa@vfshelpline.com.
