I
took a leave from work last Oct 25 to accompany Lance to the DFA in Megamall
for his schedule of passport renewal at 2pm.
I was also supposed to go to Hannah’s school for their trick or
treat. Unfortunately, Hannah doesn’t
have classes due to the storm and so we just played in the house while waiting
for Kuya.
When
Lance got home, we then went to Megamall for the schedule. We only took a cab because our car is
coding. We arrived at Megamall by 1:30
and we were asked to go to the holding area.
At 1:45, we were told to go to the assessment area for initial checking
and then get our numbers for queuing. We
got our number and waited for about 30 minutes until we were called. In fairness, the waiting area is big enough
to accommodate many people, aircondition is ok and they even have a
television. The 30 minutes waiting time
for me is also ok because there were about 50 numbers/people before our turn
and about 7 windows/DFA personnel processing the papers.
When
finally it was our turn, the lady asked for my passport because I would be the
traveling companion of Lance who is a minor.
And stupid me, I did not bring my passport! I was asked by the lady if we can go back before
6pm and she would wait for me and I don’t have to get a number again. It was only 2:30 then and I told her that
I’ll come back.
Lance
and I went to the taxi bay again and went home.
I already called the house and told them that we’re going back to get my
passport, to please prepare it and have it photo copied. When we got home, we got my passport and took
the cab again and went back to Megamall.
It was also traffic to and from mega that we arrived around 4:30 I
think.
We
went straight to the lady who checked Lance’s documents and when everything is
ok, we were asked to go to the cashier to pay.
After that we were asked to fall in line again for documentation,
picture taking and finger scanning.
All
in all, it was really a quick process.
We only took longer because we have to go back and forth from our house
to Megamall. I think we were done in
less than an hour. J We were told
that Lance’s passport will be available by Nov 20 and if we prefer to have it
delivered, just add 2-3 days. I decided
to have it delivered because I don’t have time to pick up the passport anymore. :)
