The Philippine Passport, also known as Filipino Passport comes in two colours – the brown passport and the green passport, which are both non-machine readable passports.

In 17 July 2007, the Department of Foreign Affairs initiated the issuance of the new machine readable green passport which should completely replace the current non-machine readable passports by 2010. This modification is made according to the ICAO Doc 9303 also called as One Passport, One Person Policy issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization on 11 July 2005 to all 188 contracting states (countries) including the Philippines, urging all members to start issuing ICAO standard machine readable passports (MRPs) no later than 1 April 2010.

According to the ICAO, the new passport standard is important for meeting their global objectives to minimize delays in border-crossing formalities and to safeguard the international civil aviation operation against acts of unlawful interference.

As stated in the ICAO Doc 9303, the new green passport should contain the personal information and photo of the holder according to the standard set by the organization.

Guidelines for New Passport Photo Requirements

1. The background colour should be Royal Blue or Dark Blue.

2. The image (facial image) of the applicant should occupy approximately 70%-80% of the photo.

3. There should have at least 8mm-10mm space between the head of the person and the edge of the photo.

4. The photo must be printed in matte or good quality photo paper. It should not have any markings from ink, dirt, grease, finger prints or paste stains.

5. A male applicant should wear shirt with collar in the photo.

6. A female applicant should wear any clothing, with or without collar, provided it’s appropriate.

7. Wearing glasses in the photo is acceptable, provided there is no glare or camera flash reflected on it and the eyes are visible. On the other hand, wearing sunglasses is not acceptable.

8. Wearing a head scarf, bandana or veil for religious or medical reasons is allowed as long as it doesn’t cover the eyebrows or eyes of the person. Covered ears of a Muslim or of a member of a religious order (e.g. nun) are also acceptable.

9. An applicant smiling like Mona Lisa in the photo is allowed. However, smiling with teeth and gums showing is not allowed.

10. Wearing contact lenses for medical reasons are allowed as long as it does not alter the applicant’s actual eye colour.

11. Female applicants are allowed to wear earrings in the photo, provided the earrings are small. While, male applicants are not allowed to wear any earrings in any forms or sizes.