March 31, 2010 is the last day of issuance of green passports in compliance with the directive of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) but all green passports expiring beyond this date shall remain valid and acceptable for travel purposes. The Embassy has continued issuing green passports for emergency cases even after it introduced machine-readable passports in March 2008. Machine-readable passports can only be releases 30 to 45 days after their application because they are printed in Manila.
Philippines passports should be renewed at least six months before the stated state of expiry. Filipino holding passports with less than six months validity can travel to the Philippines but they will likely be denied entering to other countries.
The Embassy also wishes to remind Filipinos in the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Marshall Islands to apply for police clearance before going home for good because it will be difficult for them to apply for police clearance once they are in the Philippines. They will need the police clearance when they apply for visas to other countries.
