What Type of Passport Am I Holding?

written on February 24th, 2014 by Jean Del Mar

Upon hearing the news regarding visa-free suspension declared by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) last January this year, people started worrying about their trips to Hong Kong. Some had even already made plans to go.

But those who read deeper into the announcement quickly realized that Hong Kong SAR stressed a specific Philippine passport holder that requires visa – – Diplomatic and Government Official Passport holders.

What does this mean? Who are diplomatic passport holders? Who are official passport holders? Are we holding an official passport? These questions started popping up.

To clear up the confusion, here are the different types of passports the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issues for Philippine citizens.

• Regular
• Diplomatic
• Official passports

Any Philippine citizen (regardless of your title in the country) who applies for a passport are given a Regular Passport. This is easily identified by the maroon cover. This is the most common type of passport used by Filipinos in all their travels (leisure, study or business).

Members of the Philippine diplomatic service, Cabinet members, and attachés of other government agencies assigned to Philippine diplomatic posts abroad are granted the Diplomatic Passport with a dark blue cover.

The last one is the Official Passport colored red. This is issued to Philippine government members for official business purposes.

In addition, the President of the Philippines and the Presidential family are granted both diplomatic and official passports.

Therefore regular passport holders are not affected with the sanction declared by Hong Kong SAR. Don’t fret! Your trip to Hong Kong Disneyland will be possible without worrying about your visa.