NMI photo studios urged to obtain accreditation for passport pictures
The Philippine Consulate General will soon be accepting applications for machine-readable passports for Filipino nationals once proprietors of photo studios on Saipan that provide services to applicants of Philippine passports are accredited as MRP-compliant.
The Philippine Consulate General says the photo standards for MRPs are very specific and the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila will not be able to process applications with substandard pictures. To ensure that the photos submitted by applicants are compliant, the Philippine Consulate General recommends that applicants have their photos taken by accredited studios.
MRP-compliant photos must follow these guidelines: a royal blue background, 4.5 cm x 3.5 cm in size, and pose shots of applicant is 70 to 80 percent of the photograph and no tilting of the head if a straight frontal shot.
In view of the exacting standards set for the new photo requirements for Philippine MRPs, Philippine Consul General Wilfredo DL Maximo is calling on all proprietors of photo studios in the CNMI to send their representatives to attend a seminar that will be held at the Filipino Workers Resource Center at the first floor of the Marianas Business Plaza on May 27 at 6pm. Information kits on the new photo requirements will be distributed to the participants during the seminar.
Participating studios will then be required to submit samples that comply with the new requirements.
According to Maximo, “Studios whose samples have been found compliant will be given Certificates of Accreditation and included on the list of accredited studios posted at the bulletin boards of the Philippine Consulate.”
