Philippine Consulate General

The Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong has been around for more than 66 years and provides assistance to Filipino nationals living in Hong Kong. Within its time here in Hong Kong, it has changed location for more than 8 times. In 1999, when I was eight years old, it moved to its permanent location on the 14^th floor of United Centre.
The Consulate enjoys the liberty of taking the day off both on Philippine and Hong Kong holidays. I’ve been going here for as I can remember, mainly to renew my passport or accompany other family members to do the same. Legal Philippine documents can also be applied here. As the majority of Filipinos in Hong Kong consists of domestic helpers, it forms the larger crowd here especially during Sunday. Scratch that, it is busy every day that it is open, regardless of time. But it does help to arrive early as the crowd only begins to gather an hour after they open.
Thankfully, I’ve never tried using the Consulate’s assistance in criminal and social welfare cases, but it’s good to know that it is there when I could possibly need it. Renewing passports isn’t that easy as there are four (sometimes three) long lines to follow, but at least it’s streamlined. Passports can be renewed, at the earliest, 8 months before expiration but can still be handled even though it’s 3 months due to expire. Renewing a Philippine passport costs $ 480 which might not seem much but losing it costs a whopping $ 1,200! Thankfully, I have never lost my passport.
The majority of the world’s population enjoy a 30-​day visa-​free entry to the Philippines while HKSAR passport holders, due to the 2010 tension between Hong Kong and the Philippines, can only stay for 14 days. I like that the official website has downloadable forms so I wouldn’t have to take a special trip to Admiralty just to get the forms I need.