PH Consulate General in Guangzhou Adopts Mobile QR Code Payments for Consular Transactions
GUANGZHOU 16 June 2022 – The Philippine Consulate General in Guangzhou launched on 15 June 2022 its adoption of a mobile QR code payment system for consular transactions at point of service. It is the first Philippine Foreign Service Post in China to use the payment system.
The Consulate General entered into a partnership with the Bank of China to enable a seamless QR code payment process for Filipino and foreign clients to pay for passport, visa and notarial service fees using their own WeChat Pay or Alipay mobile wallet accounts from their smartphones.
According to Consul General Louis Alferez, the cashless system is “a huge step by the consulate to make its service experience more convenient and effective for its clients. They often complain about the need to bring cash whenever they transact with the consulate, especially in China where mobile phone wallets are the norm. Definitely, the system makes for a quicker and safer process for both our clients and our frontline staff, especially as we continue to deal with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. And it also helps smoothen our internal finance and accounting processes. Of course, those who prefer to pay in cash can still do so.”
“The system we have implemented entails no increase in consular fees, thus benefiting our overseas Filipinos in particular. As this is a pioneering effort by the Department of Foreign Affairs, it is my hope that our system can be a model for digital payments for many more Philippine foreign service posts”, Consul Alferez added.
The Consulate General’s initiative is in support of Executive Order No. 170 on the adoption of digital payments for government disbursements and collections signed by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on 12 May 2022, and is in line with the thrust of the Department of Foreign Affairs to modernize public services with the use of innovative technologies. END
For more information, visit https://www.guangzhoupcg.dfa.gov.ph, https://www.facebook.com/PHinGuangzhou/, https://twitter.com/PHinGuangzhou or https://www.instagram.com/phinguangzhou/.