Travelling with children is always fun. A bit of work if they are very young and you
don’t have any help. But their
excitement makes it all worthwhile.
So why do we need to secure a travel clearance for
minors? To safeguard our children from
human trafficking and because of RA 7610, which is otherwise known as the
Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination
Act. Read more about it here.
And who needs a travel clearance? Basically anyone below 18 years of age and
travelling alone or with anyone other than their parent/legal guardian.
- A minor traveling alone to a foreign country;
- A minor traveling to a foreign country accompanied by a person other than his or her parents.
Below I’ve listed some of the basic requirements that you
would need.
- Duly accomplished application form. Click here for the form.
- Original (and photocopy) NSO birth certificate of the minor.
- Passport of minor (and photocopy of the page with details and back page)
- Two colored passport size photos of the minor (taken within the last six months).
- Passport of travel companion (if not travelling alone). Don’t forget the photocopy.
- A written consent of both parents (solo parent/legal guardian) wherein the travel details are laid out. Meaning the travel dates, who is accompanying the minor, where they plan on staying in the foreign country. Be as detailed as you can.
- NSO copy of the marriage certificate of the parents. They may not ask for it but might as well have it if they ask for it.
TIP: I always make a checklist of the things that
I need, especially when I’m filling out papers for visa applications and
complicated transactions. This way I
don’t forget anything important.
There are other papers needed depending on the child’s
situation. If you have any special
questions, you may check out the DSWD website using these links: PROCESS
and FAQ.
Once you have the paperwork completed, decide on which DSWD
office you need to visit. Usually, it’s
the nearest office near your home. For
us, we went to the main office at the corner of Legarda Street in Sampaloc,
Manila. You can find the office
addresses in the FAQ site.
How much does it
cost?
The processing fee is as below:
- P300 with validity of one (1) year.
- P600 with validity of two (2) years.
Make sure to get your receipt.
When do I get the
clearance?
It takes 3 working days.
So make sure to apply early and not a week before you need to
travel. The DSWD personnel may ask you
for other paperwork that you can’t get ASAP.
How to get there
If you’re heading to the main office it’s quite easy getting
there. If you’re coming from Taguig,
Pasig, or Ortigas, you can simply take a jeep/FX going to Quiapo and get off
right across the street from the DSWD building.
If you’re not sure, you can simply ask the driver to drop you off
there. It’s just past Mendiola where
they usually hold the rallies. As for
the cost, it’s not more than P50 per person one way if you’re coming from
Pasig.
Before you go
Make sure you have all the papers ready and that you have
all the original NSO copies, photocopies, and pretty much all papers with
you. You’ll need your money of
course. And go early. I cannot reiterate enough that you have to go
early. If you arrive 9am prepare to stay
there the whole day. If possible arrive
at 7:45 with all your papers ready to be handed over. Does the minor have to come with you? No, not really. But I think it made my application easier
when the social worker saw the minor with me.
My Experience at DSWD
I recently had to get a travel clearance for my sister in
law who will be travelling with me and my wife to Malaysia. Since we aren’t her parents or legal
guardians we had to secure a travel clearance for her. Not having the travel clearance is quite a
hassle especially when you’re already at the airport. This happened to me once with my younger
brother and they are very strict about this.
No travel clearance, no travel.
So just go on ahead and get that travel clearance.
We arrived early at round 7:40 and went straight to the
Travel Clearance section, which is on the 2nd floor of the
building. Just take the stairs up and it
is the first door on the right.
Amazing enough we were the 3rd to arrive but the
two before us already had gotten the process done. The social worker asked us to sign their
registration form. We waited for about 3
minutes before the social worker called us again. There are plenty of seats so that you can sit
down but the Clearance section is facing East so that means the rising sun
would pummel you until 12 noon. Not fun
especially because the area is not air conditioned.
The social worker reviewed the application form and took the
photocopies from me. The DSWD personnel
are quite thorough with their work.
Every small detail of the presented paperwork was reviewed and when she
saw some discrepancies she asked me about it.
Pretty impressive and I commend the DSWD personnel.
The whole process took about 15 minutes and she gave me a
claim slip. But she advised that before
I could claim the clearance I would need to present an Affidavit of Discrepancy
because the middle name of the minor and the mother are not the same due to a
typographical error. (Note: It cost me P200 to get a notarized Affidavit
of Discrepancy from my lawyer.) She
asked us to come back in 3 days. It was
a Monday so we had to come back Wednesday.
My Experience at
DSWD: Day 2
We again arrived early for the travel clearance pick up at
around 8:00am. We were the 2nd
in line but it took over 3 hours before we got our travel clearance. Apparently the signatory didn’t arrive so we
had to wait for the person. Once the signatory
arrived the process went quickly. We
paid the P300 at the cashier. The cashier
is located at the bottom of the stairs and once paid we showed the receipt to
the DSWD personnel and they gave us the travel clearance.
TIP: Before you leave
make sure you check the travel clearance for spelling mistakes. This is very important because any issues or misspelling
you will get held up at the airport.
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