NEW RULES ON HOW TO GET A STUDENT DRIVER'S PERMIT

NEW RULES ON HOW TO GET A STUDENT DRIVER'S PERMIT

For the past 4 years, I assisted my children in getting a student permit, not realizing that rules have changed since last summer when my daughter got her student permit. This year, I discovered that a lot of things have changed. So, I'm sharing with you the new rules so you don't make the mistakes I made when applying for my daughter's student permit this year.  

Below is the reproduced copy of AO AVT-2015-030, REVISED RULES AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING THE ISSUANCE OF STUDENT DRIVER'S PERMIT issued 22 September 2015

1. The applicant must at least be at least 17 years old.

The old rules used to be that an applicant who's 16 years old is allowed to get a student's permit, provided one of the parents give his/her consent. But the applicant has to wait until he's 17 years old till he's allowed to get a non-professional license. 

The new rules state that the applicant for a student permit must be at least 17 years old and the applicant for a non-professional driver's license must be at least 18 years old.

2. A medical certificate is required.

The medical certificate must not be issued 15 days or more from the time of the application. This means, if your medical certificate was issued April 1, you can use the medical certificate to apply for a student permit until April 15.

The medical certificate can be issued by any licensed practicing physician. It's no longer required that the physician be an LTO accredited physician. So if you have a family doctor, your family doctor can issue the medical certificate for this purpose.

3. If an applicant is below 18 years old, only a letter of consent from the parent/guardian of minor, and not an affidavit of consent. A photocopy of 1 government issued card WITH SIGNATURE of the parent/guardian must be attached to the letter of consent.  

Sample letter of consent:

LETTER OF CONSENT

I, (Name of parent/guardian), of legal age, with residence at (state your address) state that:

1. I am the mother/father/guardian of (name of applicant)

2. I am giving my consent for him/her to apply for a student permit at the Land Transportation Office.

3. I am executing this document to support his/her application for a student permit.

Simpler form of letter of consent: 

I, (name of the parent/guardian), mother/father/guardian of (name of the minor applicant), give my consent for (name of the minor applicant) for him/her to apply for a student permit at the Land Transportation Office.

4. You cannot use the downloaded application form provided online and submit it to the LTO.

The LTO now requires that application forms submitted to them shall be the ones provided by the LTO offices bearing the LTO control number.

The official LTO application form with control no.

The official LTO application form with control no. on the left
The downloaded application form on the right

Checklist of requirements:

1. NSO issued birth certificate, original and photocopy

2. Medical certificate

3. Application form with control number (you can get from the LTO office or the mall satellite office)

4. If the applicant is below 18 years, a letter of consent from the parent/guardian with photocopy of 1 government issued ID with signature.

My tip for fast processing:

1. Get a medical certificate in advance. 

2. Get an application form in advance and fill it up before you arrive at the LTO office.

2. Go there at opening time, which is 8:00 AM.

If you're there at opening time and you have a medical certificate and the an application form already filled up, you will beat the line and be ahead of all the other applicants. The other applicants will have to line up to get a medical certificate first and fill up the application form. In our case, it took us only 20 minutes to complete the process.

NOTES ON RENEWAL OF STUDENT PERMIT:
1. You cannot renew the student permit before it expires.

The LTO computer system does not accept applications for renewal until after the old student permit has expired, unlike in the case of renewal of driver's license.

2. You can do away with submitting an NSO issued birth certificate in case of renewal. Just present the following:

a. the old EXPIRED student permit
b. valid ID
c. medical certificate
d. application form with control number