How to Get a Student Driver's Permit from the Land Transportation Office

2016 Update:  LTO now requires medical certificate as one of the requirements for student permit (SP) application.  You can have the medical certificate from any licensed practicing physician stating that you are fit to operate a motor vehicle.  They also now provide reviewer for the written exam once your SP card is released.


Yesterday, I accompanied my son in getting his student permit from the Land Transportation Office.  As I promised that I will enroll him in a driving school this summer school break to make his vacation worthwhile.  So off we went to the nearest branch from our place.  We arrived in LTO a little past one o'clock in the afternoon.  When we get inside the compound,  we went straight to the customer service booth right beside the gate.  I was surprised that it seems the licensing system has improved compared to previous years when fixers would be the first to greet you even before you get near the gate.   So when I asked the staff where we should file our application, he readily asked for the documents and checked its completeness.  We submitted the following, duly filled- out application for driver's license, a photocopy of my son's birth certificate with school ID, a parental consent that I signed since my son is only 16 years old, a photocopy of my valid ID and his 1x1 ID picture.  After that we were told to wait for his name to be called.  I stayed at the waiting area and let my son do the transaction on his own but still keeping an eye at every window that he approached.  There was a waiting area in front of the booth and in less than three minutes, my son's name was called.  He approached the booth and was asked for an original copy of his birth certificate to prove his identity.  After that he was told to wait again while his documents were checked.  He was given a number then told to submit the document to the evaluator inside the office.   He was assigned at window 6.  There were about eight evaluators so the process did not take that long.  After several minutes, his name was called at the photo section to have his picture taken.  We waited again then after about 10 minutes, his name was called at the cashier.  He paid 317.00 then instructed to wait again for a call from window 14  or 15.   We waited for about 20 minutes before his name was called at window 15 for the release of his student permit.

It was my son's first time to transact at a government office on his own and it was good that his experience in filing his license was generally problem-free.  If services from the government would all be like this, so much time and effort would be saved and most importantly, red tape seemed to have been eradicated unlike in the past.  LTO's fast service is really worthy of acknowledgement.  BIG improvement, indeed!  Keep it up!

As for my son, he was all too excited to start his training at Smart Driving School.

*************************