DSWD online system streamlines travel clearance for minors
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will launch an online system to expedite minors’ travel clearance applications.
Social Welfare Officer IV Cheryl Mainar of the DSWD’s Program Management Bureau shared a few words regarding the upcoming system.
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It will go online on February 18 and it’s part of DSWD’s digital transformation efforts under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s socioeconomic agenda.
Mainar says applicants will no longer need to submit their documents physically; they “can apply in the comfort of their homes.”
The Philippine News Agency (PNA) also says the new system for minors traveling abroad (MTA) will reduce processing times to three days.
The DSWD requires travel clearances for minors below 18 who travel outside the Philippines, especially those who fit these criteria:
- Traveling with prospective adoptive parent/s for intercountry adoption
- Traveling with a person other than his/her parent, legal guardian, or person exercising legal authority over them
- Illegitimate Filipino minor traveling with his/her biological father
- Minors below 13 years of age traveling with a sibling or relative within the 4th degree of consanguinity
- Minors above 15 years old who will travel to join his/her parent/s abroad
Minors may obtain an MTA travel clearance for ₱300, valid for a year.
They don’t need one if they’re traveling with the following relatives:
- Legitimate, biological parents
- Illegitimate, biological mother
- Father with the sole parental authority granted by the court
- A legal guardian with proper documentation
For more information on the application process, check the DSWD Memorandum Circular 22, series of 2024 online.
The MTA travel clearance is a key initiative under Republic Act 7610, “Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act.”
