The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will soon launch an online system that will streamline the process of application and issuance of travel clearance for minors traveling abroad (MTA).
Social Welfare Officer (SWO) IV Cheryl Mainar of the DSWD’s Program Management Bureau (PMB) told reporters that applicants no longer need to submit the required documents physically to any agency office nationwide.
Mainar emphasized that applicants “can apply at the comfort of your home.”
“The previous one was manual processing, meaning you have to go to DSWD offices to apply for a travel clearance. Now, they don’t have to go to the offices. Just at home as long as they have an internet connection.”
A travel clearance is a document issued by the DSWD to minors or individuals below 18 years old traveling outside the Philippines who are unaccompanied by any of the parents or persons having parental responsibility or legal custody over the child.
The processing time for applications with complete verified and authentic documents will be 1-3 days in the new MTA system, according to the PMB.
Mainar said those required to seek for a travel clearance would be any Filipino minor using a Philippine Passport who is traveling alone outside the Philippines; traveling with prospective adoptive parent/s for intercountry adoption; and traveling with a person other than his/her parent/s, legal guardian, or person exercising parental authority/legal custody over him/her needs to seek for a clearance from DSWD.
A Filipino minor who is illegitimate and is traveling with his/her biological father; and a minor below 13 years old but will be accompanied by a sibling or a relative within the 4th degree of consanguinity or affinity who is over 15 years old and whose purpose for travel is to permanently join the parent/s abroad also needs to secure a travel clearance, Mainar said.
The PMB social welfare officer also discussed cases in which a minor will be exempted from securing a travel clearance.
The operationalization of the MTA system is anchored on President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr’s socio-economic agenda on the digitalization of government processes and operations.
Complete information on the application process and documentary requirements can be found in the DSWD Memorandum Circular 22, series of 2024 (https://www.dswd.gov.ph/issuances/MCs/MC_2024-022.pdf).