Driving in The Philippines

You do not have to be here 6 months. You do however need to have a visa with at least 120 days remaining on it. I went to lto 3 or 4 weeks ago not knowing that. The only thing they said I didn't have was the open duration on my visa. So I went and got a 6 month. I'll be going back next week to get the license.

Welcome to the forum. I don't believe you can extend your foreign driver's license, at least I've never heard of anyone doing that.

I thought the rule was you must have 6 months remaining on your visa to qualify for a Philippine driver's license, not be in country 6 months. In any case I had less than 6 months remaining on my visa and that was overlooked.

You should visit the local LTO and give it a shot. I showed up without any photo copies or filled out forms and I had my Philippine license in 45 minutes, and that included the physical. I did not know my ACR number since I had not yet picked up my ACR card so the guy put in the application number instead. This was at the Carigara, Leyte LTO which is known for easy license conversion.

You are allowed to dive with your foreign license for 3 months in the Phils. Beyond these 3 months you must have a local license.

Go to LTO the week before the 3 first month's and ask for the conversion of your license in a Filipino license. They will tell you what documents they need. You will also have an exam (easy) and a medical exam (easy too) and within a few hours you will get your conversion paper which will be the only official paper until they issue your plastic driving license a few weeks later.

If you don't do this on time you will have to pass a Filipino driving license. A bit more complicated

Thanks for all the replies. I am here with my wife under the Balikbayan program, so we're good for a year, does that make a difference? I can definitely look into getting a Visa if that will help. We visited an LTO near us in Ilocos and were told I need to be in the Philippines for 6 months before applying for a Philippine driver's license. I'm willing to give it another shot, will go a week before my 3 months is up.

120 days. You need to have at least 120 days remaining on your visa. As long as you have your VALID current home country license, and pass the medical...basically eye test. They'll "convert" you as they call it and give you a Philippine driver's license.

Thanks for all the replies. I am here with my wife under the Balikbayan program, so we're good for a year, does that make a difference? I can definitely look into getting a Visa if that will help. We visited an LTO near us in Ilocos and were told I need to be in the Philippines for 6 months before applying for a Philippine driver's license. I'm willing to give it another shot, will go a week before my 3 months is up.
-@Dude55

I'm sure you're fine with Balikbayan. The office you went to was wrong. You don't need to be here 6months. The law states you can only drive on your foreign license 90 days. So 6 months is totally wrong.

That being said, not all offices do license conversions.

Do the driving license transfer before the end of the 3rd month or be prepared to pass the Filipino driving license exams as a beginner

Georges Laborie said . . . You are allowed to dive with your foreign license for 3 months in the Phils. Beyond these 3 months you must have a local license.
Go to LTO the week before the 3 first month's and ask for the conversion of your license in a Filipino license. They will tell you what documents they need. You will also have an exam (easy) and a medical exam (easy too) and within a few hours you will get your conversion paper which will be the only official paper until they issue your plastic driving license a few weeks later.
If you don't do this on time you will have to pass a Filipino driving license. A bit more complicated

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You may drive for the three month period, but you can receive a Philippine license anytime before or after that by presenting your current license from wherever you came from.

I went to a LTO office in Manila. (Be dressed properly) I took my so called physical within walking distance to the LTO office. I was not required to take a written test.

You can Google what documentation you will need saving an extra trip to the LTO.

My plastic drivers license was issued to me before I left the LTO and I retained my US license,

Quick update but first thanks for all the info and insight.

Decided to go back today and get just the medical (P400) and all the photocopying done (P15 - and the Medical person did it), we were out late last night (Barangay Fiesta) and we're feeling a little rough around the edges. As luck would have it, short line up, intake guy said to go home to change and come back. Had 2 ladies help me through signing up and opening an account on the LTO site and they did all the data entry. After approx 10min, called to pay (~P700) and the another 10-15 min for the photo, signing and finger prints. Badabing baboom, all done and very happy. Very efficient, well oiled machine.

Have a Filipino licence good for 5 years. It's a paper one though, apparently there's a bit of a wait for a proper one.

They did ask to see the OR and CR of the car (which I had) plus the title, which I didn't but that was not a problem.

Steve

Been driving here on an Aussie license here for 12 plus years, pulled up once and the decidedly uncomfortable policeman dealing with a westerner waved us on.

I never have my passport with me and always feign ignorance as a tourist.

Cheers, Steve.

@Dude55

Congratulations!

I'm a little confused about the paper license, my wife and I were issued the permanent plastic license the same day.

Did they tell you to schedule a physical exam after 1 year? I wonder how many people actually do that?

@Moon Dog Shortage of plastic licenses. No test needed since I have a valid foreign license.

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@bigpearl  Have been driving on a foreign license since 2000/2001 but retired now and first time staying longer than 3 months. Plan to retire here so thought it best to get a local license.

Steve

Moon Dog said. . . . . I'm a little confused about the paper license, my wife and I were issued the permanent plastic license the same day.

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Not long ago Paul (old dog new tricks) said their LTO was out of plastic, so some timelater the LTO received the plastic.

A side note: Sometime ago BI ran out of stickers for my passport, they staple the the receipt to my passport.

Not for me and what government department/s would staple a receipt to your passport? Sacrosanct and then some, My bill of wailing  is in a folder and presented every 2 months, take my passport for 5 minutes and give it back unmolested.

Cheers, Steve.

Not for me and what government department/s would staple a receipt to your passport? Sacrosanct and then some, My bill of wailing is in a folder and presented every 2 months, take my passport for 5 minutes and give it back unmolested.
Cheers, Steve.
-@bigpearl

I had no choice. . . .BI ran out of stickers to endorse my passport.

My local office ran out of stickers nearly 3 years ago. A bit like the number plate sagas?  What's wrong with the old fashioned ink stamp on your passport?

My local immi office (probably all) have a sign up on a window to bring your last receipt for processing, I can't work that one out as all your history is in their data system..... Doh I forgot that systems crash here often.

Any way Bob I'm sorry to hear they molested your passport.

Cheers, Steve.

Back on topic, I do use my foreign license but the risk is if I have an accident and they investigat and see I've been here for years then the sh1t will hit the fan.

Cheers, Steve.

I'm still curious about the required physical exam after the first year of the issue of the Philippine driver's license. Has anyone followed through with this requirement.

My local office ran out of stickers nearly 3 years ago. A bit like the number plate sagas? What's wrong with the old fashioned ink stamp on your passport?
My local immi office (probably all) have a sign up on a window to bring your last receipt for processing, I can't work that one out as all your history is in their data system..... Doh I forgot that systems crash here often.
Any way Bob I'm sorry to hear they molested your passport.

Cheers, Steve.
-@bigpearl

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I keep my molested passport under lock and key, I only carry my 13-A in my wallet, good as a passport.

Near miss today with a motorcycle that had no license and probably no brakes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-4WD5kOXM

In City Centers mostly traffic goes quite ok

once in country side it’s a complete different world. priority from the right side, they don’t give a ….t,

First is first seems to be the rule

slower vehicles like motorbikes, tricycles, jeepneys

overloaded trucks, they all drive on left lanes, refusing to go drive on Right lanes.

many drivers seem to learn how to ride a vehicle but don’t seem to have any understanding of driving code. On top of that most of these country side vehicles are not technically ok

how many riders, drivers, I see turning on there side lights to turn left and in the end they go right ?

I just drive during day time and be a defensive driver other wise you can make accidents every day here in Philippines

i'm not sure what the deal is when you live in the Phil a long time. I live in Hong Kong and my wife (filipina) and i have a house in Cauayan..........and we have a white SUV. We lv HK a few times a year to go back to our house and stay about 4+ weeks each time. So we are not full time there. Last year a filipino hit my SUV with his chevy pickup truck. It was clearly his fault but he didn't see that way. We fortunately have a filipino friend that was close by and he showed up to help us AND he had a friend in the police dept. I had my USA drivers license and it was ok.

Being that we had a link with one of the police made sure the other guy paid for our full car repair. Otherwise, as typical, we would have had to split the repair costs.

So if I were to move there i would get a local drivers license, but i don't know what the timing is to get that, etc. One thing i would highly recommend is find a way to make a friend or friend of a friend in the police dept.

Well put together Video Moon Dog, I'm not that clever but I've had similar instances with bikes as well as cars, we know Filipino time but not the case on the road, reminds me of Mr. Walker, alias Mr. Wheeler.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hk-c5jlk48s

I let my better half do 90% of the driving here, never had an accident either here, Australia and a couple of other countries.

Lol, he pimped his bike recently and I asked/told him to put the rear vision mirrors back on, no he said that changes the look,,,,, safety I said, I'm fine he said, got fined last week for not having wing mirrors, better the fine than being hit by a car.

Cheers, Steve.

@stuleer

i live here since 2017 in Laguna

i have my Philippines drivers license

i went to LTO to pas examine

Near miss today with a motorcycle that had no license and probably no brakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-4WD5kOXM
-@Moon Dog

Great video! Nice house and fence I suggest getting a power gate so your wife doesn't have to open the gate every time lol!

What is that little yellow truck? Looks great for landscaping supplies.

@Filamretire

Thanks, I have a power gate kit but it is the wheel type. The rubber tires have disintegrated just sitting in the box for 2 years and replacement parts are not available. Don't buy the wheel type! Jimmy is usually hanging out in the tricycle behind the yellow truck so we have a gate opener most of the time.

The yellow truck is just a multicab or a Suzuki Carry DA62T. It is the most used vehicle we have but this day we had 6 passengers going to the municipality for a marriage license and the municipality has decent parking for we used the Fortuner.

@bigpearl

Cool cartoon.

Notice the motorcycle had no license plate, no problem here as long as you avoid checkpoints. I doubt the driver has a license either or any proper training since he doesn't grasp the concept of turn signals. He was probably not trying to pass on the right, he was tailgating on the right side of the road and his motorcycle has no brakes. There were no skid marks in the grass. Good thing I was taking it easy. I have a dash cam on all my 4 wheel vehicles, cheap to buy and highly recommended. Some day I will hook up the back camera also.

An off topic issue I ran into trying to make the event into a video is the format of the security cam video. The dash cam records in AVI format so no problem but the file extension on the security cam is .264 so it can only be played by the camera software. There are a couple YouTube videos on that issue but the free version of software needed to convert is no longer working to convert IP Cam recordings. I found that Xbox software (Windows key + G) will record anything playing on your screen in MP4 format so problem solved. I don't play video games so I was surprised Xbox software was included with Windows 10.

@Dude55 If you go out of Phils ...like in Singapour when you go back you get 3 others months. If your actual licence is in English go for coversion...very easy no exam.  About the six months rule I dont know because I had a balikbayan visa good for one year.

Mikelaf said . . . . If you go out of Phils ...like in Singapour when you go back you get 3 others months. If your actual licence is in English go for coversion...very easy no exam. About the six months rule I dont know because I had a balikbayan visa good for one year.

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It is easy but there is a Medical Exam. Doctors office was several hundred yards away, the exam was cheap and nothing serious.

I received my license on the spot while only holding an acr-1.

Also your current license may expire while you're in the Philippines, maybe sometime later you may have to return to your home country, so it's a good idea to have the license from the LTO.

Be sure to wear proper attire when going to the LTO

@Dude55 no need to wait, you can go anytime and get it done

@Dude55 did u able to get a local drivers license using Balikbayan visa privilege?

Another question.

Did anyone have to do a drug test when you applied for conversion?

I keep getting different answers from different sources.

@Rheb Pickthall I'm not sure I understand the question, I was here with the wife so we were here on the Balikbayan program.

@joe68 No drug test or blood work of any kind but I have been hearing of different requirements/experiences from different areas of the Philippines.

joe68 has another question: Did anyone have to do a drug test when you applied for conversion?

I keep getting different answers from different sources.

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Que' pasa man. . .

If you're worried about a drug test, I suggest you have other problems.

I think it does depend a lot on where you go. Several people suggested we to go to the LTO in Carigara, Leyte even though it was an additional hour drive. They were right, it was a breeze. I didn't have my ACR card and I had less than 6 months on my visa and that was all overlooked. We were in an out in no time and my wife now has has her motorcycle license, and she's never driven a motorcycle in her life. I have a whole string of endorsements for vehicles I never intend to drive.

@Larry Fisher

When I asked the question, I thought someone would jump to that conclusion. Glad to see my faith in human nature was confirmed.