Getting a non-professional license

Last November, while I was planning to buy a car, I went to get a student driving permit from the Land Transportation Office. It was pretty easy especially because there was a satellite office near us (Malabon City Hall). Early one morning, my brother and I went there with photocopies of our birth certificates, student ID for him and marriage certificate for me. We got our student permits after two hours – which covered filling up the application form and submitting it together with the requirements (+ photocopy of parent’s ID and written consent for my brother who’s below 18 years old), waiting, having our pictures and signatures taken, payment and releasing. It cost a little over 300 pesos each.

The student permit is a requirement for getting a driving license. It is valid for one year, but one can already apply for a driving license a month and a day after your student permit is issued.

In my case, I applied for a driving license after two months. This time I went to the district office in Caloocan because satellite offices (such as that in Malabon) do not accept new applications. Since we arrived before the counters opened at 8am, I thought of finishing the drug test and medical exams to get ahead in the process. However, I was advised to wait since the officers will probably have a recommendation on where to take these. And so I did wait and took these tests according to the advice of the LTO officer. While queuing I filled up the application form. At this point, one will be offered such things as reviewers for the written exam and short-cut services by fixers, all of which are both unnecessary and will just incur additional cost. After passing the tests, I submitted the results to the assessment window together with my application form and student permit. I then waited for my name to be called for photo and signature capturing. Afterwards, I paid the necessary fees and then waited again for the written exam.

When my name was called, I was told to go to a room where, while waiting for my turn at the examination room, I can read the reviewers (same as the ones sold by fixers and can also be viewed here) that contain the possible test questions and corresponding answers.

The exam is in multiple-choice format, and one has to shade one circle per item in a separate answer sheet. After finishing the written test, I waited again for my name to be called for the practical exam. Since I applied for restrictions 1 and 2 (motorcycle and four-wheel manual vehicle), I was required to drive both a manual transmission car and a motorcycle within the office’s parking area. One may use her own ride or rent those available in the vicinity. The examiner then rated my driving skills and accomplished the score sheet attached to my application form, which I then submitted to the validating officer. For the last time, I waited for them to call my name and when they finally did, I was handed my new license card. Yey!