Foreign driver license conversion

Meanwhile:

All this conversation motivated me to check the expiration of my DL and it expires next month, as far as renewing for 10 years, my ashes will probably be in a urn on some mantle before 10 years.

Well anyways. . . .I looked at my present DL and when I applied I wasn't adapted to KG & CM for weight & height and made some serious errors.

So now I've looked at the conversion chart to actually have the correct info.

It seems most people posting here do not check the LTO website. The procedures for renewal etc are clear. For renewal, take an online driving theory test, get a medical report, and if you do not have penalties, your license will get renewed for ten years. Else 5 years. The theory test is easy, there is no time limit, and you can do it at home, first by registering in the official LTO portal called LTMS online portal. You can google the answer to each question, so you definitely can pass the test. So there is really no need to go through fixers in most cases. Fixers do exist, but in limited LTO branches. My daughter was told by her driving school that after she gets the certificate for 8 hours of practice, they could help her get a license at a particular LTO office without taking a practical test. The system is still not perfect, instructions are sometimes not correct as far as individual LTO branches are concerned, but it has been improving, albeit slowly.

As for foreign license conversion, I did mine many years ago, at the office in Quezon City, and at that time no test was required. But if it is the same online theory test, I think you should just do it at home and bring a copy of the certificate.

@danfinn

You are right. Fixing works everywhere. You can hire a killer anywhere in the world I guess only here they are quite cheap. If you don't want to kill a politician you can get one here for only 50.000 pesos. Cheers.

@yiqipok The system is still not perfect, instructions are sometimes not correct as far as individual LTO branches are concerned, but it has been improving, albeit slowly.

I think that is true and you find that LTO's deviating from the process you described on the web tend to be in Region 9 (Mindanao).

Just to cap this post, I did get my drivers license. Turns out I misunderstood what was needed. AFTER 90 days, you can apply and get a PH drivers license using your current international license, at LTO. Just needed a medical (eyesight) and fill out some forms, and the balikbayan stamp in the passport

    Just to cap this post, I did get my drivers license. Turns out I misunderstood what was needed. AFTER 90 days, you can apply and get a PH drivers license using your current international license, at LTO. Just needed a medical (eyesight) and fill out some forms, and the balikbayan stamp in the passport
   

    -@Filamretire

Question: The international driver's license; Is that not just a translation of your home driver's license into English/French/Spanish etc. and it does not stand on its own as a license, it must be used in combination with your home license? Is that correct or am I wrong? If this is correct, then you still need to accompany your international DL with your home DL, correct? Furthermore, unless your home license is not in English you do not need the international DL to translate it, agree? I appreciate your patience in answering because this has been my understanding of the International DL, as an American with license that uses only English and therefore had no relevance at all in terms of driving or applying for a license in the Philippines. I suspect your home license is also English (I THINK you are from an English-speaking country) so I am confused as to what the value of an international DL would be for you, here in the Philippines. I am sure based on your posts that you know much more about this than I so I appreciate any information.  Thanks.

@Filamretire

You are right but the eye test is too basic with only an allround "doctor". In my case that's why I failed it and lost my motorcycle licence. Duh! Should have used a fixer. They are not very expensive and would have spared me half a day of waiting at the LTO, too.

@yawg This is the first time I ever heard of anyone failing an LTO medical. This must be some kind of record because normally, you just pay your pesos and they confirm you are breathing and can see things and you pass. If I were to fail a test that nobody was supposed to fail, I would just go to a different doctor unless I really was legally blind in which case they did you a favor by denying the endorsement.

No more LTO for me. It was a nightmare. My gf bought a license in another town and we are careful to avoid the LTO checkpoints on the roads. My eyesight is good but for my left eye which is a "lazy" eye as we call it. It sees everything but never learned to read. And the test is only with numbers and letters. I did a real test at a German doctor's to get my licence. He told me I excelled at night sight and peripheral sight with my "bad" eye.

@Filamretire

Still waiting for your information on using an international driver's license to expedite LTO in the Philippines. My license is in English language.Your expertise is appreciated. Thanks.

@nickfisher0640 what office did you go to?

@Jay L EDWARDS SM Seaside. Just tell the guards that you want to convert your foreign license. They will send you in to talk with the guy in the back left corner. He will tell you everything you need to bring and then give you a date and time to return. Come a little early and get in the correct line.

@yiqipoi just renewed my license in March, no test of any kind just medical, in and out in a few hours, but now you are required to have a medical every 3 years it is on my license

    @yiqipoi just renewed my license in March, no test of any kind just medical, in and out in a few hours, but now you are required to have a medical every 3 years it is on my license
   

    -@Okieboy

Nope. We need to be accurate so as not to misinform 100s of expats with posts like the above.

2023 PhilStar

"MANILA, Philippines — The Land Transportation Office scrapped periodic medical examination requirement for holders of driver’s license with five to ten years validity.

In a statement on Sunday, the agency said that its chief Art Jay Tugade amended LTO Memorandum 2021-2285 or the supplemental Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 10930, which extended the validity of drivers’ licenses.

“There’s no empirical data saying that the period medical examination could prevent road crashes,” Tugade said.

Instead, Tugade said that “for licenses who will be issued a five-year validity driver’s license and 10-year validity driver’s license, the medical examination shall only be required 60 days prior to or on the specified renewal date."

@danfinngood I wasn't going to get it anyway, I am 81 still ride my motorcycle, but will give that up soon, I can  ride ok, it is Filipinos that have a problem, they can't judge distance or speed, and they never learn how to drive, they go buy a car, go to LTO buy a license, go out on the road try to learn how to drive, the traffic laws are not enforced so they never learn

Do i need to convert my US drivers license right away

Rakker10 asked. . . . Do i need to convert my US drivers license right away

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

Depends....

If you are going to drive and are living here.

Yes
   

 

@danfinn it is printed on my license just passing on what happened to me

@danfinn your delusional how long have you been here, every part of the Philippines has it's own rules and regulations, what comes out of Manila means nothing in Davao or Cotobato

My experience at the local LTO was a total desaster of misjudgement, I lost my motorcycle licence because of an unsympathetic lady "doctor". Just go the fixer way, the only safe way here!

    @danfinn it is printed on my license just passing on what happened to me
   

    -@Okieboy

Well well, in that case, definately go and get your physical after 3 years, they will be happy to take your money, that is before the clerk at LTO sends you home because it is no longer needed.

    @danfinn your delusional how long have you been here, every part of the Philippines has it's own rules and regulations, what comes out of Manila means nothing in Davao or Cotobato
   

    -@Okieboy

Actually what you say is true but in the other direction: If LTO has a national requirement.of course all regional LTOs are supposed to follow, however many of us know, for example, that LTO offices in Mindanao are often more lenient. You question how long I have been here? Not long enough to run into an LTO that made up a new set of rules more strict than national rules.