Travel Tax Exemption ( Philippine Tourism Agency )

Today I just completed processing my family OFW Travel Tax Exemption and I want to share my experience and facts that I gathered during the process to help other OFW looking for information. Hope this helps.

If you are an OFW ( Overseas Filipino Worker ) on vacation, And if your family is living with you overseas and they need to travel back to the country where you are working , you need to get the Travel Tax Exemption Certificate from the Philippine Tourism Agency. to avoid a travel tax payment of PHP 1,800 each dependent  before leaving the Philippines.

What are the Travel Tax Exemption Requirements ?

For your daughter and son, you need to bring the following :

1. Original Copy of Birth Certificate
2. Original Passport
3. Original Certified Copy of your OEC ( Overseas Employment Certificate )
4. Copy of their Ticket

For your wife, you need to bring the following :

1. Original Copy of Marriage Certificate
2. Original Passport
3. Original Certified Copy of your OEC ( Overseas Employment Certificate )
4. Copy of their Ticket

How much will it cost per OFW Dependent ?

It will cost PHP 500 pesos per dependent.

How long will it take to get the Certificate ?

It takes about 2 hours to complete all  the process.

Suggestion and Comments

It will be better for  Philippine Tourism Agency to invest for a high speed scanner and good archiving system.  During my first attempt they did not accept my application since I did not bring the original documents even I am renewing every year for almost 6 years already. At first I presume that they have a proper documents archives where they can verify that I am already renewing the documents for almost 6 years . I hope next year they can have a better system where they could check their archives  and not to ask the OFW to bring the original documents everytime they need to renew.

I have seen some incident that OFW is coming from far province just to be rejected for technicalities as mentioned above. We are already in a time where technology is available everywhere and I was amazed that Philippine Tourism Agency is still not embracing the technology.

I also remember their supervisor saying ” We are not the same with other countries where they could have this kind of technology ” ( referring to the archiving system ) when I am urging them to issue the certificate without the presence of the original Birth Certificate and Marriage Certificate.

But one thing i noticed is that the receipt is now computer printed and not a handwritten receipt like before. The issuance of Travel Tax Certificate is also faster than before and I thank them for the improvement.

Hope to have a better system next year.  Philippine Tourism Agency Site )