Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in Taiwan will have the opportunity to renew their driver’s licenses near their workplaces or residence as the Land Transportation Office (LTO) will open starting Friday, Sept. 21, two offices in Taichung and Kaohshuing.
LTO chief, Assistant Secretary Vigor D. Mendoza II said the two-day pilot implementation of the online services in Taiwan on Sept. 21 and 22 will provide a total of 400 slots for OFWs in Taiwan—200 each inTaichung and Kaohshuing.
Mendoza said the online service of the LTO was also an offshoot of the agreement signed between LTO and the Department of Migrant to come up with a project that aims to streamline the process of renewing the driver’s license of OFWs by having the entire process done completely online.
“The pilot implementation comes with the test of the system and gathering of feedback from OFWs in order to identify any possible glitches,” said Mendoza.
In renewing the licenses, Mendoza said OFWs should have the following:
• A driver’s license expiring within sixty (60) days, or expired within two (2) years, from the date of expiration, and no revision of records to be made prior to renewal
• Active LTMS (referred thereafter as “LTO Portal”) account with OFW’s biometric profile captured1
• Online CDE certification taken from the LTO Portal
• Medical certificate provided by an LTO-accredited telemedical facility
• A reliable internet connection
• A smartphone with an Apple AppStore or Google Play Store installed
Once the OFW has paid the renewal of its license, LTO will then print its license card and notify him once the card is ready for shipping.
Mendoza said that in the conduct of the exam,OFWs are encouraged to use a bigger device like a laptop or tablet to be used for the proper conduct of the exam which involves actual test of the telemedical exam.
The completion time of the exam, according to Mendoza, averages around 10 minutes.
“The transaction time to complete the renewal process can be completed in as fast as one hour provided that the OFW has applied coinciding the office hours of LTO, comparable to the total processing time of a walk-in applicant as cited in the Citizen’s Charter,” said Mendoza.
Once the requirements are completed, Mendoza said the OFWs will have to choose between DHL and FedEx for the delivery of their license cards.
“From the initial application of the OFW until the delivery of his license card to his appointed foreign address in Taiwan for this launch, the total process can take anywhere from 3-5 days,” said Mendoza.
Mendoza said the digital services of the LTO will be expanded to other parts of the world in the soonest possible time, particularly in the Middle East, United States and Europe.