How to get a DOST SEI Final Clearance?

                                     

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(Wow! Congratulations. Inggit much ako.)

What is a DOST SEI Final Clearance?

For the benefit of the newbie, a DOST SEI Final Clearance is an endorsement from DOST SEI legally saying that you are cleared of any contractual obligation from the country (I may post our DOST-SEI Scholarship contract soon, please wait for it).

Who may apply for DOST SEI Final Clearance?

Having a DOST SEI Final Clearance means either of the two things: that you have served the country for a length of time equal to the number of years you have received financial help or you have paid DOST SEI in full (total amount + 12% interest) without finishing the service terms.

What are the Steps in Securing a DOST SEI Final Clearance?

Step 1: Write a Request Letter expressing your intent to get the final clearance. Address this letter to the director of DOST-SEI. Please check previous post for DOST contact details. This letter need not be very dramatic or long. For a sample request for final clearance letter, read this.

Step 2a: If you have successfully finished your contractual obligation to serve the country, then please provide all necessary proofs: CERTIFICATE OF EMPLOYMENTS, letters from previous company, and the like. Some issues arising with this point goes like this:

1.Kelangan ba related sa course ‘yung employment?

2. Paano kung nagsara na yung company at wala silang means na ma-verify  na dun talaga ako nagtrabaho before?

3. Ok lang ba kahit hindi tuloy-tuloy yung work?

4. And more…J

For nos. 2-3, as long as your CERTIFICATES of EMPLOYMENT/SERVICE RECORDS are intact (at enough na ang years of service mo), then everything is FINE. You can definitely say hello sa iyong DOST SEI Final Clearance. As for no. 1, sa totoo lang hindi ako sure dito. I have read previous blogs about this and vague ang mga sagot. The best way pa din is to call DOST SEI. Mura lang naman ang tawag kaysa mag-speculate tayo like crazy dito. J

Step 2b: If you have paid the ENTIRE AMOUNT, just present the official receipt (OR) and pwede ka ng mag-cartwheel. 

Should I Submit the Requirements Personally?

You may hand in the requirements personally or you may send them through fax, email or by mail to the address given here. Just remember to bring the ORIGINAL LETTER once you will get the DOST Final Clearance from their office.

You may also submit your requirements to DOST Regional Offices nearest you, but they would still have to forward this documents to DOST SEI Main.

How long should I wait before the DOST SEI Final Clearance can be issued?

The safest estimate would be 2-3 working days after the receipt of your complete requirements. 

What will DOST SEI give me?

DOST SEI will give you 3 letters: 1st is a MEMO for scholars, 2nd is a letter addressed to the Bureau of Immigration Commissioner  saying that you no longer have obligations from DOST and that your name can be removed from the watchlist and 3rd is a certification that you can present to NBI and DFA to apply for an NBI Clearance or passport, respectively. (You can read my blog entry about Passport Application, if you like). Once you receive Letter 2-3, don't forget to secure duplicate copies. After which, you may want to go to the Bureau of Immigration to present letter 2 and clear your name. Some forums say that you have to pay php500.00 in BI, I am not really sure but I will there next week to present mt endorsement letter so I may blog about it then. So good luck with your DOST SEI Final Clearance. AjA!

What do I do after I return from my TRIP?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3154/3702176604_219c75b211.jpg                                                                 

First of all, I hope your trip was worth all the hassles of securing your clearance (hehehehehe)

Anyway about the topic, here is a list of what you can do:

OPTION 1: If you posted a cash bond, just present the original Official Receipt (OR) of the DOST cash bond to DOST SEI along with photocopies of your passport with arrival markings from the Immigration Officers. Processing may take up to 10 working days before you can get the money.


OPTION 2: If you posted a SURETY BOND with GSIS, just present photocopies of your passport with arrival markings from the Immigration Officers. DOST SEI will then issue an Endorsement Letter to cancel the Surety Bond. Remember that there is a deadline for this, else the money will be forfeited. I have to check yet with my mother but I think you have 1 month allowance after your arrival.

OPTION 3: Submit a Certification of Return and POST TRAVEL REPORT

I have seen this information from a regional DOST website, and was also asked to do the same when I went on a training last year. I am not sure if the other scholars did this but I complied with this requirement last year. It says that:


"Scholars must furnish DOST-SEI a Certification of Return duly issued by your employer, a photocopy of pages in your passport that contain your picture and personal information and those stamped by the Immigration, and a copy of your travel report within a month of your arrival in the Philippines. Failure to do so will affect you future travels, cause the forfeiture of your bond or be considered as ground for a legal action against you for breach of contract."


Because of the clause in red, I submitted a very short report (1 page lang) about my training (natakot kasi...heheh). Pero di ko talaga alam kung totoo ba 'to. Ginawa ko na lang din...hehehe.


Do I need to submit them personally sa MAIN OFFICE?
My case, sa regional office ng DOST ko na lang sinubmit yung reports etc. They will then forward it sa SEI sa main office.

How to get a DOST SEI Travel Clearance for my Vacation Abroad?

Wow! Sosyal!

                                Photo credit

The top one reason why scholars want to travel abroad and secure a DOST Travel Clearance is that they want to go out for a short vacation. However, vacation trips abroad do not fall under the "OFFICIAL TRIPS CATEGORY" so most likely you have to post a cash bond with DOST SEI or GSIS Surety bond because a simple Letter of Guarantee will not do.


How to get a DOST Travel clearance? Just follow these simple steps.


STEP 1: Write a request letter, stating your desire to travel and asking their permission to grant you a DOST Travel Clearance. You may show your vacation itinerary, tickets, etc.Address the letter to the director of DOST SEI:

FILMA G. BRAWNER, Ph.D.

Director

Science Education Institute

Department of Science and Technology

Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila

(As of August 2011, or better yet check their site)

STEP 2: Include Certificates of Employment. These documents can be useful if you want to lower the cash bond amount that you have to post before they give you a DOST Travel Clearance. But if you are still a student, they will base it on the number of years you have received financial assistance, say kung 3rd year ka pa lang counted yun as 3 years.

BOND AMOUNT =TOTAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE RECEIVED x 12% Interest

If you want to have an idea how much it usually takes, mga more or less Php 100,000.00 for a 5-yr course. At this point some of my friends back in college already paid DOST the full amount kasi napagod na din sila kakapaulit-ulit kumuha ng DOST travel clearance everytime na lalabas. But the choice is yours. If you are willing to work in the Philippines pa naman, or inutang mo lang yung pera...go lang, tiis-tiis muna. Tiyaga-in mo na lang ang pagkuha ng DOST Travel Clearance.


You make fax or email your letter and the attachments to:


ALICIA L. ASUNCION, MPM

Science and Technology Scholarship Division

Phone   : (02)839-0083, (02)837-1333, (02)837-2071 loc. 2382

Fax         : (02)839-0086

Email     : sei.alasuncion@yahoo.com

Sample GUARANTEE LETTER for OFFICIAL TRIPS

For those of you who want to have an idea of how a guarantee letter/letter of guarantee looks like, please check the one below. This letter is what I used to get a DOST SEI travel clearance for our official training in Malaysia last year. With it,of course, I provided additional attachments such as invitations and confirmed flight tickets. For those of you asking "what are official trips again?", just click here. For a sample request letter for a dost travel clearance ,click here.

Anyway, good luck with your dost travel clearance.

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

 LETTER HEAD EFFECT

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

CERTIFICATION

            THIS IS TO CERTIFY that Ms. XXXXXXXXXX is currently employed as ___________________(OCCUPATION) of the Biotech Company (Employer/company) under the PCIERD-funded project . On June 2-6, 2010 (DATE), she will be sent to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (TRAVEL DESTINATION) to participate in a technical training on the use and maintenance of Biostat Fermentors (OFFICIAL REASON).

This further certifies that Ms. XXXX is aware of her travel restrictions as a DOST-SEI scholar and in the event that Ms. XXXX fails to return to the Philippines after the training program, the project guarantees full payment of her scholarship. (most important part)

                                                                                                                           
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This certification is issued upon the request of Ms. XXXXX for the issuance of a temporary travel clearance from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) for the upcoming technical training.

Given this 17^th day of May 2010 at Laguna.

           

                                              SIGNED:

                                                                                          ________________ (EMPLOYER)
                                                                             Project Leader/Coordinator
                                                           PCIERD Project

    

How to apply for a DOST SEI Travel Clearance for Graduate Studies Abroad?

I have secured a lot of DOST-SEI Travel Clearances and securing my dost travel clearance for graduate studies is by far the most difficult thing I had to do!!

Last year, I was awarded a Japanese Government Scholarship for October 2011 and I gave myself 1 month time frame to secure everything. The scholarship is 5 years in duration: a Master's and pHD degree straight program and so it is not your typical 1 week vacation or 1 month training. A simple guarantee letter or cash bond  that you can post in DOST SEI Office does not apply here. If you intend to travel for one year or more, the steps are quite different. And so I was introduced to two NEW and BIG Concepts namely:

1. SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT
2. GSIS SURETY BOND


But wait: Please don't get discouraged. Let me tell you first that I was indeed able to get this clearance within my 1 month deadline, and you can actually finish it sooner than I did if you live near your parents (unlike me, so I had to mail documents to the province back and forth a lot of times). 


Anyway, here are the steps:

STEP 1: Write a request letter showing your scholarship details and if possible provide attachments saying that you are actually a scholarship recipient or accepted to a graduate school abroad (Please wait for samples, I might post some). Address the letter to the director of DOST SEI:

FILMA G. BRAWNER, Ph.D.

Director

Science Education Institute

Department of Science and Technology

Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila

(As of August 2011, or better yet check their site)

STEP 2: Include Certificates of Employment. These documents can be useful if you want to lower the bond amount that you have to post with GSIS. The surety bond amount is calculated as

BOND AMOUNT =TOTAL FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE RECEIVED x 12% Interest

In my case, I was a scholar for 5 years and the computed BOND AMOUNT was originally around Php 120,000 but because of my 2 years working experience, it was reduced to around Php 93,000.00. But the computation is case to case basis, depending on the type of scholarship and the school you attended.

Is a DOST SEI Clearance needed for Philippine Passport Applications or Renewal?

I have read about this topic in several blog posts and forums online and the answers are quite MIXED. As for me, I got my first passport back in 2006 for our trip to Japan (it's in my past blogposts) and I had it renewed recently (June 2011) for my graduate studies abroad on October 2011. Here is what happened:

FOR 2006 Passport: I presented NO Travel Clearance or Endorsement Letter from DOST whatsoever.

Yes that's right. I was able to get an NBI Clearance specific for Passport Application without any DOST clearance probably because I was still a sophomore back then and my name is not yet part of the NBI database.
Also, I was able to travel to Japan without any clearance. (read here)


FOR 2011 Passport Renewal: I decided to get an endorsement letter from DOST addressed to DFA, allowing me to renew my passport.

Why? I don't know. Maybe I was thinking that I could get detected as a DOST scholar (with obligations) in DFA and would not be allowed to renew my passport. I was desperate because I am in the process of  finishing my requirements for a 5-yr scholarship abroad to start on October 2011 (Wait for a blogpost on this) and so I decided to make things official and got the endorsement letter.

But when I went to DFA to renew my passport, THEY DID NOT EVEN GET the endorsement letter, nor READ IT A BIT if I had not insisted. They only got the photocopies of my old passport. But in the end, I still insisted that they check the letter because I don't want them calling after a few days requesting me to go back. So the officer in charge checked and asked  a few people until finally she told me : IT IS NO LONGER NEEDED (What???????? Jaw dropped)

So maybe it is actually okay after all to go directly to DFA to apply for a passport without the clearance or whatever. As for the NBI Clearance requirement, you can always do away with it by submitting other IDs.

So, good luck with your passport!

Sample DOST Travel Clearance Request Letter

Question of the day: How do you write a DOST travel clearance request letter?
                                Can you show me a Sample DOST Travel Clearance request letter?

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE CLUELESS, HERE IS A SAMPLE TRAVEL CLEARANCE REQUEST LETTER. I used this travel clearance request letter in the past for my official training.

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

17 May 2010

______________________

Director

DOST SEI

Bicutan, Taguig City, M.M.

Dear ________________:

Greetings!

 I would like to request for a temporary travel clearance for our technical training (PURPOSE) in Kuala Lumpur, Malayasia_(DESTINATION) this coming June 2-5, 2010(DURATION) We are to attend training on the use, operation, maintenance and trouble-shooting of recently acquired Sartorius Biostat Benchtop Fermenors in a Biostat training facility in Kuala Lumpur (DETAILS OF THE TRIP). I am a recipient of the DOST SEI Merit Scholarship for the year 2004 and currently employed as _____________________________ (Brief Introduction and Background of current undertakings). 

            I am assuring your good office that this travel is official and not an employment opportunity; and that I will return on the stated date to fulfill my scholarly obligations for the country.  I am hoping for your kind approval. Rest assured that I will abide by the terms and conditions of your department for the duration of the trip. Thank you very much!

Respectfully yours,

___________________

Merit Scholar Batch 2004

Contact Info:

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

There you have it, hope it helps:

My sample dost clearance request letter

New DOST Science Education Institute Address

Most posts in the internet about DOST travel clearances and other concerns still indicate the old DOST-SEI address . DOST SEI Addresss is NO LONGER in

Science Education Institute

Department of Science and Technology

Room 207, 3rd FloorPTRI Bldg.,

Bicutan, Taguig, Metro Manila

They now transferred to the Main DOST Compound (not far from the old address, don’t worry):

                      

Science Education Institute

2nd Level Science Heritage Building, DOST Compound

General Santos Avenue

Bicutan, Taguig City, 1631

The contact details of the Science and Technology Scholarship Division are as follows:

Science and Technology Scholarship Division

ALICIA L. ASUNCION, MPM

Phone   : (02)839-0083, (02)837-1333, (02)837-2071 loc. 2382

Fax         : (02)839-0086

Email     : sei.alasuncion@yahoo.com

How to get a DOST SEI Travel Clearance for OFFICIAL TRIPS?

Here are the easy steps you need to make to secure a DOST SEI travel clearance for OFFICIAL TRIPS.


Examples of OFFICIAL TRIPS for DOST SEI Travel Clearance include:
Case A: Out of the country training or short-term jobs sponsored by your company (I have done this for our training in Malaysia last 2010)
Case B: Competitions abroad (or as for my case, performances abroad but I was not required a clearance that time)
Case C:.Attendance to Conferences or Symposiums
Case D:. Cultural/Student Exchange Programs (I have done this as well last 2009)


STEP 1. Write a letter addressed to the director of DOST Science Education Institute stating the following:
     a. Reason for your travel
      b.Travel Destination
     c. Date and Duration of your travel


STEP 2. Secure a LETTER OF GUARANTEE from your company, sponsor, school or recognized organizations, as an attachment for your request for a DOST SEI Travel Clearance.

For Case A, I got one from my boss along with supporting documents such as Training Itineraries etc.
For Case D, I got one from our College Secretary as it was an official university event along with supporting documents such as the invitation letter, endorsement from the Dean etc.

The important part of the letter is this statement:

"Should the scholar fails to return in the country within the given period of time, our company guarantees the refund to DOST-SEI the amount equivalent to the period left unserved of the said scholar"


Heavy right?? ^_^



STEP 3. SUBMIT your requirements for a DOST SEI Travel Clearance to DOST SEI through FAX

If you live near Bicutan or within Manila area, you may hand carry  your requirements to DOST SEI. But I suggest that you send these papers (Step 1 and 2) through fax and CALL to check if they have received it. They would then tell you when your travel clearance will be available (usually after 2-3 working days) and only then should you bring your original documents.

STEP 4. Once it is available, Get the Endorsement Letter from DOST addressed to the Commissioner of  the Bureau of Immigrations (Note this is not the clearance yet, it has to be approved by the Bureau of Immigration)

This is a sealed letter bearing the SEI logo saying that DOST SEI is endorsing your travel.DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS. One time, they would not release my clearance because I forgot to bring the original papers. So much for traveling expenses.


TAKE NOTE: DOST SEI transferred to a new building (Click here)!!! (As of my recent visit last July 24, 2011) They are now within the main DOST complex, but not far from the original address of 3F PTRI Bldg., Bicutan

STEP 5. Bring the Endorsement Letter from DOST SEI to Bureau of Immigration to be issued a TRAVEL ORDER

They say payments are usually made for this step but for my case, I just got my number and waited to be called. During my turn, I just presented the letter from DOST and the person in charge already said it was okay and I was permitted to leave after a few minutes. No more payment. I am not sure if this is applicable for vacations etc.

So above are the easy steps to get a DOST SEI travel clearance for Official Trips. Good luck with your clearance from DOST!

DOST SEI Scholar: Is it okay to travel abroad?

Back in the year 2006 when I was a sophomore in college, my folk dance troupe was invited to perform in Yokohama and Tokyo, Japan for 1 week. Three of us were DOST scholars then - 1 person already graduating and aware of her travel restrictions and  2 others (including me) who are oblivious to possible travel bans which could send all our dreams of going abroad to the drain.

Did we secure a  DOST SEI TRAVEL CLEARANCE?

OF COURSE NOT!!! We were CLUELESS ABOUT TRAVEL CLEARANCES!!! So we happily packed our bags, learned a few Japanese phrases, and fattened our wallets with yen.

And so what happened? Did we make it past the IMMIGRATION OFFICER without the DOST Travel Clearance? YES and NO. Well, two different things actually happened:

A. The graduating person was detected as a DOST scholar and she was called for questioning

B. The 2 of us sophomores were free and undetected.Buti na lang. So we kept quiet about our identities (jumping for joy inside because we were okay to travel)


Was she allowed to travel? 

Everybody was on PANIC MOde kasi within an hour, fly na kami sa Japan Airlines.
Everybody was worried, our choreographer was mad because if she does not make it, we would have to rechoreograph. Also, what if the 2 of us would get detected????

Luckily, we had a guardian (school principal) who took charge of the situation and negotioated with the immigration officer. Within those precious minutes she was able to furnish and submit requirements to DOST, instructing people only via her cellphone, and have DOST fax a copy of the travel clearance to the Immigration office.

Eventually, she was given a go signal at parang nabunutan ng tinik ang lahat. Pero paano kung hindi nahabol?

Lesson: Let us recall that as DOST Scholars we have to render service to the country equal to the number of years the scholarship was enjoyed and as such, we have certain travel restrictions. They said that names of DOST Scholars who have nearly completed their degrees (which explains why we were exempted) are forwarded to the Bureau of Immigration and issued a travel hold order.

But YES, we are still allowed to travel may it be for business or vacation.Some say they have been in and out of the country without the travel clearance, and remained undetected. I say these kind of things may really be uncontrollable, true for some but may not be the case for you. I suggest we go for the legal way. Let us secure our DOST travel clearance. I have done it 4 times already and it is not as difficult as some may think.