How to Get an NBI Clearance

Disclaimer: I am not in any way connected with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). I am just sharing my experience and the process that I went through in getting y clearance. All photos were screen captured from the NBI Clearance website.

I recently applied for an NBI Clearance because I need an additional government issued ID and decided to do it online. It is much easier and more convenient than doing manual application so I thought that I'll share with you the process on how to get it as it could be somewhat confusing for first time applicants.

 STEP 1: Create an account at www.nbi-clearance.com by clicking the SIGN UP NOW button.

STEP 2: Choose your application type. If you haven't had your fingerprints taken through their biometric system yet, then you have to choose "NEW" as the application type.

STEP 3: Key in the necessary information about yourself. The page will also ask for your email address so be sure that what you'll input is an active one because you will use it to be able to log-in on your account. Once you completely filled out the form, click the box for I ACCEPT TERMS OF SERVICE then click the SIGN IN Button.

STEP 4: You will be informed that your registration was completed and be redirected to the website's homepage. Click the SIGN IN option on the upper right hand corner of the homepage and sign in using your email address and the password that you nominated on the registration page.

 STEP 5: Fill out the necessary information to complete your profile. There's no need for you to upload a photo since it will be taken once you reported for your scheduled appearance for biometrics. Once you're done, just click the SAVE INFORMATION button.

 STEP 6: A notification will pop up on your screen stating that you have successfully completed your profile and by this time, you will have an option to either EDIT INFORMATION or APPLY FOR CLEARANCE. You will see the buttons for this options on the right hand side of your screen.

 STEP 7: Click the APPLY FOR CLEARANCE button and a prompt will appear asking you to input the identification card that you'll bring for verification on the day of your schedule appearance. Once you've already key in the type of ID, just click on I AGREE button. A prompt reminding you to take note of your reference number will appear. The reference number will be given to you after you selected the payment option and it will also be your gate pass when you go to an NBI Clearance Center. Just click the CLOSE button as seen on the prompt to go to the next step.

STEP 8: First, you need to choose the NBI Clearance Center from the drop down box where you want to process your NBI Clearance, then select from the available schedule on the calendar. It can either be an AM or PM appointment. For the PURPOSE, choose whether it's for LOCAL or ABROAD then select the PURPOSE DETAIL as well. In this case, I chose Local for the purpose and Local Employment for the purpose detail.

Once these has been selected, you will see the amount that you would need to pay. Please note that using this online service will cost you an additional fee of P25.00 pesos. So if the NBI Clearance for Local Employment is P115.00, you'll have  to add P25.00 and pay P140.00 all in all.

STEP 9: Still on the right side panel of the page, you will see your appointment details. Take note of the expiry date because this is the final date where you can process your NBI Clearance on site. If you weren't able to come to your appointment up until the expiry date, your payment will be forfeited.

To complete the transaction, you need to select which payment option is more convenient to you. Just hover your mouse on each button to see the details. Click on the payment option that you've chosen and pay the application fee. There's no need to print the application form and just take note of your reference number.

STEP 10: Go to you scheduled appointment and have your picture and fingerprints taken. If you don't have a "HIT" you'll immediately get your NBI Clearance but if you have, you'll be scheduled to claim it after 3 - 5 business days.

As for me, I was able to finish the whole process after 35 minutes but since I have a "HIT", they scheduled me to claim it after 4 business days. I hope this blog post could help those who are still not familiar with the online process in applying for an NBI clearance.


See you soon! :)

My Birth Certificate Woes

Warning: This is a lengthy post.

Photo courtesy of www.psa.gov.ph

It all started because I wanted to travel the world and to do so, I need to have a passport. While on the process of collecting my documents so that I could apply for one, I unfortunately found out that there are many issues involving my birth certificate after receiving a copy from then National Statistics Office or NSO (now Philippine Statistics Authority or PSA).

Firstly, my certificate of live birth does not indicate my “First and Last Names”. The only items that were filled out were my “Middle Name” and other details such as the date when I was born as well as my place of birth, the names of my parents, and the name of the OB-Gynecologist who attended to my mother at the time of my birth.

Second, since my parents were not married, I am considered as an illegitimate child. I can use my father’s last name as long as he acknowledged that I am indeed his child. There is a section at the back of my birth certificate regarding the acknowledgement however, my father wasn’t able to sign it due to the circumstances of my birth (as per my mother’s explanation).

Finally, my father died a long time ago without any written proof that he acknowledged me as his child thus as a rule, I am not allowed by the law to use his Last Name. However, I’ve been using it in all of my school and government records ever since. 

I went to the Local Civil Registry office in Manila (as I was born in Manila) to seek for an advise on what to do regarding my case. They told me to get a local copy of my birth certificate first because there are times that NSO copies are not updated especially if there has been changes made on someone's birth records in their end and a transmittal hasn't been done yet. So I did as I was told and was surprised to see that indeed, there was a supplemental report filed by my father to supply my first name on the birth certificate but my last name remains blank. I guess this is because at that time, he was still not married with my mother (they didn’t really get married anyway).

Since the changes made already reflects the local copy of my birth certificate, I was then instructed to file for a transmittal report so that my NSO records will be updated. I paid less than Php 500 for the whole process (getting the local copy + filing the transmittal) and was informed that I can already get an updated copy of my birth certificate from NSO after a month. I also asked one of the staff if there is anything that we could do about my last name since my father already passed away. She explained that if there is no written document proving that I was acknowledged by my father, they can’t do anything about it and that I may need to consult a lawyer about this matter.

Uh oh! Consulting a lawyer means appearing in the courts and going through a very tedious process that were both time and money consuming. Well, I’m not rich so together with my mother, we decided to seek the assistance of the Public Attorney's Office (PAO). Luckily, they are kind enough to answer all of my concerns and queries. I was told that since my father wouldn’t be able to testify and sign necessary documents, I will not be able to use his last name and that I should just use my middle name (my mother’s maiden name) as my last name so it will appear that I don’t have a middle name.

I was given several copies of originally signed and notarized affidavit stating that I am one and the same person and that all my school, employment, and government records should be updated bearing my name as it appears on my birth certificate. Now, I have to go back to my school since elementary and update everything from there then I have to go to different government offices to do the same. Oh well, what can I do? Anyway, this was a much better option than going to the courts right? I hope I can finish everything before October though. With that, Good luck to me!  X___X

If you need any legal assistance, here are the contact details from our Public Attorney's Office (PAO):

Public Attorney's Office Central Office

Office Address: 4th & 5th Floors DOJ Agencies Building
                       NIA Rd. corner East Ave., Diliman, Quezon City
 Hotline: (02) 929-9436; (02) 4262075; (02) 4262801; (02) 4262450; (02) 4262987; (02) 4262683

Local 106/107 (Office Hours)

Local 159 (Outside Office Hours)

Email:  pao_executive@yahoo.com

See you soon! :)