The School District of Philadelphia has created a process that will allow you to apply for your Working Papers online and meet virtually by appointment. There is limited availability and high demand, so we can only accept a limited amount of applications virtually. Appointments are held on Saturdays, usually in the mornings.

Filling out the application

1) Download the application for work permit from here: https://www.philasd.org/cte/wp-content/uploads/sites/155/2021/11/Application-for-Work-Permit-OCTE.pdf
2) Either print it out or open the PDF using something like Adobe Acrobat Reader.
3) Fill out everything except for “Signature of Issuing Officer” & the fields on the top right.
4) Have it signed by your parent or guardian, in the box at the bottom left. This part is really important, because we won’t accept unsigned applications.
5) Have it saved on your computer or mobile device. If you originally printed out, a digital photo of it (JPG or PNG) is fine. If you filled it out on Adobe Acrobat Reader, the completed PDF is fine.

Completing the Google Form

To submit your application, go to this Google Form: https://forms.gle/Pse5S5kW3MpgYKDaA

The Google Form closes automatically based on our weekly capacity for virtual appointments. It reopens on Mondays, around 9am.

It is very important that you enter an email address that is correct, working, and able to receive emails. We don’t recommend using an iCloud email address because they only have 5GB of storage, so more often than not, they will be full and cannot receive emails.

Verifying your email

After submitting the Google Form, you should receive a confirmation email that also asks you to verify the email address you entered in the form. Unverified emails will not receive any further correspondence, so please check your inbox, spam, and junk folders for this verification email. If you do not get the email after 15 minutes, that means there was a typo in the address you typed, or the email account itself is full and cannot receive anymore emails. You will have to submit the Google Form again, with the correct information.

Waiting two weeks for an appointment

It takes about two weeks to hear back on whether or not your application was approved. If it was approved, it will be assigned to an issuing officer, who will send you an appointment date and time through a Google Calendar invitation. Please keep a lookout in your email inbox (including spam and junk folders) for this invitation.

During your virtual appointment (it is optional for the parent to be present)

The minor who is applying for the permit needs to present their proof of age over video.