TL;DR: Junior and family English camps in the Philippines run mostly in Cebu, in the northern-hemisphere summer, priced as all-in packages: roughly US$1,506 to US$1,816 for four weeks for a child at one Cebu academy, and US$2,700 to US$2,900 for four weeks at another that includes activities and excursions. Two immigration rules decide whether the trip is even possible. A minor cannot hold a 9(f) student visa — the Bureau of Immigration requires applicants to be 18 and studying above high school level — so children study on a Special Study Permit. And a child under 15 arriving without a parent is excludable unless a Waiver of Exclusion Ground is arranged, at a published ₱3,120.
The Two Rules That Decide the Trip
Get these settled before you look at a single brochure. Both come from the Bureau of Immigration's own pages.
1. A minor cannot get a student visa. The BI states the 9(f) requirement plainly: applicants must be "at least 18 years old and shall take up a course of study higher than high school at a University, seminary or college." That excludes every child, and it excludes language academies regardless of age. The route for minors is the Special Study Permit (SSP), which the school files with the BI while the child stays on temporary visitor status. Our SSP guide and the student visa versus SSP comparison set out the difference.
2. A child under 15 arriving without a parent needs a waiver. This is the one that ruins trips at the airport. The BI's position, under the Philippine Immigration Act of 1940, is that children below fifteen years of age who are unaccompanied by, or not coming to, a parent are excludable, and must obtain a Waiver of Exclusion Ground (WEG) to be admitted.
Read that wording carefully, because two common situations fall on opposite sides of it:
| Situation | WEG needed? |
|---|---|
| 12-year-old flying with a parent | No |
| 12-year-old flying alone to join a parent already in the Philippines | No — the child is coming to a parent |
| 12-year-old flying with a camp group leader, aunt or agent | Yes |
| 12-year-old flying alone to a school dormitory | Yes |
| 16-year-old flying alone | Outside the under-15 rule, but check the airline and the camp |
The BI publishes two routes. With at least 72 hours' notice, a guardian submits a written intent to the Commissioner with the minor's passport, visa, return ticket and invitation; the Commissioner issues an order waiving exclusion, which goes to the Immigration Duty Supervisor at the port of entry, and fees may be waived or the ₱3,120 applies. Without prior notice, the guardian completes the waiver forms at the port, the duty supervisor marks it approved for payment, the guardian pays ₱3,120 to the cashier, and the officer admits the minor on presentation of the receipt.
Do the 72-hour version. Sorting immigration paperwork at a counter with a tired child and a queue behind you is not a plan.
Note also that a parent or legal guardian may execute the WEG affidavit before a consular officer at a Philippine embassy, stating that the child is travelling either alone or with a named travel companion and where the child will stay. Ask the camp who normally handles this — a school that runs unaccompanied minors every summer will have a process; one that does not will tell you to sort it yourself.
Entry, Extension and the 59-Day Line
Nationals of the 157 countries on the Executive Order 408 list — which includes Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the ASEAN states and the Gulf states — are admitted for a stay not exceeding 30 days, with a passport valid at least six months beyond the stay and a return or onward ticket. That is why the standard camp block is two or four weeks: four weeks fits inside the admission without an extension.
Beyond 30 days, you need a BI extension, which academies publish at roughly ₱3,400 to ₱4,700. Beyond 59 days on a temporary visitor visa, the BI requires an ACR I-Card — its wording covers "all foreign nationals who are visa holders of Temporary Visitor's Visa or Tourist Visa who have stayed for more than fifty-nine (59) days." Schools publish this at ₱3,000 to ₱4,000. Our ACR I-Card guide covers it. A six-week camp crosses the 30-day line; an eight-week camp crosses both.
On the SSP itself, expect the number you are quoted to be higher than the government's published table. The BI's SSP fee table totals ₱5,240 plus US$50 and carries the annotation "updated as of 06 March 2014." Academies today publish ₱6,800 to ₱11,040. Ask your camp for a current written all-in figure, and ask whether it is charged per child.
What Is Actually on Offer, With Published Prices
Three Cebu programmes publish enough detail to compare. All figures below are the schools' own; conversions run at roughly ₱62 to the US dollar in late August 2026, and the rate moves.
Family programme, parent required
3D Academy, Cebu — Kids and Parents Programme. Ages 6 to 15, and the school requires at least one parent or guardian to accompany the child. Children take six one-to-one classes a day, in an open or private classroom depending on age group; parents choose six classes a day (three one-to-one, three group) or four (two and two). Classes run Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm, in 50-minute sessions, and parents and children are taught separately, which the school frames as building the child's independence.
| Track | 1 week | 4 weeks |
|---|---|---|
| Kids, 6 one-to-one classes a day | US$471–568 | US$1,506–1,816 |
| Parent, 6 classes a day | US$364–461 | US$1,166–1,476 |
| Parent, 4 classes a day | US$349–446 | US$1,116–1,426 |
Ranges reflect room type (double, triple, quadruple). Enrolment is US$100 per person, and visa and permit fees are additional. A parent and one child for four weeks therefore starts around US$2,622 in the cheapest room configuration, before arrival fees and flights.
Teen camp, no parent required
QQEnglish, Cebu — summer camp. Published as running 10 July to 20 August in two, four or six-week blocks, for teenagers aged 10 to 15 and for families with children aged 4 to 15. It is held at the Beach Front Campus in Mactan Newtown, Lapu-Lapu City, about 19 minutes from Mactan-Cebu International Airport.
The supervision detail is the reason to look at this one closely. QQEnglish publishes that life teachers accompany students 24 hours a day on campus and live in the same dormitory with each group of students, alongside 24-hour security guards. The daily structure is three one-to-one classes plus three group classes, with evening self-study and weekly progress assessments. The school also publishes international staff fluent in Japanese, Chinese, Mongolian, Vietnamese, Arabic, Thai, Russian and Persian.
Prices are not published on the camp page. QQEnglish does publish its general rates — lessons from US$784 for four weeks at four one-to-one a day, accommodation from US$125 to US$1,120 for four weeks, meals at US$10 a day, US$150 registration — but the camp is quoted on request. Ask for it in writing.
Age-banded camp with excursions
Winning English, Cebu — Philippines Camp. Three published bands: Youth (6–10), Junior (11–18) and Guardian (18+) for accompanying parents. Youth days run two one-to-one and two group classes plus three themed activity blocks (STEAM, art, storytelling), a self-study session and an evening activity; Junior days run four one-to-one, a group writing class, three activity classes, self-study and an evening activity. Accommodation is hotel-style across three campus options, with the Lyf Campus designated for parent-and-child students under 13.
| Duration | City Campus (12+) | Ocean Campus (6–17) | Lyf Campus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks | US$1,600 | US$1,700 | US$1,900 |
| 4 weeks | US$2,700 | US$2,800 | US$2,900 |
| 6 weeks | US$3,900 | US$4,000 | US$4,300 |
| 8 weeks | US$5,000 | US$5,200 | US$5,600 |
Published inclusions: accommodation, meals, tuition, transport for activities, excursion fees, registration, books, utilities, airport shuttle and student ID. Published exclusions: airfare, personal expenses, travel insurance and laundry. The school publishes 24-hour security and coordinated student transport for outings. Its 2025 season ran 15 June to 23 August with two-week sessions starting every Sunday.
The gap between this and the 3D pricing is mostly the excursions and the hotel-style rooms, not the teaching. Decide which you are paying for.
Summer Scheduling
Junior camps here are built around the northern-hemisphere summer holidays of the source markets — Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China — not around the Philippine school year. That is why the published windows cluster in July and August, with some starting in mid-June.
It is worth knowing that the Philippine school calendar is a separate thing entirely; see our DepEd school calendar guide if you are also weighing enrolment in a Philippine school rather than a camp. Two practical consequences of the summer clustering:
- July and August are peak. Rooms sell out, single and double rooms go first, and prices do not discount. Book early if room type matters to you.
- The weather is wet. July and August fall in the Philippine rainy season. Island-hopping excursions get cancelled; ask what the school does with a cancelled activity day and whether excursion fees are refunded.
Shoulder-season enrolment outside the camp windows is possible at academies that run family programmes year-round, like 3D's kids and parents track, and it is usually quieter and easier to get the room you want.
Safety and Supervision: What to Ask
Marketing language on this is uniformly reassuring, so ask for specifics and get them by email.
| Question | What a good answer looks like |
|---|---|
| What is the ratio of supervising staff to children overnight? | A number, and whether staff sleep in the same dormitory |
| Who holds my child's passport during the stay? | A named process, not "the office" |
| What happens if my child is ill at 2am? | A named hospital and who accompanies them |
| Are outings supervised, and by whom? | Staff-to-child ratio for off-campus activities |
| Is there a phone or contact window for parents? | A scheduled time, not "any time" |
| What is the policy if a child breaks the English-only rule or the curfew? | Written, and proportionate |
| Who is the emergency contact in the Philippines? | A person and a number, before you fly |
For unaccompanied minors, add: who meets the child at the airport, what identification that person will carry, and what happens if the flight is delayed past office hours.
A Realistic Budget
For one parent and one child, four weeks in Cebu, using published figures:
| Item | Rough amount |
|---|---|
| Tuition, room and meals, 3D kids + parent, cheapest room | from US$2,622 |
| Enrolment fees, two people | US$200 |
| SSP, two people | ₱13,600 to ₱22,080 |
| Airport pickup | US$30 one way |
| Flights, insurance, pocket money, laundry | not included in any package |
An eight-week stay adds a visa extension and an ACR I-Card per person. Whatever the headline package price, ask for the arrival fees itemised in the same email, per person, before you pay a deposit — that is where family budgets slip.
Also worth reading: our guides for Korean and Japanese students, Vietnamese students, Arab students and TOEIC and TOEFL camps if an older teenager is aiming at a score rather than a summer.
Sources
- Bureau of Immigration, Student Visa 9(f) eligibility — immigration.gov.ph
- Bureau of Immigration, Special Study Permit requirements and fees — immigration.gov.ph
- Bureau of Immigration, Waiver for Exclusion Ground, including the under-15 rule and the ₱3,120 fee — immigration.gov.ph
- Bureau of Immigration, ACR I-Card issuance — immigration.gov.ph
- Philippine Embassy London, WEG guidelines for unaccompanied non-Filipino minor children — londonpe.dfa.gov.ph
- Philippine Consulate General Toronto, Executive Order 408 visa-free country list — philcongen-toronto.com
- 3D Academy, Kids and Parents Programme, ages and published prices — 3d-universal.com
- 3D Academy, published course prices and arrival fees — 3d-universal.com
- QQEnglish, summer camp dates, ages and supervision — qqeng.net
- QQEnglish, published plan and price list — qqeng.net
- Winning English School, Philippines Camp age bands, campuses and published prices — winningenglishschool.com
- Winning English School, 2025 summer camp season dates — winningenglishschool.com
Start Planning
Browse schools and academies on SchoolFinderPH, settle the waiver question with the Bureau of Immigration if your child is travelling without you, then ask two camps for a written quote with the arrival fees itemised per person.
