One other question...After I am married and come back next summer what is the first port of call so to speak to start the emigration process? I am guessing it is the PH embassy here.Originally Posted by fred
What forms/docs do i need to ask for. Forgive me for sounding dumb but having never done this before it is like learning to walk.
Beacon,
Keith is right pal, you have to start doing some leg work for yourself, what you have to realize is, the moderators and regulars on this forum have sat reading posts like yours for a long time now, in Keiths case over 3 to 4 years, in mine and Robs, at least 2 years, so we get pretty used to guys like you coming on, fresh faced out of the Phils and asking these questions, I will if you will accept my advice, give you some simple places to start ok, and its good advice, so please take it......
1st
Go to my website at http://www.british-filipino.com and look at some of the help links there, as Keith says, this will give you a broad outline of what the requirements are for marriage in the Republic of Philippines, then start preparing for that.
2nd,
You speak of living in the Philippines, once you have got married, what you would need to do, if you are considering starting a business, is that you are entitled once having got married to the balik bayan privilidge, which means you would be able to live for at least a year in the Philippines, providing you entered at the same time as your wife to be, now this may be a problem, since if your wife never leaves the Philippines, you would not be able to take advantage of that, also on a tourist visa, you are not entitled to work on such a visa, (even RP has its own set of work regulations for foreign nationals, even those married to Filipino citizens).
As far as your setting up a business is concerned, you might wish to go to the section of my website which gives some pointers on it before you comtemplate taking any hard earned capital you have into the Philippines for a business, that can be found at
http://www.british-filipino.com/investor.html
This is a good guide to sober you up, before you go and start setting up this business or that one.
Once you have read that, if you still feel that you would like to go forward with a business, then really, you should start researching as much as possible about what you will do, and how you will do it, get lots of information about your market sector, and think of every possible scenario before you go, once you have read my section, on businesses, you will start to realize that their are roughly 3 types of foreigner business person living in the Philippines, and there are lots of them, once you see where you fit in, you can decide where your future lies.
once you have done this, you will need a visa of some kind to work in the Philippines, even if you are married to a Filipino citizen, you still dont want to be subject to immigration control, if you wife does not leave the Philippines, the balik bayan privilidge, is not of much use, so I would then start to contact the Philippine Embassy in London, the Embassy is at 9a Palace Green, next to the Romanian Embassy, just up from the Israeli Embassy, you can actually park outside the embassy, there is a ticket machine there, the embassy approach road is on the crown estate, but can be accessed from the top end off Bayswater road, just tell the guard you are going down to the Philippine Embassy, and you get waved through.
You can also take a tube to the embassy, on the Circle Line, Kensington High Street is nearest station, turn right outside, and walk up, about 10 mins, you will see Palace Green, running up the side of the Kensington Thistle Garden Hotel, ( access from the bottom end of Palace Green)
Just be wary of public holidays at the embassy, check first on their website at: http://www.philemb.org.uk/
Things like Bonifacio day and other holidays may mean your trip to the embassy has to be aborted, dont get caught out, but you will need to go and visit the embassy to apply for
The Special retirement visa ( USD 75,000 INVESTOR)
This is one where you want to retire in the Philippines whilst married to a Filipino citizen, from what I can gather, and after speaking to applicants before when I have been at the embassy, the cost is around £150.00 and the procedure, involves a chest xray, and a documentary check on your means of living.
You will also need to deposit in US Dollars at least 75,000 in the Philippines, if you have that amount of capital, the Philippine Embassy will advise you of the new rules regarding this.
Such as your Capital, or pensions, the Embassy will check out, that you can afford to support yourself if you wish to retire in the Philippines, if you inform them that you will set up a business, you may have to produce quite a lot of documentation to prove that you can do so.
My advice is not to get a retirement visa on that basis, it would be better to get a retirement visa on the basis that you wish to just retire on your Capital savings and any other means of income, you should have no problems obtaining that visa, if your documentation is in order.
Then once in the Philippines, you can then start a business once you are settled in the home of your wife to be.
If you plan to live in the Philippines for more than 30 days ( actually living) and not on holiday, you will also need to apply for
an Alien Certificate of Registration, you will also need to let Immigration finger print you, the office for this is at
CEBU
BI Regional Office. P Burgos Street, Tribunal, Mandaue City, Cebue. Tel (011-63-32)345-6442/6443/6444.
If you do not apply for the retirement visa, you will constantly be having to leave the country and fly to Hong Kong, and then come back, and re-enter the Philippines, however, you may also wish to keep extending your visa with immigration locally in Cebu, this is also possible, you can take your passport every so often to Immigration bureau, and they will for a fee extend your stay, this can be done for up to a year, but eventually, you will have to leave the RP, this site might help you....
http://www.gov.ph/faqs/immigration.asp
Also, this might help you
Don Herrington, who lives in Cebu, would be a good contact for you, he is an American who knows Cebu like the back of his hand, he has also lived there as an ex pat for several years, Im sure he would talk to you, if you meet up with him.
His website is at http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/#1
This website is full of useful help to anyone who contemplates living and retiring in the Philippines, including businesses, he also can tell you about visa extensions and how to work with the Immigration system there.
Dons page here is paticularly useful http://www.livinginthephilippines.co...html#visa_fees
I hope this helps you now Beacon, but really you can do all this research yourself, but it gives you a starting place,
Pete
Pete_Forum Moderator
Philippines marriage, Courtships, UK Entry Clearance
Pete.
I think it is good to re answer some questions periodically as things change all the time..For instance the new requirements for the SRRV (retirement visa) have changed.
The new deposit/investment required by those over 50 has been reduced to $20,000. For under 50`s its now $50,000. Although this looks a more viable proposition than it was there are some hidden charges there which still make the 13a route the best option..
If I was beacon,I would just go there and extend my visas for a year..If everything goes pear shaped then he can just take the lonley trip home..
If however he is marrying a Filipina with her head screwed on with some boarding property producing regular monthly income and he decides he is able to stay,then a quick trip over to HK and back will keep him in the country for another year..By that time perhaps he can persuade his mrs to take the next visa trip with him so that he can avail himself of the balikbayan privilege..(3 years in total with option to extend to 4th year)
If by some miracle he gets to this point ,then this is the time to consider residency which can be sorted in the R.P easily enough.
Research on the internet is OK to an extent but you can`t beat guys that have actually done it sharing their experience first hand or people that are actually there doing it NOW!!
No point me telling him what I have done in the past as one of my 59 day visas was exceeded by 3 years!!
I wonder if you can find out how I got away with that by researching the net?
BTW...Nice site you got there!!
who wants to live inside an oven everyday, when you can live in a fridge, i wud rather be tooo cold that too hot. as for nhs , well its excellent, my wife works for it, and seeing the government has made it impossible for non european doc's to work for the nhs, i like the nhs even more, at least soon, my wife will have a better chance of working as a doc here for the nhs, with a nice nhs pension, why would you want to live in pinoyland and work as a doc and get paid £100 a month, one month's wage for a SHO in the uk is more than a yrs pay for a doc in pinoyland...
anyway my wife will be using the nhs on sunday when she will give birth to our baby son
anyway what you got to loose you can always come back,,,,,
.....and your son made these arrangements did he? He may have other plansanyway my wife will be using the nhs on sunday when she will give birth to our baby son
Keith - Administrator
my sister is a nurse & she says the nhs is crap. The only 2 times I've needed it I had to stump up the cash myself (over 1k each time) & go private.
It might be good for the minority that require intensive therapy, but for the average tax payer it's a money pit. A friend of mine has a spine problem & she is being asked 50kfor the operation, or wait until she is incontinent before she can have the op
I'm with Beacon & would leave blighty like a shot. If you prefer cool weather, go and live 2000feet up - much cooler than city/beach.
Unfortunatly, as everyone knows, the salaries only come near to what we get here in either HK or singsing
oh nhs again, my wife has a degree in biology and a degree in medicine, she also passed the board exam in manila the 1st time, the pay for a doc in pinoyland is less than £200 a month, some of her professors have and are training to be nurses so they can work here in the UK, when my wife started applying for jobs here in the UK. she had to apply for jobs which she was well over qualidied for, as she has to take exams here to register as a doc.. like an english exam!!, she told them she had a degree in bio and another in medicine, she applied for 100+ jobs, its only when they started saying she was over qualified, she took off her Cv her med degree, and just said she been to med school for 3 yrs, she works for the nhs now, and its is average pay, but shes passed her ielts and will take plab1 and plab2 so she can work as a doc here, thats where the money is, specialised nursing, dentistry and as a doc..
the nhs is a good emplyer if you specialise in an area. a pension ! , pay increase every year, discounts for shops/palces. and up to 35 days hol a yr, well compare to where i work, no pension, no pay increase this year again !, 21 days hol a yr, and not even thanks !!... and lower pay.
Maybe this will help too. We had a civil wedding here in the Philippines and these is what they ask us to produce. For the woman, Birth certificate from NSO, and witnesses for the wedding. For the foreinger guy, devorce paper if you are devorced,birth certificate and capacity to get married from your embassy. Me and my husband went to the emigration and told them that he intended to stay in the Philippines so they ask him to apply for Permanent resident but before he can have Permanent resident,he will still have to get temporary resident which is good for one year. (That is if the application will be approved) by the way, his application was approved so he was issued CERTIFICATE OF RESIDENCE(TEMPORARY). Now, we submitted all the paperwork for his application for Permanent Residence. We hope to get the result this January.
Base on what you said, you are really apt to living here in the Philippine soon but be prepared because you will soon notice the difference living here from where you came from:GOOD LUCK
I just had to commentwho wants to live inside an oven everyday, when you can live in a fridge, i wud rather be tooo cold that too hot. as for nhs , well its excellent, my wife works for it, and seeing the government has made it impossible for non european doc's to work for the nhs, i like the nhs even more, at least soon, my wife will have a better chance of working as a doc here for the nhs, with a nice nhs pension, why would you want to live in pinoyland and work as a doc and get paid £100 a month, one month's wage for a SHO in the uk is more than a yrs pay for a doc in pinoyland...
anyway my wife will be using the nhs on sunday when she will give birth to our baby son
anyway what you got to loose you can always come back,,,,,
We know what we want to do. It is not always too hot there, some days are like warm summer days here.
We have met people there who are ex-pats in Cebu and work for multi national companies paying wages equivalent to here. There are a fair few people who do this.
Some things you do for love and life not whether you have a great NHS or job.
I could well look back in 20 years time and think "if only i had gone to live with the love of my life"
Instead of thinking it. I am actually going to get off myand doing it for real.
Joe I have nothing to lose and everything to gain
sorry was pulling your leg a bit, yes sure if you get in a taxi with air con, some dont, never seen or heard of a portable air-con i can carry around, when your out and about, its the walking to and from the taxi thats the hard bit, I've been to pinoyland 8 times, the only time its really bad is when the doors open at the exit of the airport and bam! its like putting your head in an oven.. but ive never been so cold for years when we went to bagiuo !! i was shivvvvering.....
hmmm good nhs job, iam supporting myslef, my wife, 2 step kids, and from monday a bb !, and her aunt, who looks after her son, and her cousin, yes money i do need, to give them a chance, that they would never have..
sounds like your trying to convince yourslef, hehehe, am not giving you a hard time, i was thinking of going living there, but for now, i got big debts to pay off and a extended family to get thru another year, but i can see light at end of the tunnel...
my friend married a japanese girl he meet thru the net, she lived here for 2 yrs, and when it was renew visa time, she didnt and he went back to the land of the rising sun with her, he was worried about the unknown, but he went, they struggled for nearly a year, it took him 9 months to find a job, but things are going good now...
its talking the first small step thats the big one.. !! yes you got nothig to lose like i said to my friend, you can always come back if it doesnt work out..
maybe i'll go in 10 yrs, but for now, i got no choice but to stay a carry on
take it easy, and take the risk....
oh forgot to mention, somethings you do for love! ? , thats why iam in debt ! because of love !.. i was well off. and now broke... but i wouldnt change a thing
Pete.
I think it is good to re answer some questions periodically as things change all the time..For instance the new requirements for the SRRV (retirement visa) have changed.
The new deposit/investment required by those over 50 has been reduced to $20,000. For under 50`s its now $50,000. Although this looks a more viable proposition than it was there are some hidden charges there which still make the 13a route the best option..
If I was beacon,I would just go there and extend my visas for a year..If everything goes pear shaped then he can just take the lonley trip home..
If however he is marrying a Filipina with her head screwed on with some boarding property producing regular monthly income and he decides he is able to stay,then a quick trip over to HK and back will keep him in the country for another year..By that time perhaps he can persuade his mrs to take the next visa trip with him so that he can avail himself of the balikbayan privilege..(3 years in total with option to extend to 4th year)
If by some miracle he gets to this point ,then this is the time to consider residency which can be sorted in the R.P easily enough.
Research on the internet is OK to an extent but you can`t beat guys that have actually done it sharing their experience first hand or people that are actually there doing it NOW!!
No point me telling him what I have done in the past as one of my 59 day visas was exceeded by 3 years!!
I wonder if you can find out how I got away with that by researching the net?
BTW...Nice site you got there!!
Thank you for this post Fred, of course your post is correct, its good to periodically check on these important questions, and I would 100 per cent agree with you, I note the differences and reformed retirement visa amounts, they are obviously lower than at the Bureau of Immigration is currently showing, of course their websites are slow to be updated, thanks for the welcome comments about my site, its always nice to hear feedback from readers, and your comments are welcome on the fact that he can extend to a total of 3 years, a bit of jiggery pokery helps.
Best wishes Fred
Peter
Pete_Forum Moderator
Philippines marriage, Courtships, UK Entry Clearance
Pete
Thank you for some very sound advice i now have a better idea of what to do when it comes to the "big move".
Very spot on and definitive.
Regards
Beacon
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