Long Term Stay in PH

Hi,

as a tourist you can stay for 30 days without paying any money and then you can extend and extend ...

This you can do for 3 years. When you leave the country it restarts. Plenty of time to get the SRRV. For the SRRV you need to deposit money. If you get married in the Philippines you can stay unlimited with a small amount to pay to get the initial visa (12k) and then after a year you pay the same amount (12k) for the unlimited 13a visa. I am married to a Filipina and I am living in Boracay for 9 years now. I got the 13a visa 4 years ago. Depending on your age and your health status you can consider to buy or rent a condominium unit. New ones are priced for 12M and up. So, if you want to stay here for another 20 years it might make sense to buy one. Otherwise you can rent a condo for 40k/month and up. Please check Newtown on Mactan island (where the airport is). This is more western style. I am living in Boracay where you can get condos for 6M and up. A rent for a condo here is 40k per month and 400k for a year. The reason is that there are more condos than demand for condos. Same as in Manila.

Good luck

Andy

Firstly welcome to the forum Roy, enjoy.

I whole heartedly agree with Andy when it comes to visa choices.

The SRRV makes sense especially if ex military aligned and well worth studying the the whole program in depth to see what suits you and I do recommend to read the fine print on the PRA site, for me I steered away from it but of course it's and individual choice.

There have been plenty of threads on here and other expat sites that give the pros and cons, happy reading, immerse yourself and well know what you are jumping into.

As Andy said a simple visitor visa with extensions gives you up to 3 years and then you need to leave the country for a day or a month for a holiday as we have been doing for the last 7 years living here full time.

Pick wisely where you put boots on the ground for things like immigration satellite offices, quality hospitals, services etc.

Simply stay a year or 2 and see if this is really the country for you before committing to an SRRV.

As for your belongings back in the UK, hang on to them until you have spent more time here before hasty decisions. I spent 8 years back and forward 2 to 3 times a year before I put roots down here, 7 years on and no regrets,,,,,,, yet, lol.

Good luck Roy and ask away your questions.

Cheers, Steve.

An add on as I do Roy.

To apply for an SRRV you will need a full 2 months clear on a tourist visa or they won't process the application and when they do they take your passport and you can't leave the country though internal travel is fine. If you do plan to go the SRRV when you arrive you need to study up on the legal paperwork required from the UK and bring it with you.

Roy you mentioned the warmer weather and humidity in Visayas but? We are from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland so similar climate to up here in La Union on Luzon and was always fine but I found as I got older the heat and humidity got to me and now have a fully A/C home set at 25/26C. and perfect. Just something to think about.

Cheers, Steve.

@RoyHolland

I'm not surprised Roy that you are looking to relocate from the UK to the Philippines. The country, particularly the south west where I live has been drenched with twice the amount of average rainfall in the last few weeks. I'm in Indonesia right now which unlike the Philippines is their rainy season. Less rain here than in the UK.🤔 Timing is everything Lotus as the actress said to the Bishop.

A couple of red flags to my mind have popped up. You say that you are renting in the UK. This suggests that you are on a lower than average income and have minimal assets. If you are on a basic state pension you may be getting extra help from the government. Presumably you will be claming disability as well as housing ( subject to your income) benefit. This of course will disappear when you relocate to Cebu. I hear IT park is not cheap but makes sense given your disability but will the figures add up?

Outside the IT bubble you will notice that the pavements (sidewalks to our American friends) are somewhat, shall we say challenging even if you are a fit person. Health insurance will not be cheap given your age and any other health issues you may have. Most expats self insure. There is no NHS in the Philippines and if you need life saving surgery you will have to pay for it and it will be costly. You need a minimum of £50k in savings before even thinking of getting on that plane at Heathrow.

The climate in the Philippines is debilitating for most expats especially those from a UK mild ( not too hot, not too cold,)  climate. Meteorologists use the term 'heat index' which is a combination of humidity added to the heat. On a sunny day in Cebu your polo shirt will be drenched after a 15 minute walk. Will your health cope with this or will you just stay in your airconditioned condo and use the shopping malls for exercise?  If that is the case then it kind of defeats the object of relocating to a country that has stunning outdoor scenary and beaches.

So many valid points Lotus and I will add don't come here as a poor man as it's not so cheap these days especially compared to other options available. 15 to 20 years ago it was.

While sure at many levels it's far cheaper here than the UK, Australia or the States maybe by half but buying, renting and setting up house costs.

A nest egg for health care is mandatory as well as PhilHealth and a decent private hospital in your area. Living in the cities might be more convenient for many, personally I don't like the noise and pollution that comes with a perceived good place to live and to each to their own at that level.

Provincial living suits us 4 klicks from a small town 50K citizens and 20 klicks to all the major malls, private hospital and industry and the crap there with some 200K souls. Beachfront, flat for miles unless you want to go to Baguio, the downside is a 4 hour trip to Clark or 6 hours to Manila for an international flight, but for us/me on a visitor visa have to travel every 3 years. Always plan a decent holiday in a new country.

Only my advice Roy is to do one hell of a lot of research before you call the Philippines home as it's certainly not for everyone.

Thanks for your 2 bobs worth Lotus, and good wishes for the OP.

Cheers, Steve.

I would like to chip in with some advise that I was given previously by Lotus Eater and it did make a great deal of sense to me and I am in a similar situation to the O/P - renting here in the UK. The advice was that if I could afford to - Spend the winter period in the Philippines and see how it goes before I give up my flat and consider a permanent move to the Philippines. So maybe if you can afford to, why not make your 4 week trip then consider going back there from the end of October for approximately 6 months. That should give you a enough time to know if a move there is affordable, to your liking and if you can manage the temperatures and humidity. You could also maybe check out other places besides Cebu to see if they would be more suitable for you.

One thing I would say about moving there as a single man is that there are many temptations there and many attractive woman and even though you may think and plan to live on your own and not want a relationship now - if that changed and you did meet a nice lady you wanted to have a relationship with in the future, your costs would increase. So if you are planning to make the move with limited resources, please take this into consideration. Many men have made the move before insisting they are happy to be on their own but have met someone after a few months or a couple of years and of course that changes everything.

One big concern I have is that you said you have poor health and although being near good hospitals is a good thing, are you sure you you are fit enough to make this move. It won't be like here in the UK if you need major surgery over there. No NHS and possibly some expensive medical bills depending on what needs doing. Also no free prescriptions.

Agree Cherry and said it many times before, don't come here on a basic pension or being poor thinking you will save money, it won't happen at that level. to the OP we spend AU over 3K per month for our needs, no rent no electricity, own the cars and bikes just our daily needs including a live in caretaker roust about that is a god send @ 300 bucks a month, could never afford him in Australia.

As a single man the last place I would retire would be the Philippines as there are so many opportunities out there and the proof of the pudding is in the eating.

I retired here and left a saner Western country only/primarily for a partner that I love and to keep us both happy. Single? The world is your oyster.

As mentioned earlier to the OP you definitely need to spend plenty of time here before committing to anything.

Cheers, Steve.

bigpearl said . . .

to the OP we spend AU over 3K per month for our needs, no rent no electricity, own the cars and bikes just our daily needs including a live in caretaker roust about that is a god send @ 300 bucks a month, could never afford him in Australia.

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Living in Metro Manila we get by on $2500 a month, we don't skimp. This could be lower but my wife's adult children live with us. The house is paid for and we don't own a car because of the never ending traffic and my disposition (road rage instigated by me). We use "Grab" similar to Uber, the cost savings is significant for us compared to car ownership. Additionally we have a live in housekeeper at P8,000 per month.

I try to live close to western life styles as much as I can, I eat western foods (S&R and Landers) the rest of the family eats a Philippine diet.