Hi all, have been contemplating moving from UK to Philippines to go live with my filipina gf/soon to be wife, for a "taste of the Philippine life".. Possibly 6-12 months..but need to know if anyone is working remotely(non Philippine employer)? and successfully made money to not rely on saving or income from uk.. don't want to go the working visa root cos of all the headache around it.. But Is it possible to do this? ..I want to Just renew my stay with visa every 1-2 months.. if all goes well and can find a remote working role, then may stay longer 24+ months.. what roles are readily available? and what monthly wage(peso) can I expect?..what should I aim for to be sufficiently comfortable? .. Was thinking 50k peso monthly.. Am more or less technically sound, meaning I know computer networking, pc's and so on.. Not boasting but saying my skillset. Any advise would be appreciated.. Negative or positive Regards Sunny
50k PHP is a wee bit tight for a western quality of life but it would be doable. Network engineers usually have to be physically present to work on hardware I am not aware of much remote working in that area of work although network management can sometimes be conducted remotely, tech support on the other hand is possible remotely but would need to know your specific skills usually product technical support requires deep vertical knowledge of a specific product or suite of products, first line technical support helpline work is a bit less demanding as you would really be a glorified call centre worker but trying to work from home (Philippine home). It sounds like what you want is a UK job where the employer will allow to do the work from anywhere on the planet, is that what you mean? If that is what you mean then wages will be in UK GBP and paid to a UK account but you could look at a Wise, Formerly TransferWise: Online Money Transfers | International Banking Features account which is specifically designed for people who can work anywhere, I can't say what the actual salary might be and although I work in this industry I don't really know of any companies that would allow this style of working. Myself I am a senior developer in charge of a team of software devs in the UK, I have personally worked remotely while on holiday in the Philippines, I have to be always available even when on holiday anyway but I have done a reasonable amount of work from our living room in the Phils, the last block of work was 7 days worth in December 2019 last time I was there, my kids now have decent internet for the first time since we got fibre installed late last year so the whole thing will be much less painful when I next go out there. There are many more opportunities for remote work if you actually have programming skills a great many IT professionals now work from anywhere, my employer does not specifically support this but I am getting old and close to retirement so they are starting to be more flexible with me as I could quit anytime and they still need me, and when I finally retire in a few years I will likely be on some kind of retainer as a consultant supporting the systems I have built over the last 25 years, but if you are going to work remotely for a UK company you should expect a lot more than £750 a month. Actual call centre work where you are employed in a Philippine call centre is certainly a possibility but that is a visa route, as a western native English speaker you could probably expect a higher end salary close to 60k peso but this is not the route you are aiming for. Legally if you were staying in the Philippines this way you would technically be breaking the law but it would be very hard for anyone to find out. From a financial aspect renting a condo could cost you 20,000 PHP a month or more and you might have association fees as well (a bit like factor's fees here, pays for building facilities and security), good internet and landline from 2000-3000 peso a month, electric is really expensive and can cost you 5000 peso a month easily especially if you use a lot of aircon, water well most people should be able to get by on 500 to 1000 peso a month, TV cable will cost 600 peso or more a month, food if you are cooking for yourself you could probably get away with 4000 to 5000 a month per person. I send my kids about £900 a month that supports a 16 year old and a 14 year old and their granny and auntie I send extra above that for school and clothing, I am lucky in that I rent a nice big house for only 10,000 peso a month, but my kids are not rich or spoiled on that budget, it's not as easy to live there now as everything is a lot more expensive than it was 17 years ago when I first went there. If it is just you and your gf then 50k might be alright but you still have to budget for some entertainment and going out socialising.
Yes I was think like cloud or platform engineer seems more viable as IT Support work is limiting in terms of pay.. But saying that I would maybe like to get a call centre role as long as I have free time..want to see and be part of the beautiful country and not be stuck at home... working, also my gf will not being very happy with me either.. You are right about learning a coding language though.. Would give me more freedom to move away from onsite working.. .. Really would like to work for UK company to keep my NI and so on upto date too..I was think of a UK employer which allowed work from anywhere.. Pay would go to my UK bank a/c, then I would transfer via world remit or something similar to gf or my ph bank account, once I have one set up .. I really appreciate your advise.. Ultimately need to get that flexible employer with the banging role or hit the big win on lotto .... Cheers
Make sure you have a decent Internet connection,my lady has two family members who are working online for American companies, they are always complaining about crap Internet speed.
around pila area and gf live around there.. Yeah I heard Internet in Ph is can be crappy and fkaky.. But If I get the top package, if possible, then I hope will be ok.. Guess fibre is out the question. ..
My family are in the NCR region and we have fibre now it's faster than what I have here in England and the price is not too bad. I've driven through the Pila area once long ago, I don't know how things have advanced there during the last 13 or 14 years so I can't say what you would be likely to get, from a work viewpoint in most parts of the Phils you will have two challenges, reliable internet and power-cuts.
Am in pila at gf place atm. Speed seems to be ok, not great, but guess better than I thought it would be? Not sure about power cuts, but gf say she not experienced any and she has been here for about a year.. Can't see fibre being here anytime soon though
Those speeds are stunning, I wasn't getting anything that on my phones last time I was there even in Manila. My kids have fibre in Metro Manila and we get just a little bit more than that on an actual fibre to the premises on FTTP.
Aaahhh ok.. Tested it again and seems to be around the 80mbp..idk.. Guess not many ppl in this area have WiFi.. So they can supply more bandwidth.. This is better than what I get at home(UK)... .. Non fibre of course..
