Hi Everyone, I'm a mid-forties software engineer. Single, with an adequate financial background; British citizen (And New Zealand citizen. And Hungarian as well - EU that is, if that counts...). Currently I live in London, but am looking to move to the Philippines next year by keeping my UK job (Got the infrastructure to work fully remote.) I'm just exploring my options; at this stage I know next to nothing about the Philippine immigration laws; what visa options I have, etc. As far as I know I'd have to pay income tax after my UK salary over there, but I can get my UK tax reduced by that? I (would like to) live quite an active life, so on top of my need for reliable Internet connection (for my work) I need a place that is urban enough (for dating), has beaches in driving or walking distance (for kitesurfing), and possibly hilly/mountainy areas (for motorbike riding and paragliding). I've never been to the country yet; don't really know where to look for a city that offers most of these. Advices are welcome (as well regarding potential destinations as for tips on the visa options and tax issues - given the above information about me). Thanks in advance! Oh! What about the COVID-situation (I heard it through the grapevine that some "retirement-visa" that would be of interest to me might have been suspended due to that?) Jacko
I'm a software engineer in his early sixties (a senior software architect to be precise). I'm single with two kids in the Philippines, who I currently support, I live in the UK at present but the kids live in Metro Manila and I support them from my work in the UK. Part of my plan is to do some remote consulting from the Phils when I retire sometime in the next 4 years. At this point in time if you have no family connection to the Philippines you won't be able to enter the country until the restrictions on tourist travel are removed, they have a state of calamity declared up until Sept 2021 but that could change before then depending on the vaccine situation. In normal times most people go there on a 30 day visa waiver on arrival and then extend to 59 days at the BI (Bureau of Immigration), there is a pattern of ongoing extensions which you can do after that for a couple of years I think, this costs money but it is not a lot if you are working. You should make a point of paying tax in the UK not in the Philippines, depending on your salary there is a good chance you will pay less in the UK, there is a dual taxation agreement between the UK and the Philippines you only have to be taxed once and really if you want to fall in love with the place the last thing you want is to get involved with their tax laws, the BIR (their HMRC) is a nightmare I have been in that office at tax filing time and it is mental. Internet, well you will need a condo to rent that has availability of a fibre connection, PLDT (telecoms) now supply quite fast connections, latency is poor because of the distance to the UK, the data actually goes east via the USA before it gets to here, RDP sessions work reasonably well though, even on low bandwidth connections, we get about 9mbps at our place on an ordinary copper line, internet connection is not cheap though, I pay £30 a month (2000 peso) for the PLDT line for the kids (includes local phone line service). Getting a flat and getting the Internet connection set up will be painful as you will be a tourist when you start and tourists can't apply for things like a bank account or services, sometimes the services will come with the rented property but you will have to be careful. My experience is in Luzon and I like Metro Manila it is a dump but a very friendly dump, you can get close to western standards in cities like Makati (the business city in Metro Manila) but things are a bit more expensive there. Manila is a few hours drive to beaches but most people would just take an internal flight from the capital to get to any resorts, you can drive north and there are some interesting locations but they don't really have a motorway network so it is all slow The country is full of mountains, lots of them have the interesting attribute of exploding but I don't know much about off road biking (I am an ex motorcyclist too ). Others here might be able to suggest advice on other locations in the Visayas. Regards retirement visas, the SRRV visa is what you are probably thinking about and that requires a term deposit, I've looked into it in the past but I'm not familiar with current costs, it does tie up capital which I personally don't want to do. I doubt that SRRV will be available right now but you never know, I will try to do some research for you tomorrow.
I have to say i agree with Druk, Davao fits in with most of what you want with regards things being on your doorstep, and doesnt have the traffic issues that Manila has, Cebu such as Lahug IT Park would be another City worth looking at, Dumaguete is another possibility, then my wife suggests Iloilo and Bohol as a possibility these are all in the Visayas , I suggest that when you do manage to get over to the Philippines, you visit the various Islands?Cities which is easy enough by Air and not expensive, the Visayas cities are all close to beaches and airports. As a long shot you have Palawan again it has all that you want with Puerta Princesa the capital a lovely City but im unsure about the internet connections on Palawan, the Motorbike hire in Puerto is around 300 pesos per day, and some really lovely rides around the island. I personally for various reasons could never live in Manila and neither could my wife, however its each one to his/her own and it may be just what you are looking for.. Finally with regards being Urban enough for dating, my wife says go up into the mountains where you will be far more likely to meet genuine filipino women, but she is biased , My own opinion is that as a well to do foreigner you will be far more likely to have to fend off a long queue of likely suitors in the bigger cities, by the way my wife agrees with OSS about the BIR she says there requirements are a nightmare.
Thanks for the info, guys; really appreciate it! Davao sounds good, but definitely will travel around a little before settling...
Haven't been there in maybe 20 years, nothing about it stood out, typical nondescript filipino city from memory.
Yes in 2013 it was badly hit by Typhoon Haiyan https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24891456 That gives a little idea of the disaster that hit the whole area.
Hi all again! Thanks for the info (and the photo). It does look sad... In the meantime I've been doing quite a bit of learning about the culture, and especially my position with my current company in terms of the feasibility of relocating while keeping the job (legal and taxing implications). - do you guys know anybody who did this? - would I not have to apply for some "work visa" once I decided to settle? Or does it only apply to those who work for a local company?
Anyone with a UK State Pension paid out in the UK does this, also it is very hard to get a private pension paid out to a foreign bank so combined state and private pensions will attract tax in the UK if they take you over your tax code allowance in any year. It is possible to get a UK pension paid out in the Philippines and as pensions are not taxed in the Phils all of that is tax free and I think that does not then count for your UK earnings. In your case I don't personally know anyone who has kept a UK job while working abroad but I do know someone who tried and failed to claim that his UK earnings were not taxable because he was non-resident while doing his UK job from a foreign country for most of the year, he got landed with a huge tax bill after receiving bad tax advice, so on that basis I would suggest it is hard to claim that you are not working in the UK for a UK employer when that is who is paying you even if you lived in the Philippines. In this case as you would be working online so how would Philippine authorities know you were employed, as long as you can support yourself you could be there on a tourist visa, they are taxing you via the cost of the tourist visa and that's about it, not sure how much that is per year now. Please note that, at least back in the day this was true, if you are a foreigner trying to rent in the Philippines the landlord will likely ask for 12 months rent upfront, at least when I rented a condo for three years I had to pay upfront each year. Our current place is in my kids mother's name so we are able to pay monthly.
