Flason Posted December 30, 2011 Posted December 30, 2011 (edited) HiMy name is John and I have fall in love with a beautiful philippna living ing San Fernando and I am planing on moving to Cebu or sanfernando to court her. I am looking for any avice on how to make this move.1 pass port - can I extend my stay at the airport from 21 days to 3 month at lleast.2 bank accounts.- can I should I set up an account right away in a Philippine bank so I can rent and apt right away or is my USA accounts Ok.3 looking to rent in San Fernando and I can't find anything on line.4 I have a 100% rating with the va any one else. I will need to go to the va hospital 1 every 6 months what's the best way.5 will I be able to by a Car and dive thereAny other help will be read. Not really needing any a ice on financial permuch go that. I will leave my account here open my va check is deposited in my account here can it be direct deposited in an account there.lastly of something to I trade stock through xxxx over the Internet has anyone else tried this and how good I the Internet connect there. Thank u John M Edited December 30, 2011 by Jollygoodfellow removed site details as member is unknown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volstateguy Posted December 30, 2011 Posted December 30, 2011 Welcome to the forum John. I will try to answer a few of your questions the best I can and if you use the search feature I'm sure you will find lots more useful information.Im unsure if you can extend your visa at the airport, when you go thru immigration at the airport you will get a 21 day stamp. For visa extensions beyond that you will need to visit the BOI office in Cebu, the first extensions will get you to 59 days, so you will need 2 extensions to get you out beyond 90 days. Member "ancienrocka" runs a visa extension service and I'm sure you could arrange with him for your extensionsor even have him go to the BOI with you the first time to show you the process.From my knowledge you will need to show a bank proof of residence ie. Utility bill, to open a bank account.Have you tried Cebu classifieds.com or Craigslist to search for rentals? However most people will tell you the best way to find a good place is searching once you are there with feet on the ground. Prices you find online will be mostly overpriced. I would suggest you plan to stay in a hotel the first few weeks and look around and see what you can find.You can fly from Cebu to manila on Cebu pacific fairly cheap to make your VA appointments.You can get a license and car there however if you have never been to Cebu and been in the traffic then you are in for some serious culture shock. Plus being a foreigner, if you get in an accident, it will be your fault....wether its your fault or not. The traffic is absolute madness. The good news is there is an abundance of public transportation. Once I move there, I plan to solely use the taxis, buses, and jeepneys.Hope this gives you a start. Once again welcome to the forum and good luck on your move. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forum Support scott h Posted December 30, 2011 Forum Support Posted December 30, 2011 Let me take a shot at the VA question. There is only one VA Clinic in the Philippines that I have been able to locate. It is located in Manila. GOOGLE VA Philipinnes. Takes you right to the link. In short you must be service related to be seen there. And be seen there for those conditions. So it looks like you'll be wandering up to Manila couple of times a year. For day to day medical concerns we must use Tricare Basic. Be seen by a Tri Care approved medical provider and submit our bills to the VA located in Sinapore for reembursment. I just went through my retirement briefings 2 weeks ago so this should be the latest gouge.JAKE!!! got anything to add? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lordblacknail Posted December 30, 2011 Posted December 30, 2011 Hi JohnSan Fernando is nice; we live a little north of there in Talisay City. I know of several rentals available if you are interested, mostly here in Talisay. Bank of the Philippine Islands has an agreement with Wells Fargo. You can transfer money from Wells Fargo to BPI for $3. It takes about three hours. That is the best and fastest that I know about. The only problem is that they usually rape you on the exchange rate, Wells Fargo that is. I would recommend having a credit union; they seem to charge the least fees for withdrawal here. Also, if you’re well off, HSBC has a no fees program I believe, but you need to maintain a large balance.No, you can’t usually find anything online. And if you do, it will be foreigner prices. Like the guy said, you need to be here to look around or know somebody who can look. But as to that: I wouldn’t make any permanent moves until you have courted her and married her, unless you are willing to move just to get here and live. If that is the case, no problem. The good news is there are millions of beautiful, wonderful, sexy, warm, Filipinos here that would love to love us old guys. Do remember that you cannot owe real estate here, except for condos, under certain conditions. For the condo, not the real estate.We have been here since March and I have decided that I don’t need to drive here. Too many accidents, and like was said earlier, it doesn’t matter who is at fault, you will be blamed. You can buy a car, and then hire a driver for around P3K per month, but I find taxis are the easiest and cheapest.We finally got a decent internet speed, it runs us P3600 per month, but we have no problems with the speed. We play games only and dl a few things.If you are a reader John, I have more than 200K eBooks, so let me know if you are looking for anything. Lots of cook books, novels, kid’s books.Before you actually move, talk to the forum about things to bring. TV’s are years out of date here, and cost a lot for a decent one, but even then they are outdated. We brought our TV with us as checked luggage. Worked great, and very glad we did. We shipped our belongings here via LBC boxes, sixty of them. All arrived intact and unopened, but of course with breakage.Lots of good advice on this forum, so before you move permanently, ask for it, people here are happy to help and they have been there, done that. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garpo Posted December 31, 2011 Posted December 31, 2011 John,Good advice from Art above. With that type of income you need to stay very low key and under the radar. While you might have a great girl that you are coming to meet, I would be very, very, careful with her family. After you have been here awhile then I am sure you will see that your biggest problem will be with the family of your wife or girlfriend. They can milk you dry if you are not careful. When I relocated to the Philippines I also had a set retirement income and some money in the bank. A foreigner that I meet in a forum gave me some great advice in that he told me to not tell anybody about savings in the bank and to also not touch the money until after I had been living in the Philippines for at least a year. It has now been over a year and I still have not touched any of my savings. I had been tempted several times with investment and business offers by both Filipino;s and other foreginers/expats. Thank 'God I keep to my word or the money would have been gone by now.Have a safe and great trip and we wish you the best and much happiness for the new year and your trip to the Philippines. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jollygoodfellow Posted December 31, 2011 Posted December 31, 2011 Also its worth while in my opinion to inform your bank or card merchant that you will be using your card overseas as sometimes they will block it. A couple of years ago a guy who was on the same plane as me could not use his card in Singapore airport so not sure how he got on in Cebu. Then just this year I used a HSBC credit card to book my wife's flight back and I had not informed them I was overseas and yes, they blocked it so I had to make a phone call. I did not plan on using that card but that's the only one that would have worked at the time for an online transaction to Airphil express. :cheersty: 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newexpat Posted January 2, 2012 Posted January 2, 2012 1/Slow down!!! If you never met her, SLOW DOWN !!! Just tell her you just want to be a friend to get to know her..There is a ton of girls, much better than yours, who will be happy to meet you.Get to Cebu, rent a short term ,3 months appartment. for about P15,000/monthYou will get 21 day visa on arrival, you can extend it to 59 at immigration office, not sure about Cebu airport, it is possible to get 59 day visa for P 2, 850 in Manila NAIA .Go to the malls , talk to the shop girls, stay away from bars. You can thank me later. When are you coming to Cebu ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bows00 Posted January 2, 2012 Posted January 2, 2012 Based on everything I have read and reasearched so far, this is the best advice to you. You should do some shopping there. I heard there are bargains everywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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