Considering Move To Cebu Or Manila

[BritishPinay]

May you and your partner have fun at the beaches and parks around the Visayan island group.

Thanks Kuya Jake  :)

 

Sorry I can see how my statement was misconstrued. I meant my business partner at that time. We no longer run the aforementioned web dev company.   

[Jake]

 

May you and your partner have fun at the beaches and parks around the Visayan island group.

Thanks Kuya Jake  :)

 

Sorry I can see how my statement was misconstrued. I meant my business partner at that time. We no longer run the aforementioned web dev company.   

 

Hey Girl,

 

Well, at least it wasn't monkey business.....he, he.  Anyway, please feel free to ask any questions or continue

to submit some valuable information coming from your unique perspective -- the British upper lip and the soft

and kind hearted soul of a true Filipina.  

 

You can try our search function (upper right hand corner).  Use the Google site search and you will get many

hits just from within this forum.  We even have an extensive photo gallery and personal blogs.  Researching

for a potential ideal residence is a daunting task for most of us.  

 

We wish you the very best in life, respectfully -- Kuya Jake

[ILChamp0306]

Thanks for everyone's help. All very helpful for me!

[sandwichmaker]

I moved back to Philippines from UK two years ago and in my experience (and hearing foreigner friends' experiences)…    Yes you can just have a tourist visa and keep renewing it to extend your stay here. Many of my foreigner friends do this.    Some landlords want to see you have a valid visa before agreeing to rent a place for the long term but in my experience most would rent out to you as long as they can see you are sincere and you'll do what you say you would. Not sure about leasing a car, however.    I used to co-run a web development company whilst I was in UK and we employed freelancers from Manila and Cebu who worked from their homes...
(quoted to here for brevity)

 

It's not often I am so impressed on a forum. An intelligent, informed reply, with a generous dash of your own experiences. You lovely picture suggests someone in their early 20's, however your experience suggests otherwise...

 

(Apologies for side tracking the thread)....

[Medic Mike]

 

I moved back to Philippines from UK two years ago and in my experience (and hearing foreigner friends' experiences)…    Yes you can just have a tourist visa and keep renewing it to extend your stay here. Many of my foreigner friends do this.    Some landlords want to see you have a valid visa before agreeing to rent a place for the long term but in my experience most would rent out to you as long as they can see you are sincere and you'll do what you say you would. Not sure about leasing a car, however.    I used to co-run a web development company whilst I was in UK and we employed freelancers from Manila and Cebu who worked from their homes...

(quoted to here for brevity)

 

It's not often I am so impressed on a forum. An intelligent, informed reply, with a generous dash of your own experiences. You lovely picture suggests someone in their early 20's, however your experience suggests otherwise...

 

(Apologies for side tracking the thread)....

 

I agree, she definitely adds some class to our little group :)

Edited August 9, 2014 by Medic Mike

[Thomas]

1) I will own my online business so will come on a tourist visa and perpetually extend until my situation changes. Are there restrictions to what I can do on a tourist visa? For example, renting an apartment... will I run into issues getting a multi-month lease? Same with leasing a car? 2) I'll talk to a lawyer about this in more detail but in general terms, does anyone know if I will run into any issues if I have Filipino freelancers working with me in person on a contract basis (legally)?

Well.

IF you only work by yourself, THEN you have chance to not be noticed,

BUT if you start working with Filipins, I suppouse that would be big risk if you don't make all proper.

 

Many Internet businesses are counted as "export", which make OWNING the company much easier, because foreigners can own 100 % of "export businesses" WITHOUT any "lawyer solutiions". The common type of "lawyer solutions" (=have 100 % in business type where you are allowed only to have 40 %) I DON'T recomend.

 

You will need WORK PERMIT.

IF you employ at least 10 Filipins full time paid, that's seen as you more or less have fullfilled demands to get work permit. 

I don't know how hard/easy it is otherwice.

[Miguk]

 

Hey all, by introduction my name is Dan and am considering a move to the Philippines in the next few months. This forum is great and has helped me with a lot of questions as I plan this out. I had a few more that I couldn't find an answer to and was hoping for a bit of assistance.

 

1) I will own my online business so will come on a tourist visa and perpetually extend until my situation changes. Are there restrictions to what I can do on a tourist visa? For example, renting an apartment... will I run into issues getting a multi-month lease? Same with leasing a car? 

 

2) I'll talk to a lawyer about this in more detail but in general terms, does anyone know if I will run into any issues if I have Filipino freelancers working with me in person on a contract basis (legally)?

 

3) I'm 30 years old and single and am willing to spend up to 50k PHP/month on rent. I'll visit and search the different neighborhoods in more detail when I get there but want to narrow down my research a bit. Can anyone recommend a nice area for westerners but has a lot of opportunity to be social looking for ladies and making friends (central location, good nightlife, etc). I was thinking Cebu City, Makati and Eastwood as definites but any other places to add to the list or preference between them?

 

Thanks a lot everyone... look forward to joining the community here

I moved back to Philippines from UK two years ago and in my experience (and hearing foreigner friends' experiences)… 

 

Yes you can just have a tourist visa and keep renewing it to extend your stay here. Many of my foreigner friends do this. 

 

Some landlords want to see you have a valid visa before agreeing to rent a place for the long term but in my experience most would rent out to you as long as they can see you are sincere and you'll do what you say you would. Not sure about leasing a car, however. 

 

I used to co-run a web development company whilst I was in UK and we employed freelancers from Manila and Cebu who worked from their homes. When my partner and I came to Manila we just carried on with the arrangement - the only difference was that this time we are now in Manila. So I don't think you'd run into issues as such, however if you end up eventually employing 10+ full time employees, I think this entitles you get a SVEG visa (or something like that) which grants you better privileges. Best to check the legal official sources. 

 

P50K/month for rent will get you a pretty decent place. I lived in Taguig, Manila just almost next to Bonifacio Global City (a.k.a. The Fort) and I had a two-bedroom 55 sqm fully furnished flat in a new resort-style condominium and my rent was only P25,000/month inclusive of condo dues, cable tv and internet. Utility bills came up to about P3,000/mo on average (electricity, water, gas) 

 

Living at The Fort will suit you perfectly - clean, not prone to floods, has all the amenities you'd ever want/need, it's only a few minutes away from Makati, it has the best Hospital (St. Luke's) in the city, and plenty of bars and restaurants where plenty of single, educated young women hang out.  

 

You might also want to check out Rockwell in Makati. 

 

While Eastwood is a very nice spot, it's too tiny in my opinion. 

 

Saying that though, I moved to Cebu because after a year of living in Manila. I just couldn't take anymore the traffic and pollution. I'm more of a nature lover than a city girl so I love how living in Cebu allows me to go island hopping, go to beaches, parks, etc whilst also enjoying city amenities. So for me Cebu is better, but that's just me. 

 

Good luck!  :thumbsup:

 

I have been debating where I want to live when I move back to retire.  My son lives in Taguig so that may be an option.  I used to live in San Lorenzo village (should have bought a house then!) and it was nice enough but really pricey now.  I was also contemplating Tagaytay or Subic.....so hard to decide.  I know nothing and no one in Cebu.

[Medic Mike]

I moved to Cebu because after a year of living in Manila. I just couldn't take anymore the traffic and pollution. I'm more of a nature lover than a city girl so I love how living in Cebu allows me to go island hopping, go to beaches, parks, etc whilst also enjoying city amenities. So for me Cebu is better, but that's just me.

 

Except for the "city girl" bit :), I agree 100% with this assessment. Love the area for all those reasons.

Edited August 10, 2014 by Medic Mike

[Thomas]

 

I moved to Cebu because after a year of living in Manila. I just couldn't take anymore the traffic and pollution. I'm more of a nature lover than a city girl so I love how living in Cebu allows me to go island hopping, go to beaches, parks, etc whilst also enjoying city amenities. So for me Cebu is better, but that's just me.

 

Except for the "city girl" bit :), I agree 100% with this assessment. Love the area for all those reasons.

Why live INSIDE the second bigest city when love nature???    :)

It can be convinient to live CLOSE to the transport connections Cebu offers, but there are nice nature rather close OUTSIDE Cebu, so it's possible to get BOTH.

[Pigboat]

 

1) I will own my online business so will come on a tourist visa and perpetually extend until my situation changes. Are there restrictions to what I can do on a tourist visa? For example, renting an apartment... will I run into issues getting a multi-month lease? Same with leasing a car? 2) I'll talk to a lawyer about this in more detail but in general terms, does anyone know if I will run into any issues if I have Filipino freelancers working with me in person on a contract basis (legally)?

Well.

IF you only work by yourself, THEN you have chance to not be noticed,

BUT if you start working with Filipins, I suppouse that would be big risk if you don't make all proper.

 

Many Internet businesses are counted as "export", which make OWNING the company much easier, because foreigners can own 100 % of "export businesses" WITHOUT any "lawyer solutiions". The common type of "lawyer solutions" (=have 100 % in business type where you are allowed only to have 40 %) I DON'T recomend.

 

You will need WORK PERMIT.

IF you employ at least 10 Filipins full time paid, that's seen as you more or less have fullfilled demands to get work permit. 

I don't know how hard/easy it is otherwice.

 

 

That is something I hadn't thought about.  You mention the 40% rule and I know about that.  But, how does that work?

 

The reason I ask is that my Filipina wife and I plan to move to the Cebu area when I retire in about 8 years.  She wants to open a business (basically in the service industry) and I'm all for it.  Because of the nature of the business, I will be undoubtedly working in it with her.  I doubt we can put the enterprise in both of our names since it would be only 50% Filipino owned instead of 60%.  If we put the business entirely in her name, it would obviously be 100% Filipino owned.  But in that case, since I can't legally work, would I be able to "volunteer" my time as an unpaid employee or consultant?

 

Any thoughts or experience with this?