# Moving to the Philippines



## missabus (Feb 24, 2013)

I just visited the Philippines for two weeks recently and fell instantly in love. I've spent several years teaching English abroad, but would like to move away from that industry while continuing to live abroad. How difficult is it for an American expat to find work in the Philippines? Any suggestions on resroucrces I can use to look?


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## JoeDanAlca (Feb 21, 2013)

I also visited the Philippines, for two months. I'm not aware of the difficulties for an American EXPAT to move and find a job there, but I honestly don't see a difference for foreigners and for locals. 

There are so many bright students who graduate every year. However, finding a job in the Philippines is a struggle and most often these university graduates end up working for fast food chains and the lower-end scale jobs. In fact, I've heard that even (eg.) McDonald's would only hire those with university degrees. You have to work really hard to get the job you really wanted in the first place. You start from the bottom-up.

I'm not sure what kind of job you'd be interested in applying for, but seeing as you teach English abroad, Philippines is the last Asian country you'd want to be in to teach English. Most of them already know English as it is a second language. (But perhaps higher level of English teaching might be of use)

It might be tough for you to find a job for your English profession, especially if you do not know how to speak Tagalog, their native language.


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## missabus (Feb 24, 2013)

JoeDanAlca said:


> I'm not sure what kind of job you'd be interested in applying for, but seeing as you teach English abroad, Philippines is the last Asian country you'd want to be in to teach English. Most of them already know English as it is a second language. (But perhaps higher level of English teaching might be of use)


Thanks for the insight! I think I've had just about enough of teaching as I can take, and I'm really looking for something different. I was hoping I could learn what different types of jobs are available. It seems like it would be tough, if even McDonald's requires degrees.


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## JoeDanAlca (Feb 21, 2013)

missabus said:


> Thanks for the insight! I think I've had just about enough of teaching as I can take, and I'm really looking for something different. I was hoping I could learn what different types of jobs are available. It seems like it would be tough, if even McDonald's requires degrees.


It really is tough. They do not get paid by the hour in most businesses. Average salary is $10/day for long hours. 

I admit, my understanding of how things really work over there is limited. I moved away from Philippines when I was really young so I have no prior knowledge whatsoever. The things I have mentioned in this thread were some answered questions I received while I was there for vacation.



On a side note, it was really hard seeing the difficulties some people had to endure. There was a family who lived outside near a Jollibee, and I could see how frail and hungry they were. So I treated them. They had 2 kids (ages 5 and 8) and they had halo-halo for the first time. They were so thankful to me and I learned a lot of things about their lives as well. In the end, I gave them $50CAN equivalent. 
I don't want to admit it, but I was the first one to cry. 
I wish I could have given them more money, but there were so many things I also wished I could have done for many others as well. 

Going back to my homeland changed me. I used a majority, if not all of my clothe shopping reserves to help as many of the homeless/less fortunate people I could find. 

Boy do we take EVERYTHING FOR GRANTED. 

At least my new plan; is to save as much money as I can, move back, and start a missionary.


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## Asian Spirit (Mar 1, 2010)

missabus said:


> I just visited the Philippines for two weeks recently and fell instantly in love. I've spent several years teaching English abroad, but would like to move away from that industry while continuing to live abroad. How difficult is it for an American expat to find work in the Philippines? Any suggestions on resroucrces I can use to look?


The Philippines is a great place to live without a doubt. With that in mind, I hate to put a damper on your idea of working while living here. Work of any kind is extremely hard to come by. Two reasons for that. First, most jobs that you would be able to do here don't pay enough to make it worth your time and impossible to afford living. Second, you need a work permit to have a job here. By law that job must be something that a local can not do or they can't locate a local to do the job. The work permit must be obtained for you by an employer.
As far as work goes, your only real option might be to continue teaching English but do it online via Skype from here. That is if you have a reliable source of students and then have them remit via Western Union or direct deposit into a bank account here. Other than that, you pretty much need to be retired to live here.


Gene


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## M.C.A. (Feb 24, 2013)

I have been keeping my options open on jobs, very difficult here, I think there's a possibility of working a call center, I do have 7 years experience with that but the pay is very minimal something like $300 or maybe more but with added hours and the call centers of course are in Manila where the rent is much higher. 

There are some nice paying jobs here if you could learn Chinese or Japanese two very hard to learn languages I'll bet, CEO's from other countries that work here need translators or personal assistants to translate documents, memo's into english, the pay is something like $1700 a month.

4 years ago I did run into an American English teacher here he was with some sort of volunteer program, possibly the peace core? he did get paid though and he went from school to school advising them on matters he also was a younger man.

And if none of the above works, you could find a partner online that is wealthy or doesn't have to worry about money, there are wealthy people here too, I ran into an American man and apparently he was with a women of means he didn't have to work.


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