# Family of 6 looking to move to Philippines



## JusCur6 (Feb 22, 2019)

Hello,

I am writing in hopes that I can get advice. I have looked the posts and I wanted to see if there was some updated information regarding my familys move to Philippines. I have some questions and I would appreciate any advice that you offer me. I am new to this forum. My husband and I plan to move to Philippines with our 4 children ages 8months, 3, 7, 9. I have a few questions that I would like to ask.

1.) Schools: I am looking to place my children in a state/public school so that they can learn the language. We all speak English and are not fluent in the local language at all. I plan to teach them a few phrases in hopes to make them comfortable. Can you tell me the best public schools and in what areas they are in. Also I am concerned with how they will adjust being thrown into a school that only speaks the local language but I want to support them as much as I can. Anyone have children my age and in my situation? How have your children adjusted? Any advice on how I can prepare my children before we go and once we get there? Best times to register them for school in the Philippines? Also any ideas on how much the preschool programs cost for my 3 year old? Also is homeschool an option?

2.) Employment- I have a Bachelors in Social Work. I am not proficient in the local language but would be working to get proficient. I also have experience in teaching english language. What types of employment could I apply to based on my degree and experience. I am open to pretty much anything. As far as teaching english does anyone know the best programs to apply to? 

3.) Housing- Can you recommend areas? Do you have to get a job first and then apply for apartments? What are they typical deposits required by landlords? How much should I prepare to bring? I am thinking either a 2 bedroom or 3 bedroom depending on the apartment price. My husband works remote for his job. Is it possible to get an apartment with his income from his employer? or will I need to secure a job first? Whats the average costs for apartments (2-3bedrooms)

4.) Visa- I am moving from USA. would I need to apply for a work visa before I come or do I wait until I get there and then apply for a work visa? Do I need my work visa and a job before I get an apartment? Also what type of visa would I need for my husband and children? He plans to work remote with his job.


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## Gary D (Oct 28, 2013)

A lot of questions. School runs June to March and is taught mostly in English, the Philippine version of english that is. Jobs, basically you need to be a resident to get a job, you can't work on a tourist visa. The job market is very low paid for long hours and as a foriegner what you can do is very restricted, anything that can be done by a local you will be restricted from doing. If your husband is working remote good broadband is not universal although improving as fibre is run out. By the sounds of it neither of you are filipino so the only visa options are limited. A work visa must be secured in advance by your employer. If you are old enough which you don't sound the SRRV would be an option but the minimum age is 35 and you would need to deposit a significant sum in a bank as a deposit to qualify.

Anyway that's a start. I'm sure you will get many more replies to help fill in the picture. Perhaps you could tell us more about why you want to do this and your likes and dislikes such as city / province living so we can more direct our answers, anyway welcome to the forum.


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## expatuk2016 (Mar 20, 2016)

Hi there a lot will depend on if either you or your husband is a Filipino.
Regarding Schools my sister in law here is a local college Professor so she may be able help with your school problems, where we live is in Los Banos and its a University town .
English is spoken almost everywhere here unless of course its a family or friends gathering.
I dont speak filipino myself.
Regarding your husband working from home , that depending on where you choose to live can be a problem as the internet here is hit and miss.

Housing again prices depend on where you live.
As for visas, it may pay you to look at the Philippines immigration website and be very patient ! As the rules for visas are very many.


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## greenstreak1946 (May 28, 2017)

hey juscur6

I think you have a lot of homework to do before you even think about relocating to the Philippines. It would be wise if you or your husband could make a trip here first. I think you might be in for a shock.

art


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## Zep (Jun 8, 2017)

We definitely need to know the reasons(s) for you and the family wanting to move here. Only reason I did it was because I am married to a filipina for 33 years and we are both now of retirement age with no kids back in the US. So we have pensions and savings.

If you are moving here to give your kids a more rounded education then that is a bad idea. They will get a much better education in the US. No need for rounding at this point they just need an education.

If you are moving here for cost of living reasons then there are a lot better options. One would be to move the family to a low cost of living area in the US and then you and the husband get jobs. Even if both jobs are at minimum wage you will live like kings there as opposed to the Philippines.

Sorry to sound so harsh but the PI would not be the place to raise a family of 4 very young american children.


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

Hi JusCur6 and welcome to the forum, so if you don't have a Visa that allows you to remain in the Philippines (work or resident visa) then you'll have to come up with a return ticket for your entire family and keep it up to date along with your tourist Visa, wow that could get very expensive.

The internet is not a 100% and in order to get connected with DSL or Fiber, you'd need a Permanent Resident Card or possibly an SRRV Visa in order to hook up a decent internet provider same with a local bank so without that you'll be using phone type internet connection so not good unless you live in Manila and then I'm not sure how reliable that would be.

Hardly anyone speaks English would be more of my take on the citizens in the Philippines I know I'm going to get some feedback on this but that's been my experience, yes I guess if you are working with professionals you'll have citizens that can speak English lol so If this move is going to happen I'd try find programs to help you learn Tagalog, the only Americans I've seen who can speak Tagalog are those that are here as Missionary's and on a two your missionary Visa only and this church (Mormon religion) has a course in Tagalog there are courses you can purchase also that could help you, but if you aren't engaged in everyday speaking of the language you'll never learn it.

Private schools can be costly especially with that many children, my son is in a private Catholic school and to register him but this school does not teach in English, it was 14,000 pesos so $269 and don't forget the transportation/snacks, water daily costs back and forth morning, lunch and close of school.

Here's a link to the Philippine Consulate near you, the New York Philippine Consulate. Embassy of the Philippines - Consulate Finder Map

Here's more information from the website above. Embassy of the Philippines - Contact Us


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

As others somewhat said, I am not understanding you and your husband's motivation to move your family to the Philippines. Especially without doing extensive homework before making the decision.

I think you hinted that you speak Tagalog so perhaps you are a Phil-Am who no longer hold citizenship in the Philippines?


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## lefties43332 (Oct 21, 2012)

JusCur6 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I am writing in hopes that I can get advice. I have looked the posts and I wanted to see if there was some updated information regarding my familys move to Philippines. I have some questions and I would appreciate any advice that you offer me. I am new to this forum. My husband and I plan to move to Philippines with our 4 children ages 8months, 3, 7, 9. I have a few questions that I would like to ask.
> 
> ...


Sorry to be the negative one here,Big Mistake....Don't do it!!!


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

I have one kid in private Catholic school 50K/yr ($1000), two others in less expensive private schools run by the University at about 30K/yr ($600), have to add books and all sorts of school supplies on top of that as MCA mentioned. The Catholic school is the most stringent and proper English is reinforced, it's hit or miss at the other ones and classrooms are full (30-40 kids/class) but not nearly as bad as the public schools.

I'm really in agreement with the others on this but again, we don't know what your motivation is. You really need to understand the kind of culture you will be raising your kids in.


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## Manitoba (Jun 25, 2014)

Most people move to the Philippines for one of two reasons, either they have a significant other who is a citizen or they are retiring here to enjoy the climate and economical lifestyle available. It appears that you are not in either category. 

If you are at least 35 years old you can get an SRRV but will need a $US 50,000 deposit plus $1,400 in application and $350 for main applicant plus a little more annually for fees.

That would allow you to get a work permit and then you would be able to work for local wages. Not sure about social workers but a new grad engineer makes about 20,000 p a month or less, an experienced manager would make somewhere around 80,000 to 100,000 p a month. While this would support a pure Pilipino lifestyle nicely, it is hard for a foreigner to get the same prices as a local can. As a comparison I was spending about 150,000 to live nicely if somewhat extravagantly in Makati. If you live in Manila expect a minimum of 100,000 p a month for your family to live comfortably. In a province you could live on less but the job market is simply not there.

If you or your spouse is a Philippine citizen, then you can come on a BB visa, if the Philippine citizenship was lost, it is my understanding that it can easily be reclaimed.

If you can get a position with an aid agency, development agency, your government, or a major corporation then you could get a work visa and residential permits through them. That may also get you a foreign wage plus local living allowance and can be a very sweet deal. (I know some people working for ADB who are married and get a housing allowance sufficient for a large house in a gated community with household help, two cars and drivers, school fees for their kids at international schools, plus tax free salaries at a good rate for a western professional.)



The best advise I ever read about becoming an expat was to not make any commitments that you are not willing to walk away from for at least one year if not two. That means no expensive car or house purchase, just rent until you are sure this is where you want to be.

I echo the recommendations of others, come over on a tourist visa for a while, look around and see if this is where you REALLY want to be before making the commitment to uproot and move here permanently. Do a lot of reading about the place, there are some great books on Philippine culture an lie here available on Kindle and other reading apps. (Also some real bad stuff there so be careful what you take as the real Philippine experience.)

I won’t question your motives for coming here but will encourage you to examine them in light of what others have said about living here.


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## elidelaney (Feb 25, 2019)

Just like everyone else suggested, you should definitely visit the Philippines before you make any plans to move there, and honestly probably more than once, and also like other posts on this website have said to other people, visit different areas if you really are set on the Philippines.

1. I would also suggest finding a good private school, almost all schools in the Philippines will try to teach English, and only good private schools will do it to a decent level, so if you do choose a public school be very prepared to supplement their English at home with allot of books and movies or anything else you can, theyre already going to spend most of their day listening to very bad English so its probably going to be hard to overcome that.

2. Some people find jobs teaching English online via skype, pays about 15k a month last I heard, those companies do not care if you have a working visa or not, there are obviously consequences about working without a visa im not sure what they are. If both you and youre wife had a job like that, you could probably live fairly comfortably in the provinces, a simple life.

Realised that youre husband is working already, you can probably live very comfortably on 1 salary fine, tourist visas can be extended for atleast a few years, though only months at a time.

3. as stated above look around for what you want. We had a small 3 bedroom house in the provinces a bit over a year ago for 3k a month, price is going to vary allot with location. Typical deposit for us has been 1 month deposit as well as first month upfront. As most places I have seen in the provinces are rented privately no job security or ability to pay is needed, you already paid the deposit anyway right, usually you will sign a rent agreement from the owner.

maybe other people can help you more with visa options, but from what i've read in these forums most people, myself included, are married to a filipina, and when i did work there the company i worked for told me they would deal with my visa which they didnt, so I overstayed, the local BI was very helpful about it though, and told me if i overstayed more than 12 months there would be big fines or something.


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

elidelaney said:


> Just like everyone else suggested, you should definitely visit the Philippines before you make any plans to move there, and honestly probably more than once, and also like other posts on this website have said to other people, visit different areas if you really are set on the Philippines.
> 
> 1. I would also suggest finding a good private school, almost all schools in the Philippines will try to teach English, and only good private schools will do it to a decent level, so if you do choose a public school be very prepared to supplement their English at home with allot of books and movies or anything else you can, theyre already going to spend most of their day listening to very bad English so its probably going to be hard to overcome that.
> 
> ...


Hi Elidelaney, you make many good points and from personal experience even better. I've watched many news specials where the call center has been targeted by the Immigration Officials and Police and only to find out that the employer didn't take care of the foreigners Immigration status in any way and what's the use it's extra money out their pockets and they can find someone else so what happens is you get locked up, fined and blacklisted before you are deported at your expense and if you can't cover the costs as an American then the US government will give you a plane ticket and if I'm not mistaken your passport will be confiscated upon arrival and won't be given back till all fees are paid up.

These call centers are usually situated in the city area's so the apartment rentals will be much higher but the price of 3000 pesos sounds about right for the provincial area's. I have talked with a few expats that teach English online from here or other Asian countries.

Those that seem to get in trouble with online money schemes are the Philippine Experience or whatever they call their YouTube channel they share their life story, go negative or try to start a nonprofit service for the poor with short cuts on how you can donate to the cause, these guys always get in big trouble and for sure if they are operating with a Permanent Resident Visa, Work Visa or Non Profit Visa.


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## DonAndAbby (Jan 7, 2013)

I see that some of our members have put quite a bit of time into some lengthy replies to the OP.

I would wait and see if the OP has true interest and can provide more information on their intentions.

On the same day of the original post, this poster also posted in the Spain forum of their intention to move to Barcelona.

While it could be valid and they are just looking around at possible places to move, I personally would not waste my time replying at this time. Like most of you, I would question what the motives are to suddenly move a large family from the U.S. to Spain or Philippines.

https://www.expatforum.com/expats/s...ving-spain/1475366-family-6-moving-spain.html


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

DonAndAbby said:


> I see that some of our members have put quite a bit of time into some lengthy replies to the OP.
> 
> I would wait and see if the OP has true interest and can provide more information on their intentions.
> 
> ...


I agree that many of our Expats including myself spent some time trying to help a family? But always I want to help my fellow man/woman no matter where they may be and wish them the best of luck and maybe another expat can also get some valuable information from this thread. From what I've read on the Spain forum I think it's best they remain where they are.


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## lefties43332 (Oct 21, 2012)

not me,i was suspicious!!!! Made little sense.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

lefties43332 said:


> not me,i was suspicious!!!! Made little sense.


I agree the fact pattern and more importantly what is missing in the fact pattern is suspicious. Especially in that no facts regarding the parents heritage is discussed at all. Hard to fill in the missing facts with speculation. More info is needed if a response is to be entertained.


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

lefties43332 said:


> not me,i was suspicious!!!! Made little sense.


I'm kind of with you on that. I started to think after such an improbable post and no response back that we were getting trolled, and could be even worse - someone or some entity doing some monitoring of the forum. We all have a lot of experience here and try to help people, especially a family with children, but I think we should also be circumspect in terms of what is shared on open forums, especially with no further interaction from the OP.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

JRB__NW said:


> I'm kind of with you on that. I started to think after such an improbable post and no response back that we were getting trolled, and could be even worse - someone or some entity doing some monitoring of the forum. We all have a lot of experience here and try to help people, especially a family with children, but I think we should also be circumspect in terms of what is shared on open forums, especially with no further interaction from the OP.


Great point. Wondering if they have been silent as well on the Spain forum where apparently they posted the same scenario excepting the country they were going to "move to."


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