# Introduction: Moving to Cavite, Province



## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

Hello! Andrew ang pangalan ko. I am 30 years old and live in Minnesota, USA. My wife and I decided to permanently move back to her home province in Cavite, Philippines.

I am here in hopes of getting advice and direction based on our goal of living the happy simple life she grew up with and which I have come to love more and more each and every 1 month visit (each year) for the last 4 years.

Last month we decided we want to make this dream a reality. In about 3 more years we will have hit our goal of saving $100,000 for kick-starting the next chapter of our lives.

A little more about myself: I Have worked in the wireless electronics industry for the last 11 years. Mobile devices mostly - sales, management, software development and now I am electronics hardware repair technician and trainer for a business I started in 2011.

All we have talked about this far with the planning is agreeing that we will be happy with a house like the one she grew up in, about ~20k.

I am very happy that Cavite is less than a two hour drive from Manila for amenities that may not be available locally.

At this moment I do not have much time to post more details - I am just very excited about our plan and wanted to share it right away with others that have made the same move. I think the biggest thing I am looking to get from this forum is advice and important considerations I may not have thought about during the planning of this big transition.

If anyone has any questions for me that may help you all help me more, please ask. Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. After I make this move and settle in, I am eager to help others with advice based on my experience the same way I hope to be supported here .

Salamat,

Andrew


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Welcome to the forum and good luck with this step in your life. Always members here to help with your questions. Just ask away. 
We moved here from Thailand 6 months ago, so have a bit of information at hand if you need it.


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## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

Thank you so much for the warm welcome - I have a little more time now and am adding a little more to my original post. See above.


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## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

I can't seem to find an edit option for my first post. Here is the addition:

One concern I have is work finding work. A commute to Manila of about 1.5 hours is not an issue with me, as long as the cost financially logical based off my income. I think I am getting ahead of myself though. I don't have any idea what kinds of jobs would be available if any. Maybe I could start a business? Not sure if I would be able to do so legally as a foreigner at this time, but having my wife who is a native, maybe it could be worked out under her name?

What about purchasing land, a farm? Just another idea. Build a second small house there for her family to have, rent free but still make a living with the farm work - which we would of course contribute tending to. This to me would generate some income for my immediate family and her brother and mother.

Please forgive my ignorance about all of this. Part of me has a feeling I may be a stereotyping myself as the American with a dream to "move to the Philippines, have a small farm with a simple life." However, we ARE going to do this, I do not care what it takes. One way or another my family and I are going to be happy and living comfortably in province with steady income to support our family.

I know and fully understand the sacrifices involved in relation to my current American middle-class lifestyle. At this point it comes down to figuring out what we want to do to keep steady income to support ourselves after our initial investment, keeping the remaining money we took over in savings for medical emergency's etc..Speaking of which, I noticed there is some information in regards to health care/insurance in this forum. Next on my agenda this weekend is to research everything involved with that.

Just looking for advice, suggestions or general input.

Salamat,

Andrew


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## bidrod (Mar 31, 2015)

Suggest you get a 13a Visa prior to making your move. If your wife has given up her Philippine citizenship suggest she reacquire it. As a Philippine citizen she can own land. With the 13a you would be allowed to work. We live in General Trias, Cavite and my asawa is from Amadao.

Chuck


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## Zep (Jun 8, 2017)

Hi Andrew, welcome to the forum. I can lend a little bit of my opinion here.

Nothing I am saying here is to try to discourage you but maybe it will help with your planning.

As far as finding work it will be difficult to find anything that you will feel the income is worth your time. For example, I came from the aerospace industry and in particular the avionics side. In the US a avionics technician can make anywhere from $50k to 70K+ per year. If you were in Manila you would be lucky to make 100K pesos per year (or 2000 USD/yr). I too can repair electronics but not worth the effort even locally to have a business as there is always a shop around the corner that can repair things for a few hundred pesos. I just fix things for the relatives for free.

The buying a farm as a source of income could work but from my experience (only 1 full year of harvest so far) it would bring in roughly 100,000 pesos/yr (after expenses) for every hectare of land. The hectare of land might cost 1 million pesos. Also realize that the land goes in the wife's name only.

I also live in the small province that my wife grew up in. A thing to keep in mind is that you will not only need enough money for your own family but some for her relatives. My wife must have 50 brothers/sisters/aunts/uncles/nephews/nieces/etc.. living within a 300m radius of our house. Not a week goes by where one of them is not asking for money. Hard to turn down when a child needs medical care or similar. 

I am still too young to collect SSA or my pension so we live on my wife's retirement income. Plenty to live on and also give the rest to the relatives. But without this income we would be draining a savings account of maybe 30k USD per year.

I hope some of this helps. Again, some of this sounds negative but I have no regrets and am very happy with my life here in this small province.

Tim


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## hogrider (May 25, 2010)

Welcome to the forum.
You didn't say if you have or are planning to have children. This will affect your choice of where to live in respect of the availability of decent clinics and schools.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

hogrider said:


> Welcome to the forum.
> You didn't say if you have or are planning to have children. This will affect your choice of where to live in respect of the availability of decent clinics and schools.


Yes that puts a much bigger strain on the budget.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Hi Andrew,

You seem set on your decisions and far be it for me to challenge them. But you are coming here at a very young age and as explained you are limited on vocations they will allow you to work in.
The list is as long as your arm when I saw it some time ago.
However, you are young and no doubt resourceful, so hopefully you will find something to suit.
One of the first things I learned in these forums was the folly of living next to or close by partner's family. Before long you will feel like chopped liver, as they will be relentless as another poster has relayed to you. This I can assure you, will be a 'given' and will put a heavy burden on your savings.
these are just but a few barriers you will have to encounter and deal with.


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

Good luck AJmetal87 and I agree with Bidrod, you'll want the 13a Visa, I'm from Grand Forks, ND and our area to use would be the Chicago Philippine Consulate, you can do everything through the mail system, you wouldn't want to mess with immigration once you got here and the process is more like two years if done in the Philippines but if accomplished through the Chicago Philippine Consulate you could have it done within a couple months or sooner so best to guard your nest egg by making sure your immigration status is complete.

Embassy of the Philippines - Consulate Finder Map

Download form page Consulate General of the Philippines - Chicago

13a visa package: http://www.chicagopcg.com/forms/immigrant visa form.pdf

I called the Chicago Philippine Consulate several times or had to email them for more questions so you'd also want to ask them about your wife's status or what she also needs to do.

Not easy to work here but with the 13a Visa you could apply for a job but so many requirements before you can start working, so here's a link from a forum posting on work requirements as a 13a. 

http://www.expatforum.com/expats/philippines-expat-forum/1026546-work-visa-possibilities.html


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## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

bidrod said:


> Suggest you get a 13a Visa prior to making your move. If your wife has given up her Philippine citizenship suggest she reacquire it. As a Philippine citizen she can own land. With the 13a you would be allowed to work. We live in General Trias, Cavite and my asawa is from Amadao.
> 
> Chuck


Thanks Chuck. I appreciate the info.


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## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

Zep said:


> Hi Andrew, welcome to the forum. I can lend a little bit of my opinion here.
> 
> Nothing I am saying here is to try to discourage you but maybe it will help with your planning.
> 
> ...



Thank you! You brought up many good points I had not considered. On the topic of finances...She currently lives with her brother and mother in Trece Martires and living off of about $400.00/month. Yes, eventually children will be brought into the picture.

Based on this, I don't see how my desired style of living would come close to the 30k. If you don't mind me asking, how are you living? I mean, house type, amenities, luxuries etc..

I am going to stray from the farm idea. Instead I am now going to be working with a good philippino friend and establish an export business for unique products to America. I should be able to survive off of this once it gets rolling. Only time will tell.


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## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

M.C.A. said:


> Good luck AJmetal87 and I agree with Bidrod, you'll want the 13a Visa, I'm from Grand Forks, ND and our area to use would be the Chicago Philippine Consulate, you can do everything through the mail system, you wouldn't want to mess with immigration once you got here and the process is more like two years if done in the Philippines but if accomplished through the Chicago Philippine Consulate you could have it done within a couple months or sooner so best to guard your nest egg by making sure your immigration status is complete.
> 
> Embassy of the Philippines - Consulate Finder Map
> 
> ...


These are great resources. Thank you! I had failed to mention that my wife is currently residing in Cavite with her family.


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## AJMetal87 (Dec 8, 2017)

I am beginning to feel like my 100k goal may not be as practical as I anticipated 

I also wanted to ask, How all of your experiences was with the lifestyle change? Things you like, dislike and maybe if you have any tips or things you wish you had done differently.

Thanks for reading.
- Andrew


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

AJMetal87 said:


> I am beginning to feel like my 100k goal may not be as practical as I anticipated
> 
> I also wanted to ask, How all of your experiences was with the lifestyle change? Things you like, dislike and maybe if you have any tips or things you wish you had done differently.
> 
> ...


I fully agree with your statement about your savings and believe it to be an understatement to a large degree. There is a reason that most of us living here are old with an income not derived from here (Social Security, Pensions, retirement funds, & etc). In all practicality living here is harsh and the chances of supporting yourself & family by the local labor market is nearly nil. This is only my humble opinion, but it seems to me that you are about to embark on a road to financial self-destruction. There is no "safety net" to fall back on. As I said, this is only my Opinion, but please give some serious thought to this. Realize that if you do go into a partnership, you as a Foreigner are only allowed to own 40% even if you have actually financed the whole thing. The general populace here does not have a keen business sense as we know it so I would be very cautious in this respect. I don't really want to rain on your parade, but the outcome for your line of thinking is not that enticing. 

Fred


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

*Wife in Philippines*



AJMetal87 said:


> These are great resources. Thank you! I had failed to mention that my wife is currently residing in Cavite with her family.


It's no fun finding out in the Philippines that you are missing your original birth certificate, looking for a copy of the Police record from your city or original marriage certificate best to finish your Immigration status stateside and even better if the wife requires something you'll be in the states, remember technology, mail system will be a burden if done from the Philippines, hurry up and wait, more costly or even worse lost records.


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## Simon1983 (Jun 6, 2016)

Hi AJ. 
I am a similar age to you and been living in Phil for 3 years.
My advice would be to come and stay here for 6 months before jumping into anything.

What I mean by this is, come and stay, live with the in-laws, give yourself a budget per month, and see how you feel.
Don't start any business, buy any land, or have any children, until you have been here a while.

You will hear countless get rich schemes from your trusted Filipino friends but you would be foolish to get involved in anything until you have lived here a while, and even then your chances of not losing a load of money are pretty slim.

It's easy to fall in love with a place just visiting it a month at a time, but try living here on a low budget, doing day to day stuff and you might decide you'd be better off somewhere else, especially if you want to start a family or continue working.

As others have said, Philippines is a good place to live if you have a pension or some other form of <passive> income, but if you are intending to work here, or start a business, there are much better places to do that.

Sorry to put a downer on this but that's my honest opinion.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Hi Fred,
This is right on the money. I wanted to say much the same thing, but was not wanting to dampen the young man'S dream. But perhaps we have to be cruel to be kind. 
It is just that ' A dream', add the possibility of a breakdown in his marital situation, which I hope never happens, but in this day and age, a possibility. You have a recipe for disaster. 
My wife is a dual degree teacher here, after 8 years in Thailand, cannot get a teaching job, she has 20 plus years teaching experience. If she does get one, will probably earn 15k month, work 6 days a week 8am to 5pm and only a couple of weeks off per year if she is lucky. An example of exactly what you are pointing out.
He should stay where he is, keep his well paid job, keep saving like crazy and maybe when he gets to about 800k USD, he will have a far better chance of survival. 
As I always say, the best job for an expat here is called retirement.


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## HIMMY123 (Feb 24, 2015)

Hi and Welcome

I am in Silang Near Tagaytay, part of Cavite, unsure which area you are considering, This area has a great climate, Good links to Manila and the airport when needed. Do your research and visit as often as you can before coming for good

Plenty of farmland around at good prices. The forum has lots of info, I am not going to try and say everything is perfect, but were is , but for me its now home, if I can help in anyway just ask


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## bigpearl (Jan 24, 2016)

Welcome AJ, to the good and bad of our chosen destination. I have spent some years on and off living and working in PH. over the last 6/7 years and simply chose to live there in a year or so because of family and a cheaper way of living that allows me to retire very comfortably on 3.5 to 4K a month at 60 y/o compared to Australia where I would have to work an extra 5 ,7 or 10 years to maintain a similar lifestyle.
Input from all members are valid and I would suggest you further research here and other sites with regards to your wishes/perhaps hopes to learn the big picture. Spend the time and learn as we do.
We wish you luck and good fortune and I am sure your venture will succeed with eyes wide open as well as boots on the ground, slowly slowly wins the race.

Cheers, Steve.


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## Hey_Joe (Sep 13, 2016)

AJMetal87 said:


> Build a second small house there for her family to have, rent free but still make a living with the farm work - which we would of course contribute tending to. This to me would generate some income for my immediate family and her brother and mother.


Andrew,

Your dream has too many RED Flags. 

30 Years old. Do you have the required 40 Social Security Credits to be eligible for SS later in life? 

On day 1 when you arrive you have no source of income, spouse has no source of income. Your $100k savings will begin to rapidly diminish since it appears you are supporting 4 plus you.

You plan to buy land, build a house, furnish the house, pay utilities with no income? 

You also plan to buy land, build a house for your in-laws with no income? 
Building a house for any relative here will rapidly deplete ones income.
- Inday, we have this nice house but we can't afford a refrigerator, a TV, a stove, Gasol, furniture, etc. etc. etc. etc. 
- Inday, now that we have this new refrigerator, we have no money to buy food to put in this nice refrigerator or no food to cook on this nice new stove. 
- Inday, we have no money to pay the electric for the lights, refrigerator, water pump, TV, etc. etc. etc. 

The above was for in-laws house, I'm not even going to write the expenses you will end up paying to get your house built. 

1.5 hours to commute to Manila from Cavite each way? No way. Even those who live in Cavite and work in Manila spend virtually all day commuting and working and they have no life except maybe on Sunday and that is typically the day they spend washing their clothes.

Start an export business? Your plan has already spent your savings on living arrangements for you and the 4 you are supporting.

I can go on and on about circumstances that will rapidly deplete your $100K but it will deplete fast.

Regardless of your relationship with your Philippine spouse, her Philippine family comes first here in the Philippines. The more pressure her family puts on her to dip into your pocket to support them the greater the division will become between you and your wife. 

If you do go forward with your plan, better keep some cash tucked away to return back to the states because you will likely need it.


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

*Extended vacation*



AJMetal87 said:


> I am beginning to feel like my 100k goal may not be as practical as I anticipated
> 
> I also wanted to ask, How all of your experiences was with the lifestyle change? Things you like, dislike and maybe if you have any tips or things you wish you had done differently.
> 
> ...


I'd take a huge extended vacation to see if you want to do this and it has nothing to do with a lifestyle change and it will for sure turn into a cash cow it takes allot of money to live here and remember it's not how you want to live it's how your wife and in-laws want to live and they always want to live LARGE... emergencies will come up all the time, so many you'll be emotionally and physically worn out, that'll be your real lifestyle change followed by nonstop drinking and smoking, if not you the in-laws and visitors you pay everything always never forget this.

Okay I'm doing a little generalizing but as an example yesterday the neighbors are so drunk across the street they have beer bottles on their heads and slapping each other they wanted to me to join in I said "Thank You" but not drinking, next door to the right of me the in-law and his visitors are so drunk they are singing with no music, they invite me I say "Thank you but not drinking" my wife is also over there drunk, this isn't your life but it's unavoidable. I used to join in but stopped drinking a year ago.

You could live here a long time on $100,000 but you'd need to first kick out the in-laws and then find another area to live in, in-laws are a huge drag on your finances, the best day and huge finance burden release came when the mother in-law left after a huge fight with my wife, she had been milking us for at least a decade so she can spoil or feed all her 9 children and their children.

Your lifestyle of getting up (guessing only) getting on the internet and a meager healthy breakfast relaxing, will turn into something like this....a loud annoying TV with no recognizable English language and announcers bellowing like they are in a stadium , smell of dried fish frying with rice and kids running around, guests visiting breakfast, lunch and dinner, what's left dishes, daily house cleaning from the huge influx of free thankless restaurant patrons and lets get some more money HONEY!


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## fmartin_gila (May 15, 2011)

Good one Mark. As I keep preaching over & over, some worse than others but we all deal with it to some extent and how we handle it determines how long & hard the battle will be. After all this time, I have finally got all the moochers almost weaned, even though now & then there is a bit of backsliding which needs to be nipped as it comes up. If allowed to continue, it will surely escalate to whatever level they can take it.

Fred


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## Zep (Jun 8, 2017)

MCA - I think you must live next door to me as that is my exact way of life.:confused2:


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Zep said:


> MCA - I think you must live next door to me as that is my exact way of life.:confused2:


I think you guys should all move to maintain your sanity.


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Hi Andrew,
Whilst not discouraging you to move here to Philippines, I hope you have read the posts here. If they do not give you the answer, then you will be in deep trouble if you proceed with your plan.
As Fred and the others have said, stay where you are, continue to save and build your back up plan regarding SS etc in the States. 
Then when you are more mature and secured, by all means give it a shot. Good luck.


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## Rebaqshratz (May 15, 2016)

Great place to retire to with a steady, known retirement money guaranteed arriving like clock work every month. To leave the States with the "hope" that a viable income will be a reality based on optimistic speculation is not a good plan. Leaving the "known" environment for the "unknown" reminds me of the old pun about the driver of a speeding car telling his passenger that he has good news and bad news...so the passenger says what is the good news...the driver says "We are mking great time." OK says the passenger "What is the bad news?" "Well, the driver says... I have no idea where we are."


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## JRB__NW (Apr 8, 2015)

M.C.A. said:


> Your lifestyle of getting up (guessing only) getting on the internet and a meager healthy breakfast relaxing, will turn into something like this....a loud annoying TV with no recognizable English language and announcers bellowing like they are in a stadium , smell of dried fish frying with rice and kids running around, guests visiting breakfast, lunch and dinner, what's left dishes, daily house cleaning from the huge influx of free thankless restaurant patrons and lets get some more money HONEY!


Hahaha I don't know how I missed that earlier but that is the funniest thing I've read in a long time - and so accurate!


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## mogo51 (Jun 11, 2011)

Ohh how lucky am I that my wife does not like fermented fish. Unfortunately, neighbours either side do!!! ******.


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## lefties43332 (Oct 21, 2012)

i love dried fish,not the smell....


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