Planning To Move To Ph: Question To Cost Of Living Around Cebu Area

[oks]

Hi everyone on PH-Expats.

This is my first post :lol:

I am a new member, my real name is Otto (i'm German)

My wife is Romanian and we have an infant boy. We currently live in Romania.

I stumbled on this forum while google-ing around infos regarding cost of living in the Philippines, especially Cebu Area.

So i wonder, for a non-PH family with 3 members what would be the ideal monthly income there in order to have/sustain the following:

- furnished apartment (small house) in a safe area, with two bedrooms (mosquito safe), kitchen and a small courtyard

- a second hand car or a new cheaper car around 7000 $ (gasoline costs, ensurance costs - if really mandatory)

- electricity bill for AC

- lots of water

- fresh food from market

- possible cleaning lady helping us in the house, but not necessarily living with us (clean once a week)

- medical&dental insurance for the whole family

I will not have a job there from outside PH, but i think chances to get legally employed are higher on the spot there than they are applying from Europe. Am i correct?

I am thinking about starting with a budget of around 5000 USD to cover us for 4-5 months (also paying for visa extensions every 2 months)

Every month i can have a 99% guaranteed income of around 1200 USD, so i think that should cover all costs mentioned before?

Any input will be highly appreciated!

If we manage to get to PH and for those pointing good insights i will buy drinks if we meet there :dance:

Thanks! :541:

Otto

[tiger31]

welcome to the forum otto firstly you will have to guarentee your income is in place as you and your wife won,t be allowed to work as foreigners .your budget of 1200 dollars may be a bit stretched in cebu city so like you said better to live on the outskirts .I live on mactan 5 minutes from airport and pay 5000 pesos for 2 bed appartment no garden ,there is places to be found you just need to find them ,maids are around 2500 per month gasoline is around 50 pesos a litre water is usually in with rent mine is anyway .A 5 gallon bottle of drinking water is 25 pesos.electric ranges wildly because but I have aircon on 24/7 and average bill is 4000 pesos month that is your biggest expense if you have aircon ,as for mosquitos you just have to use repellants etc but the mossies are not the malayria version but there is one type that carry dengue virus which there is no cure for you just got to ride it out like flu .but it can hospitalise you in some cases or even death but rare.well i,ll let other members wade in with things ive missed out.

[oks]

as you and your wife won,t be allowed to work as foreigners

Hi tiger31, thanks for your quick response!

Regarding the quoted text, i know the risks of working without a permit: fine and possible jail, also deportation.

But i was wondering if i could get legally employed, are there cases where employers (such as multinational corporations, so non-PH companies) would arrange work visa for me?

Until then, perhaps giving private lessons to students might do the trick? If it's low profile, and it's not like a real job, is it still considered risky to do that?

[Thomas]

Concerning living costs:

See two existing topics talking about living of 800$ and an other 1000$. Most said it's best to have some moree than that :) Some specied what different parts cost for them.

Cheap cars:

I don't remember if it was in any of above topics we discussed cheap cars too, but it's discussed somewhere rather detailed. There are new cars for less than 7000$, many of them are put together in Cebu. "Suzuki Other MT". Look up so you get the stronger 1000cc engine, not the 660cc, if you buy one.

You can find such e g here

http://www.ayosdito.ph/Philippines/Other-Vehicles-Accessories-and-Parts-for-sale-1080?o=10&th=1

PROBLEM: Foreigners are not allowed to have a profesion within Law according to this list posted by one of the sponsors to this forum

Not at this address /prohibited-and-restricted-ownership-businesses-for-foreigners.php

[Thomas]

there is one type that carry dengue virus

Is it same type as in Thailand = "Tiger mosquitos"?

Normal mosquitos don't like strong sunshine, so that can be "protection" from the OTHER ones,

but the crazy :) Tiger mosquitos LIKE sun, which make some protection solutions* for other mosquitos don't function against them.

*Windows/veranda covered by mosquito net. Try to have no suncover close to the front door and try to have it where it's sunny, so mosquitos don't want to go there when it's sun.

(Some easier in Sweden, because here it's less hot, so I can sit outside direct in the sun. That side I have open during sun hours, without any mosquitos get into the house there. At the other side it's mostly shade and suncover too. There I have to look up when open to avoid to get mosquitos in.)

There are some plants, which make normal mosquitos don't want to go close. I have no idea if Tiger mosquitos bother.

[tiger31]

as you and your wife won,t be allowed to work as foreigners

Hi tiger31, thanks for your quick response!

Regarding the quoted text, i know the risks of working without a permit: fine and possible jail, also deportation.

But i was wondering if i could get legally employed, are there cases where employers (such as multinational corporations, so non-PH companies) would arrange work visa for me?

Until then, perhaps giving private lessons to students might do the trick? If it's low profile, and it's not like a real job, is it still considered risky to do that?

otto your still at risk even doing private teaching remember one thing it only takes someone to take a dislike to you for them to imform the authorities .My best advice is to come and live off your budget until you ask the locals what you can and can,t do because not all imformation will be correct .once you feel your way around and make some friends to help you .why are you leaving romania i thought its cheap to live there also ?

[Dave Hounddriver]

But i was wondering if i could get legally employed, are there cases where employers (such as multinational corporations, so non-PH companies) would arrange work visa for me? Until then, perhaps giving private lessons to students might do the trick?

If you have a skill that is not available locally then you may be hired locally and your employer can get a work permit for you but its rare, low paying, and long hours (just judging by the few I know who have done it). Some people love it here. Many who come here for the main purpose of low living cost have already discovered it s not that great and left (again just judging but the ones I know who have done that.) There is no way I could live here on 1200 with a wife who is used to a western lifestyle. I would not try it without double that amount. In fact I would not do it at all as there are other places in the world I would enjoy if I had that much money and a wife used to a western lifestyle.

As to teaching privately, who are you going to teach and can you do it cheaper than a filipino when you are trying to do it under the table? I have never seen it done. And then there is your wife, would she like it here? I cannot imagine a Romanian wives club anywhere in the Philippines. Perhaps there is one?

[oks]

to sum up an answer to your questions: we don't like Romania (it's turning into a corporate jungle of brainless monkeys running for money), and of course the materialistic view of European life where you need to work your life through just to add more junk and possessions. We have a cosy life in Romania, but after our last vacation in Indonesia, we've realized that life is simply rewarding for those who search for it. Happiness does not mean lots of money, houses, cars. We want another approach in life. Of course the irony that we citizens of "wealthy" nations want to live among poor people, while exactly those poor people dream to have our western lifestyles.

I think my wife will like it. I know the sweat and the seeming impossible to breathe air, i know the mosquitos, i know the garbage lying around next to skyscrapers, i know that people might look at us like foreigners and show us a cold back, but if we manage to live on our restricted budget and extend visa every time, it should not mean one day we'll be denied a visa extension right?

I am currently working in IT Support (wich is excellent payed here) but i saw on many sites hundreds of related jobs. It was nowhere written that Non-PH citizens can't apply.

Does it mean that i, as a tourist, am not allowed to go on a job hunt to go to interviews and hope for the best?

[tiger31]

your best bet will be to try and secure employment from europe and work from home in the philippines on your computer .can your wife speak english if not she will be pretty isolated here .lots of philippinos know some english but german no chance lol.I have been here 20 months and i,m pretty bored not being able to work the holiday mode has worn off now even though i don,t need to earn income for me its to give me something to do .

[Thomas]

I am currently working in IT Support (wich is excellent payed here) but i saw on many sites hundreds of related jobs. It was nowhere written that Non-PH citizens can't apply. Does it mean that i, as a tourist, am not allowed to go on a job hunt to go to interviews and hope for the best?

Then you perhaps better apply for ABROAD jobs handled through Internet :) handled as OWN BUSINESS. That's seen as "export" and are allowed to be own 100 % by foreigner in different from almost all other types of businesses.

Such need permits too, but has much biger chance to get OK from permit deciders, and much biger chance to give more than Filipino pay :)

In some such outsoursing compamies it can be an ADVANTAGE to be foreigner to get employment, and be comparingly good pay, but normaly they want foreigners with English as father's language.