Moving to PH in under a year, help!

[kalibojerry]

I live in Kalibo not to far from Roxas  I like Kalibo not big I hate big city big enough for me Manila is a 45 minute flight away if I want to go to a big city  I have Globe WiFi works great cost is 1000 peso a month I bought a Sateilight for my father in law and just have to pay for the plan each month I feel this is the best way no contract, my rent for 2 bedroom apartment is 7000 peso per month great neighbor hood everyone is friendly only bad thing it is a flooded area so be care full were you live make sure it is not a flooded area, when it comes to ladies keep your oppstions  open as there are so many ladies here i found my lady on line but I all so had 2 ladies I met in the neighbor hood that were great also I could have anyone of them and been fine take your time and do not rush the true colors come out very fast so you will know good luck wish you the best if you have any question please just ask this is a great forum and all straight shooters     

[Tukaram (Tim)]

On 2/1/2017 at 11:46 PM, Mrubiquitous said:

My goal is to move to the Philippines to be with my lady and work overseas while earning income from the states. I plan on living in the Roxas City area. My question is...(drum roll) is there a basic checklist of things to do to prepare for this journey. Passports, immunizations, visas included. Anything anyone wished they did or got hung up on because they didn't do would help immensely as well.  New to forum btw! Thanks! (Salamat Po!) MrUbiquitous

If you are coming on a tourist visa you just need your passport (with minimum 6 months validity). You get a 30 day stamp upon entry, for free. Then you just go to the closest immigration office for extensions. Depending on the office you can get 2 month or 6 month extensions. After 3 years you have to leave the country, come right back, and start over.  Hong Kong is a nice weekend getaway. .

When you are boarding your flight they will check for an exit ticket. If it is all on one itinerary they will see the exit ticket online and probably won't ask you for it. I usually buy a cheap, disposable, exit ticket from a discount vendor (like Tiger or Air Asia) so I have to show them a printed copy of the ticket. You don't have to use the exit ticket, they just want to know you *can* leave.

Immunizations are not required but are a good idea. I went to my County health clinic and got a bunch of shots, cheap. I made sure my tetanus was up to date, got the Hep & typhoid shots, I forget what all I got. Better safe than sorry.

Depending on your situation you may want to get a mail forwarding service. I use one with a Texas address, so my bank & credit card companies just think I moved across town. I got a new Texas driver's license with the mail forwarding address on it.  There are a lot of companies and I imagine they are all about the same. Many have free levels and pay levels of service.

A "local" US phone number is handy for banking and other business, as well as keeping in touch with family & friends in the old country. I use Magic Jack (PC based and a smartphone app) so anywhere I have wifi - I have a Texas phone number. My daughter called me when I was at the mall once... that was odd... 8,000 miles a way and a local call.

Find a good US bank that can handle international transactions well. My old credit union could not do it. As a vet I use USAA. I no longer us any money transfer service (like Xoom or Western Union). USAA lets me use foreign ATMs and refunds the service fee that the local bank charges. They give a great exchange rate, too.  I got a Visa card that has no foreign transaction fees so I don't get killed when I need to use my card (rarely).

Change your address and email address with each financial institution you deal with -Social Security, 401K, Mutual Funds, Stocks, Banks, Credit Card…

Get a free copy of your credit report and make sure you close all open lines of credit you won’t be needing.  Also cancel and cut up cards you will not need – Home Depot, Exxon, Library etc.

Make copy of all active prescriptions for Customs if questioned.  Check PI’s Mercury Drug Store website to see if available in the PI’s.  Also, take all your meds in hand carry bag. (I’ve never had my meds questioned but I hear it is a good idea to be ready)

Ex US military?  Get your DD-214 (for other countries get whatever they call their separation papers)

Take copies of life insurance, travel accident policies, will, and divorce court orders and  deposit all of them in safe deposit box in PI.  MAKE COPIES! I scanned all my insurance and retirement papers into PDFs and sent copies to my kids and my sister.

Update your will.

Scan all your medical records into a digital format and keep multiple copies.

Get copy of Birth Certificate – yes, you guessed it – multiple copies.

Remember once you get overseas it will be much harder to get some of these documents from home.  Many states and municipalities have pretty good web sites but a lot of stuff is still done in person.  I would rather have too much information than be missing one form.

That is a good start. Don't forget to have fun, too. 

[Sander Martin]

If high speed internet is important to you, then the first thing you should enquier about when looking at places is the Internet. Is not like in the west where you can just get pretty much any connection aslong as you pay. Internet is slow and limited. We had 2mb Globe connection in Iloilo (lived only a few kilometers from the center) and that was the "best" we could get. Its was okeyish for the first 50gb and then dropped to 1990s speed. Apparently that was all that was availabe in that area.

Roxas is quite small and secondary city in Philippines, so i think it will be harder to find a good reliable connection.

[sonjack2847]

I`m sure I`m stating th obvious but when choosing an internet provider you should also look the ping and upload speed.I get around 40 on the ping 2.5 on the download but only.75 on the upload which can make it frustrating sometimes to say the least.For example I cannot even get this webpage to show some days but Yahoo and FB appear almost instantly.At the end of the day you can do all the checks and still get bad internet so try to choose wisely if you get a choice.Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

[AlwaysRt]

1 hour ago, sonjack2847 said:

I`m sure I`m stating th obvious but when choosing an internet provider you should also look the ping and upload speed.I get around 40 on the ping 2.5 on the download but only.75 on the upload which can make it frustrating sometimes to say the least.For example I cannot even get this webpage to show some days but Yahoo and FB appear almost instantly.At the end of the day you can do all the checks and still get bad internet so try to choose wisely if you get a choice.Good luck and I hope it works out for you.

What kind of internet do you have? (company, wired, wireless - pocket wifi/external antenna...)

[Tukaram (Tim)]

I have never had a choice of internet providers here. I have lived in 3 different areas and all of them had Globe only.  It pretty much sucks, but is all we have. In the city I lived about 100 meters from my PLDT neighbors.  Half the subdivision had PLDT, half Globe. The basketball court was the dividing line - there was no crossover.

[sonjack2847]

8 hours ago, AlwaysRt said:

What kind of internet do you have? (company, wired, wireless - pocket wifi/external antenna...)

DSL by globe it is much better today.Maybe there was a lot of people in the internet cafes.

[Domino22]

On 2/1/2017 at 9:46 AM, Mrubiquitous said:

My goal is to move to the Philippines to be with my lady and work overseas while earning income from the states. I plan on living in the Roxas City area. My question is...(drum roll) is there a basic checklist of things to do to prepare for this journey. Passports, immunizations, visas included. Anything anyone wished they did or got hung up on because they didn't do would help immensely as well.  New to forum btw! Thanks! (Salamat Po!) MrUbiquitous

Have you met her face to face? Before your move?

[robert k]

Just a side note, I lost count of how many Roxas city/town/village/wide spots in the road there is...and I've only been to 7-8 islands.