Any British vets?

[Snowy79]

8 minutes ago, Shaun Paul Porter said:

Awesome to hear your all settled then mate, so you living off a retirement fund or working as well mate/business or something?

I think location is key for good settling so having a few expats or ex squaddies around and about would be ace. 

Ive got a missus so I’m lucky then in that sense and she has her own income.

so for me it’s finding a good work life balance and I’m happy.

Thanks again 

I'm living off of a reduced military pension but I top it up from an apartment I rent out in Boracay. Boracay is probably one of the top tourist places here but I prefer Sabang. Good places to eat and within 30 mins you can get to places where rents are cheap and so is food. 

It's worth a visit and a short look around. 2 minutes and you are in the jungle. I couldn't live in a city with all the traffic. Immigration is only an hour and a bit Jeepney ride to the city where you'll get everything you need for half the price or less than in Sabang. 100 peso each way. 

[Soldier of opportunity]

Can’t argue with that then and sounds like great advice from someone who’s living the life 👌.

Me too I don’t want to live in the city but I want to be close enough to places to grab a food shop in. I don’t mind cooking myself so I’ll mix that up with eating out 👌.

Do you cash your military pension into a Filipino bank mate and are you just doing monthly/2 monthly Visas? 

What about smile Visa? You not considered that? Know anything about it from an expat point of view? Worth it etc?

 

[Snowy79]

59 minutes ago, Shaun Paul Porter said:

Can’t argue with that then and sounds like great advice from someone who’s living the life 👌.

Me too I don’t want to live in the city but I want to be close enough to places to grab a food shop in. I don’t mind cooking myself so I’ll mix that up with eating out 👌.

Do you cash your military pension into a Filipino bank mate and are you just doing monthly/2 monthly Visas? 

What about smile Visa? You not considered that? Know anything about it from an expat point of view? Worth it etc?

 

I get my pension paid into my UK bank then watch the exchange rate. If it's high I send it to the Philippines, if it's low I live off of my savings until it increase. It can make you 2 to 3,000 peso if you catch the exchange rate OK. If you let HMRC send it to the Philippines you get the rate that they send it at on the day. Visa wise I'm on the tourist route just now getting 6 month extensions but next month I'm looking at going down the Quota visa route. The smile is OK especially if you get the one tied into previous military experience but it still has annual fees etc.

[Soldier of opportunity]

Can you enlighten me which smile Visa ties in with previous military experience Bro? 

I’m going over in November and need to do the research on the Visa front but if I can get a heads up from you that’s great.

So you can get a 6 month  extension to the 2 month stay is it? Then the trip to Hong Kong and back again to start again?

 

[Snowy79]

52 minutes ago, Shaun Paul Porter said:

Can you enlighten me which smile Visa ties in with previous military experience Bro? 

I’m going over in November and need to do the research on the Visa front but if I can get a heads up from you that’s great.

So you can get a 6 month  extension to the 2 month stay is it? Then the trip to Hong Kong and back again to start again?

 

Google special courtesy srrv for veterans. As for the visa I got a 2 month after my initial visa ran out then a 6 month with ACR. Things have slightly changed according to the grape come as far as 6 month visas are concerned so I'd contact immigration to clarify. 

[Soldier of opportunity]

3 hours ago, Snowy79 said:

I'm living off of a reduced military pension but I top it up from an apartment I rent out in Boracay. Boracay is probably one of the top tourist places here but I prefer Sabang. Good places to eat and within 30 mins you can get to places where rents are cheap and so is food. 

It's worth a visit and a short look around. 2 minutes and you are in the jungle. I couldn't live in a city with all the traffic. Immigration is only an hour and a bit Jeepney ride to the city where you'll get everything you need for half the price or less than in Sabang. 100 peso each way. 

Your a star thanks very much for taking the time to give me all this information I really appreciate it 👍