So far I have found it is relatively easy to own property, one year renewable visa's are available and if  you are American or British  you can get a tourist visa 59 days at a time forever I guess, you enter on a 27 day visa then renew that for 59 days over and over as long as you wish to stay. Since I am setting up business the first six months will be getting everything legal.

 Like any country  in Asia,  it is corrupt and  full of Bureaucracy and middle men to pay in order to get what  you need. Once  you find some one you trust its better they do the transactions. I am applying for a one year multiple entry visa. All I need is a cover letter from my business here signed by my vice president. I can't sign for myself or I can go and  get a business there to extend an invitation in which it would be simpler to do. However, If I understand the  culture correctly after reading several books, it may be best I am not obligated to anyone local. It , if the books are correct it reminds me much of  Thailand and  Kyrgyzstan in as much as they are corrupt can have one wife and several mistresses with no problem and  being gay is not a problem as long as you are reasonably discreet about it. It all about  keeping face sociably. The living arrangements are relatively cheap. An average apartment is about 500 a month with 2 to 3 bedrooms. You can get a condo and I intend to invest since when leaving  and Kyrgyzstan I was able to make almost  800% profit on the two apartments I had purchased. however, I plan to rent for six  months while I get everything legal. Seems DSL is available but telephone service is party line andworks when it wantsas well as the electric. Cell phones like all Asian countries work better than land lines and text messaging  is the thing to  do. best to buy a telephone here and get it unlocked there.

Boys are available but the  culture can be a shock to usual American or British way of life, although it is or, can be very modern in the cities and the contact look great. So, between my contact there and some of you on  the forum here I have  acquired some understanding. Like most Asians keeping the family unit happy is paramount especially financially.

Finding a man I am told will not be a problem if  you go slow you can find a quite nice one. I prefer relationships with  open relationships or don't ask don;t tell. If I really do love the guy like in Kyrgyzstan I am monogamous unless I go to Thailand. There, all bets are off and he  knows it and  would go with me if I thought he could handle it. He is considering moving with me there. I am not sure until after all the business is done and I find a very private place to live. Although I am not in the closet I don't flaunt it in my business life any way. Since I am not sure how it will be received there its best to be discreet  until I can arrange for a reason for a house boy or learn the  culture better.

Wesley

Wesley, just out of interest. What business are you doing there?

sorry, I felt I may jeopardize my  work if I leave to much information on an open forum. if interested I2 will send personally to  you what I had written.

Wes



Last edited by Wesley on Sat 7 Jun, 2008 1:09 am; edited 1 time in total

Good on you Wesley, you must derive a tremendous amount of satisfaction in being able to do what you do. Thank Buddha that street kids as well as the poor ones who are not much better off than them, have people like yourself doing for them what you do. You and others like you, are to be commended.


Choc Dee Wes,


George.

Wesley doesn't work for one of those much-reviled NGO's, does he?

Strontium-40 wrote:

Are there no restrictions on foreigners owning land in the Philippines?

Not  sure but it  seems not especially if you own a company to hold such  property for you and they are selling  condos like hot cakes, judging from the mail I get  from a real estate person there.

Wes

I meant land.  There was the implication that the Philippines was more "open" to foreigners regarding land ownership, and I was curious.  If shell companies are required, it sounds like pretty much the same game.

I think you can own, providing if I read right the right people are paid off  by  middle men to save face, unusually one of their other mistresses. I open NGOs and companies as well. One generally holds property I do not wish to get tangled up in a closure or lost to the government if it closes.

Wes

Sounds like it's even messier (and riskier) than Thailand.  Wonder where this "Philippines treats foreigners better than Thailand does" thing got started, then?

its only messy if you let it get messy, if you take your time fill out all the paperwork have a decent lawyer or two you can pay the lawyer instead of the bribe, that is the way I do business personally. I don't mess with the such, I had as soon take an extra month pay a lawyer what I would in bribes and do it legally.

Wes

Wesley wrote:

its only messy if you let it get messy, if you take your time fill out all the paperwork have a decent lawyer or two you can pay the lawyer instead of the bribe, that is the way I do business personally. I don't mess with the such, I had as soon take an extra month pay a lawyer what I would in bribes and do it legally.

Wes

I lived in The Philippines in the early 1990s, and planned/plan to retire there, so I have gone into the whole issue of purchasing property there. A reputable lawyer would be unlikely to engage in law-breaking, whether you paid him or paid bribes (or goodwill money as it is known locally) - and using an unreputable lawyer would lay you open to possible charges of bribery and corruption as well as making you a likely blackmail target - or an assassination target if thing got nasty!

I think you will find that, as a general rule, only Filipino citizens and corporations where at least sixty percent of the capital is owned by Filipinos are entitled to acquire and own land in the Philippines. There are exceptions, but they would require you either to have bought the land more than 70 years ago or to have inherited it from a Filipino. About the only thing foreigners can buy is a condo when not more than forty percent of the condominium project is owned by foreigners; you can own a house so long as you don't own the land on which it is built (but you can lease the land).  Of course, you could marry a Filipina - I don't think The Philippines allows same-sex marriages legally.  If you set up a corporation, then you have to trust your partners - and who do you know well-enough in The Philippines to trust with a per centage of your company?  Leasehold, rather than freehold, on the other hand is possible.

The only possible legal way to own land is to get a Special Resident Retiree's Visa through the Philippine Retirement Authority; essentially such visa holders are allowed to own up to 1,000 square meters of urban/residential land or one hectare of rural/agricultural) land, but the visa holders must place several tens of thousands of US$ in a dollar time deposit in a bank in the Philippines. You have to be over 35 to get this visa however, and able to invest $US50,000 in the time deposit or, if over 50, $US20,000 (or $10,000 if you also have a monthly pension of $Us800 - 1,000 depending on marital status). On the other hand, there are no 90-day visa trips, plus several other benefits.

This is true for every country of a small nature I have found or been in, you can own the building but not the land, makes sense Bill Gates could come in and buy up the whole set of islands. I have discovered when buying  buildings under this restriction it only limits your ability to use it the same as an owner with an occasional letter from the mayor or if  you ant to use some of of fr a garden or the  such or  build an adjacent  building for storage. So property you can own but the land does remain with the country and for good reasons. Kyrgyzstan was he same but I have  no less then  10 buildings there on government land with no restrictions. Often some agreement does  come in is and usually  virtually no problems. It does depend on who you know, more than the money involved in a lot of cases. the right signature to from the right person settles a lot of issues, but some at the mercy of some indigenous person issues came  no matter  who signs it, if you piss some  the neighbors off. Nevertheless, I have never lost a thing but  was never able to but any thing personally and had to open a company of some sort to buy  property that I was not at the Mercy of some indigenous person, if  you are setting up a business any way It makes it much easier to buy and hole Property[perty but it does and remains the governments land and in my opinion for a good reason. But as I say, I have that to be true in every small country I have lived in. In ten years I may have had on dispute which was settled in The mayors office with no litigation.  

Wesley

It is not usually the size of the country that is of relevance.  It is the state of its economic development.

This is  true if its still in the form of some type of socialistic form of government, since all belongs to all and all are supposed to be the same.  The  truth is unless you are an asshole most people will work with you, but you always take the chance some one will be the asshole instead of the foreigner. I find that  mostly it is foreigners who are the problem not the people there. Often  you are a help to them, their economy and if a good neighbor  nothing  is rarely ever said or  done. I would think there are exceptions to every  rule. But  the  Filipinos people seem  to be much kinder people than the  Muslims I dealt with and as I said I had little of no problems if, I worked inside the law. However, I am dealing with what I could find in one book I ordered off Amazon, I am by far no expert in the Philippines. Kyrgyzstan, I would say I know as much more more than most foreigners. But  things change from place to place. the Visa laws are much lax in Kyrgyzstan and the Philippines than Thailand. But it often has to do with where you are coming  from. Who you know and why you are there.

Wesley