Philippines Assistance for Visitors and Expats

Philippines Assistance is an online resource for people seeking information or support on matters related to the Philippines.

The new Special Employer Resident Visa has been implemented to encourage foreigners to start businesses in the Philippines and employ at least ten Filipinos. In return they get a special visa that gives them residence and the right to operate the business and special entry and exit provisions. Overall for the serious business investor it should save a lot of money and effort, as well as provide increased local employment.

The Foreign Investment Negative List still applies so there are many industries and activities not open to foreigners or that require varying degrees of local ownership but overall it should be a handy visa for those able to avail of it.

Good question but along the lines of ‘how long is a piece of string’. As we cover in great detail in the “Philippines Survival Handbook” the threat level varies from stubbed toes to kidnapping and murder. The latter do happen but you need to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and the good news is that you can’t easily get there. The dangerous areas require government issued permits and very strong reasons for going into these areas. As a tourist you will have no reason at all to visit Basilan or Jolo and meet the local Abu Sayyef!

More likely risks include getting hit by trikes, jeepneys or motorbikes as you cross the road. Pedestrian crossings merely give the drivers aiming marks! Most traffic accidents are either very minor fender benders or horriffic multiple death pile ups on rural roads. Overcrowded jeepneys and buses driven by hopped up Dongs do crash. Mind you, in over twenty years of travelling throughout the islands I have never had a crash but I have seen a few.

There are other hazards such as getting a serious case of cellulitis infection in the leg as happened to me on my last trip. Four days in hospital and then another three in a hospital at home and two weeks of care before the leg cleared up. Serious illness like that can ruin a vacation so have your travel insurance paid up!

Otherwise the risks are very low in my opinion. I feel safer in the Philippines than I ever did in Thailand or Indonesia. Just be sensible and never get drunk alone and far from your home or hotel room. Prevention is better than cure and the “Philippines Survival Handbook” will tell you everything you need to know to travel safely. We also offer a FREE Travel Safely report you can download.

Yes, you can but it has to be a condominium and only 40% of the condos in the block can be owned by foreigners. You can’t own land but you can own the house you build on it. Con fused? Well “Philippines Property Primer” tells you all the detailed information but in a nutshell the simple answer is that foreigners can not own land int he Philippines.

You can get around this by forming a corporation and owning 40% of the stock, then buying the land but that means 60% of the stock is in the hands of a Filipino or Filipinos. You can lease a Lot and build on it and at the end of the lease either remove the ‘improvements’ or have the land owner compensate you for the value of the buildings.

There are lots of options and alternatives and the book gives you some good ideas. It is soon to be updated with new information and changes to the laws int eh Philippines but all of our books come with a lifetime free upgrade offer. No matter how many times we upgrade the info int he book, you can always get the latest copy for free once you buy the title the first time.

I get asked this question a great deal. Should he marry her in her home town or in a simple civil ceremony once she arrives in his country?  Sometimes the writer gives me the timeline of their relationship and other times they get right to the heart of the question:

Hello ,can you please tell me the best way of getting married to a Filipino,is it best to marry there or here,or can you tell me where to get advise please.I’m a pensioner and already video chat for 2 months every day to a lady.
THANK YOU
In advance

Now apart from the fact they have never met and have only ‘video-chatted’, he is already considering marriage. This is such a big step and quite involved that I wrote an entire book about it, “Filipina 202 – How To Marry And Migrate Your Dream Filipina” . Nevertheless I replied:

Dear X, I go into this very important question in considerable detail in my eBook “Filipina 202- How To Marry And Migrate Your Dream Filipina”.

In a nutshell, marrying in the Philippines will be cheaper, make her happy as her family will be able to witness it and is just as legal as marrying her in your country.Which is my next question. Where are you from?

If a US citizen it is quicker to have her join you via K1 Fiance visa but even the K3 wait is under a year now. For Australia, UK and NZ and perhaps Canada I think it is the same processing period but the requirements of proving the relationship is genuine and ongoing might be stricter.

Give me more info and I can better answer the question for you.

I have yet to find a country that will allow you to ‘import’ your Filipina bride without ever having met her in person. Given how hard it is for single, young Filipinas to get tourist visas to anywhere other than ASEAN countries (Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand etc) this means in effect she has to come to you as a fiance or spouse. That means you must meet in person at least once.

Who is to say how much time any two people need to form the mindset that they wish to marry? Given the pace of modern living and telecommunications, 60 days  of daily video chatting is as good as several months of dating two or three times a week, surely? This is opening another giant can of worms we will look at in other posts but for now, give some thought to this in case you are or might one day be in that situation.

Do you marry her in the Philippines or do you focus on getting her to your home town and then do it there when the fiance visa runs out? Which route and why?

I recently received this email via one of the many web sites where my eBooks are offered for sale. I have to confess my first thought was the writer is trying to set me up, hoping I will endorse their twisted behaviour and thinking. I had just received a written apology from the Dean of the Univeristy of Queensland law school for being labelled the husband of ‘a mail order bride’ in a report on human trafficking that quoted that and cited a web page and one of my books as the source. Given the web page says nothing about how or where my wife and I met, to say otherwise cast doubts on the veracity of anything else in the report, let alone insulted my wife and myself. Anyway, following that incident and due to the numerous attempts I had to make to obtain some form of redress, I confess my antennae were twitching when this gem hit myu inbox:

Dear Perry,
I am contacting you since you seen to have a very valuable knowledge of the Philippines.
I was contacted on Filipinaheart.com by a beautiful Filipina girl who is 15 years old. I am European, and 48. I went to visit her twice, in Cebu, and we are now lovers. We both want to have sexual intercourse, but I wonder what can be the consequences. We are talking about marriage in the future, and making babies and a family. I have read confusing information on the web about the “age of consent” being 12 in the Philippines, but possibilities of being arrested on some websites. Where is the truth ? Thanks in advance for your help.

This is my restrained response:

Dear Sir, I am deeply concerned to read your email. I presume you were aware of her age prior to your first visit and if not, then at least by the time of your second. At this point I would not concern myself with the consequences of consummating this relationship by sexual intercourse as far as the Philippines authorities are concerned. I would be more in fear of the reciprocal laws current in all EU countries regarding pedophilia, human trafficking and other crimes.

And make no mistake, these are crimes. It matters not whether your 15 year old believes she is ready for a sexual relationship. It is against the law. I will keep my own views about such a practise to myself other than to state that you can rest assured as the father of four daughters and being of the same age as yourself, I find the whole matter extremely disturbing to say the least.

There are millions of truly wonderful, single, adult Filipinas of legal age to choose from. I can only hope that common sense will prevail in this matter and that you, as the adult, take charge and end this inappropriate and potentially illegal relationship immediately. Even waiting until she is of legal age is not appropriate as she is not an equal partner in this relationship either in her maturity or economic situation. In other words she is vulnerable and open to abuse.  Please do not ask for my advice on this matter again as I have no interest in such relationships other than to do all I can to help protect children and the vulnerable in any way appropriate.

Not surprisingly I never heard from him ever again, nor do I wish to. I can’t accept a grown man would ask such a question unless it is a trap. So the lesson here is twofold.

First of all obey the laws of the land and the laws of decency. You know it is wrong to covet a minor, even one who might have all the appearence of being sexually mature. The age of consent is still 12 but that is under review and may be changed by the time you read this. The opposition to changing it is mostly from religious types who believe bad things don’t happen to good people, good people being believers etc.

If the person is under 18 and there is money involved then it is a crime as prostitution is illegal in the Philippines. If the person is between 12 and 18 but their partner is more than 10 years older than they are, then the age of consent is 18 and they are now guilty of a crime. If they were say 20 and their partner 14, no problem providing there was no money involved. If the girl is 17 and the guy is 28 then he is more than 10 years older than she is and bingo, he’s gone.

Homosexuality is illegal there too so the presumption is always that the younger person will be of the opposite sex and most likely a girl. A lot of the law is still mixed up with catholic attitudes and confusing and contradictory but they are slowly changing many of them. The problem is so many laws now enacted cross into areas of other laws and so you could be up for two or more offenses and one of them might be a capital crime!

For this person to admit he knows she is 15, (he is 48) means he isn’t looking for advice, he wants a plausible excuse. Or he (or she or they) is trying to entrap me somehow for some reason. Well, having a clean record and a clear conscience I can sleep at night but I wonder if the writer/s can?