Australians living in the Philippines - I need advice on the process of living there.

Hi Brian.. please check out the link in my earlier post for help with your Centrelink fight.

Also.. be aware that it is not a Balikbayan VISA, but a courtesy stamp given to the spouse of a returning Filipino. Technically, the law states that the returnee must have been away from the Philippines for 12 months or more (check for yourself online) but so far, as has been mentioned, a one day trip and return can get you the desired stamp. But being the Philippines, there's nothing to say they won't one day decide to enforce the law as it is written!

I have gone the 13a permanent visa way.. along with all the hassles of getting the correct and accurate documents. For example.. the clerk typing up our marriage certificate missed the 'd' from England which created a recall to the office of the celebrant, myself and wife, so the missing letter could be added.. lol

Hope you get it sorted.. Bernie

 

Australians living in the Philippines

Thank you Bernie, I am currently on Dial up speed here (I think Telstra are preparing me for ADSL speeds in the Philippines lol) and your Post did not show up for me when I read through last night.

I have spoken with my Wife and she wishes also to go the 13A Route as she has no interest in moving to Australia and is delighted that I have chosen to want to live there with her instead of dragging her to the other side of the World.

I have no doubts that I WANT to live THERE! But; I just wish to make sure that I can retain my Disability Pension so that I can support my Wife and be able to afford to buy my Pain Medication there over the Counter. I am too far gone for working anymore and even mentally my mind is no longer in it for the long haul of working out Business Summaries and Balancing Books etc so I NEED to retain my Pension.

I have copped a couple of smart asses in Centrelink who gloated to me that I will lose my Pension, they wisely decided not to record any record of my calling them whatsoever which meant I had no recourse in regards to my treatment by them. In future I will ask for a Receipt Number to ensure that my Calls go on Record with them.

I understand that they CAN Fail me, just because they can. An ex-Sister In-law who works high up in Centrelink once told me that they are instructed to fail 1 in every 3 applicants because they have a higher strike rate getting people to find work than accepting them and pushing them to find work.

A sad state of affairs indeed when this affects those who are genuine like myself who was denied a Disability Pension initially despite having a permanently Broken Leg that cannot be repaired along with a hole in my leg near my knee that exited near my Hip which I had to flush out using Peroxide and Saline 4 to 5 times a day flushing from the top hole out the bottom hole, then from the bottom hole out through the top hole, this coming November the 18th will mark my 30 year anniversary of living with a Broken leg and STILL Centrelink THINKS that the almighty Messiah himself is going to sneak down in the middle of the night and lay hands on me and heal me without their knowledge and cheat them of a dollar...

I will continue my fight as long as it takes as I am sick to death of living here barely able to afford to live week to week, I want OUT!

Cheers, Brian.

 

I hear you loud and clear there mate, my Wife had a problem with her Birth Certificate also and what a pain in the @ss that was! O-|

Hopefully all that is sorted now to the satisfaction of the NSO, I will however make sure she can gain all that ready for my return as I wish to go the 13A route unless initially if time is an issue, we go the Balikbayan route first then lodge our 12A Application once I am there. *Fingers Crossed*

But this is now giving me more confidence now that I have a better understanding of the two options which I was hunting here in my original Post. Thank you for your replies as it has helped a lot

Cheers, Brian.

 

It is not as bad as you would think. We have PLDT and Sun Broadband in the house and one of them is usually speed testing at 10Mbps, the other at 3Mbps, they take turns.

The problem here is the DNS (domain name lookup) of these companies as they do not invest in the proper infrasture and just want to advertise SPEED, but your download speed is only half of it.

The time it takes for you to type in a URL and PLDT to resolve it to an IP address and direct you to the right web server is what actually makes it seems like its 1Mbps instead of 10Mbps.

One way around that is using Googles Public DNS on your router instead, that will speed up your experience by 30-50% on any internet connection in PI.

I do not live in the city center, but also not out in Dauin or Valencia, so this is my experience 5km from the city proper.

 

I will be living around 25 kilometres from Dumaguete and around 2 kilometres from Zamboanguita proper. I am not sure if I can avail Cable feed there to the House or if I will need to go to Satellite?

The wife is using SMART Pocket WiFi at the moment to her Cell Phone but can only access Facebook and opening a picture is a feat unto itself and opening up Google or other pages even in Zamboanguita is impossible. Her GLOBE SIM is terrible at the best to hear her speak and constantly cuts out.

I would like a service that allows me to go online and do my Admin work on Facebook Pages as well as scour other Web Pages, eBay and so on.

I would like to look into running an Antenna from outside the house atop a long Bamboo pole into the Pocket WiFi inside the house if that is possible to gain a better signal. I notice many houses along the Highway with very tall poles with what appears to be Yagi Directional Antennas on top pointing towards Dumaguete, I assume they are doing what I am thinking