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Discussion in 'COVID-19' started by Greg Duncan, Mar 19, 2021.

  1. Greg Duncan

    Greg Duncan DI New Member

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    Hello
    Do some of you work remotely
    (Lap top ) for your company
    While living in Dumaguete
    I'm 60 but I would like to
    Move now. Any one with
    Work suggestions....

    Thanks
     
  2. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    You are going to have to wait to move with all the covid restrictions.

    Your question about working from home is hard to answer. You don't mention any skills you have. Also, if you don't have some type of retirement/disability income or sizeable savings to fall back on when things get tight or work dries up you are going to find yourself in a bad place really fast.

    Have you done any research about what it costs to live in the Philippines?
     
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  3. SkipJack

    SkipJack DI Senior Member

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    I don't know.
    There are many people who are paid by foreign companies to "work" from home in the Philippines.

    Be careful with the word "work". It is not clearly defined in the law. The legal term is employed or engaged in business in the Philippines.

    With regards to the rules, when speaking with people, be clear you will not be employed by a Philippine organization. The law speaks to the issue of being gainfully employed by a Philippine legal entity. If you are working online for a foreign company you are insulated from the law here. When you are here, do not speak publicly about working from home. Many people do not understand the differences in the law when working for a foreign organization and they will think you are breaking the law.

    I do not know your situation. I would not come here without remote work already lined up unless I had significant skills that could be marketed online.

    I do not like laptops. In my experience they do not last long and I do not like the small screens. I prefer small PCs connected to multiple large monitors. Google "Intel NUC". These are small PCs made from laptop processors and components. Many work on 12 volt power supplies. Bring one or two with you in your luggage because (except for the China tariff) you can buy them for less in the US. Buy the big monitors (with 12 volt power supplies) and keyboards here in the Philippines. Connect everything including your Internet modem to a 12 volt deep cycle battery and a battery charger. This way you are insulated from the brownouts. (Brownout here = blackout in USA)
     
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  4. Mom Miriam

    Mom Miriam DI Member

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    For a foreigner to be able to work legally in PH, he should travel with an employment contract pre-arranged with his would-be PH-based employer and then enter PH under a 9a visa to stay as a temporary visitor while working out 9a visa-to-9g visa conversion at the Bureau of Immigration (BI), using the pre-arranged employment contract. Usually, the would-be employer is a religious organization sponsoring a foreign missionary or a multinational corporation with 60%-100% foreign ownership, duly registered with the local SEC, sponsoring a new company officer or a new technical person.

    Other than diplomats, the only instance I know of a foreigner working without 9g visa while living in PH is one who has become ordinarily a local resident and then obtained non-diplomatic gainful employment at his country's local embassy or consulate, the employer and workplace technically being on foreign soil. In similar manner, a foreigner's employment with any overseas entity, worked from home in PH, is also beyond BI regulation.

    Without the 9g visa, a foreigner's employment with any local entity, whether face-to-face or worked online from home, will be regarded by the BI as illegal employment that could be ground for deportation. As SkipJack advises, such gainful employment is better not flaunted about to prevent "sweet scent that draws ants" from the BI.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 19, 2021
  5. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    Probably not but it is beyond BI enforcement of the worker keeps it to themselves.
     
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  6. Notmyrealname

    Notmyrealname DI Forum Luminary Highly Rated Poster Showcase Reviewer

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    A slightly off-topic point (btw, I am the member here who strictly never goes off-topic ... along with many others): Be extremely (I cannot emphasize that enough) careful about investing in the Philippines - there is more chance you will lose ALL your money than increase it a little. I have read masses of information on various Forums to know this is a reality. Set up a business (through Filipino gf or wife) involving property and you may get scammed; give loans and you will probably not even recover your capital (they pay for few weeks and then stop); enroll in a Kapa scheme and it is goodbye cash.

    Also, meet nice girl and buy a house - then you face the possibility that she dumps you and retains the house (the land has to be owned by her).

    This is, of course, not the case for everyone - especially not wishing to label the nice women here who are happily living with expats - but if you do lose money, you face: Extremely slow Court process (years); whether the Filipino knows more people that you do (certain); if the family gets involved (possibly with a gun or knife).

    Tread very carefully with your cash - it tends to swap hands very easily if you lack caution.
     
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  7. SkipJack

    SkipJack DI Senior Member

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    I don't know.
    Actually the people at the BI are not the problem. They understand the law and its intent. The challenge is with the local Filipinos one makes friends with. Many see the law as a very black and white situation. They do not understand the intent of the law and that a person can be sitting in the Philippines but actually producing work product for a company in another country.
    The intent of the law is to avoid having foreigners compete with Filipinos for jobs here in the Philippines. The intent is to encourage employers to train local Filipinos to do the work instead of importing already trained foreigners.

    1) A foreigner who is working online remotely for an employer in a foreign country (USA for example) is not taking a job away from a Filipino here in the Philippines. Local Filipinos are not allowed to work in the USA as employees and the BI is not interested in enforcing the actions of companies in the USA. (On a side note: A person working remotely is competing with people form many different poor countries.)

    2) A foreigner who is working remotely online for a foreign company is bringing foreign cash into the local Philippine economy. The foreigner transfers their earnings into the Philippines and spends the money here adding to the local economy.

    There is no downside for the Filipinos and there is a positive upside in bringing foreign cash into the local economy. The people working in government who have faced this issue more than once understand the situation.

    This is easier to understand than the middle name of a Filipino born in a foreign country.
     
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  8. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    Investing in local small businesses is extremely high risk and extremely low return. Is buying property in someone else's name a good idea? No. Can you succeed? Sure. Can you get lucky? Yeah. Is turning a profit likely? Absolutely not.

    There are investment opportunities in the Philippines but it certainly isn't in local/small business or property and you will need to open a brokerage account with one of the local banks to find them. The massive country wide clan ran corporations are the way to go when it comes to investments here. Anything else you are likely just throwing/donating your money away.
     
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  9. Rye83

    Rye83 with pastrami Admin Secured Account Highly Rated Poster SC Connoisseur Veteran Army

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    I understand the spirit of the law but will that matter if the foreigner pisses off immigration (or a connected local) and the letter of the law can be used against them? I'm not sure but I am certain I wouldn't want to be sitting in the foreigner prison in Manila for years/decades while they figure it out.
     
  10. Mom Miriam

    Mom Miriam DI Member

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    I was going to recount a more positive experience but it's going to be TLDR.
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2021
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