Philippines

A tourist admission covers a visit. The Special Resident Retiree’s Visa, administered by the Philippine Retirement Authority, is a long-stay status. Deposit, age and the other conditions are on the Authority’s current schedule. The visa, a right to work, and a property title are three different permissions.

Pre-arranged employment uses a different visa. The useful reading is the status that was actually granted, including whether a spouse may work.

Working for a Philippine employer generally requires an immigration status that allows the job and an Alien Employment Permit from the Department of Labor and Employment, unless an exemption applies. The permit names an employer and stays with that employer.

A retiree visa is a stay. The employment status and the alien employment permit are still separate steps. Remote work for a foreign employer needs a status that allows it. A tourist stamp covers a visit. The immigration status is the document that decides the point.

Article XII, section 7 of the 1987 Constitution restricts transfer of private land to those qualified to acquire or hold lands of the public domain, save hereditary succession. On that article, a foreign individual takes a house-and-lot title only through hereditary succession.

Condominium units are the route the statute opens. Where the unit owners co-own the common areas, section 5 allows a transfer only to a Filipino citizen, or to a corporation at least 60 percent of whose capital is Filipino, aside from hereditary succession. Where a corporation holds the common areas, a transfer is invalid if it would push the alien interest in that corporation past the limit set by other law. A long lease of land is a different contract from a title. Each of these is a property document. The visa is a separate permission.

PhilHealth is the national programme. Whether a foreign resident can enrol, and at what contribution, is the current circular. Private hospitals in Metro Manila and Cebu are the system many foreign households actually use, paid by insurance.

A policy that pays a named set of hospitals and a policy that also pays to move the patient are different contracts. The employer’s plan is the one to read.

The Department of Education runs the public system. International schools in Makati, Bonifacio Global City, Cebu and elsewhere are private and fee-charging. A seat is not included in a parent’s visa.

School location decides the weekday more than the city slogan does. A job in Makati and a school in the south of Metro Manila is a traffic problem, not a brochure problem.

Banks are supervised by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Opening an account is the bank’s customer-due-diligence decision. An alien certificate and a local address are commonly asked for. A foreign card is not a substitute for a local account once salaries and schools are in pesos.

Moving money in to buy a condominium, and moving money out later, are banking transactions plus the tax treatment of the gain. The bank does not decide the tax.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue distinguishes citizens, resident aliens and non-resident aliens. The visa stamp and the tax category are related and not identical. Compensation for work performed in the Philippines is the usual starting point for an employee.

Rates, treaties and the treatment of income from outside the country are the current return. They are not summarised as a percentage here.

No cost index is printed. Rent in a Makati or BGC condominium, association dues, a car or a long commute, international school fees and private healthcare are the lines that move a foreign household’s budget. A local household’s budget is a different basket.

Cebu and Davao are not priced as Metro Manila. The Philippines market notes are the property context. They do not state rents.

Companies register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Foreign Investment Negative List is the instrument that reserves some activities and caps foreign equity in others. The list in force is the one that applies. A percentage from an old copy is not.

Hiring a foreign national adds a labour and immigration permission to the company registration. A BPO floor and a small professional firm do not have the same licence path.

Ninoy Aquino International Airport is the main international gate and is inside the metro it serves. Cebu and Clark are other gates. Road congestion is the daily infrastructure fact. A rail project that is not carrying passengers is not the present commute.

Inter-island travel is by air or ferry. A job in Manila and a family in Cebu is a flight, not a suburb.