pmvt

Hi all, I'm Pete. British citizen currently planning a trip to the Dapitan City area of the Philippines, to meet up with my Filipino girlfriend. Unfortunately, her English is limited, so I thought i'd try asking for advice here.

Can anyone recommend a basic hotel in the area, equivalent of a UK Travel Lodge or similar? My girlfriend has provided details of one, but it's always handy if someone can recommend a place.

Since i work online, can anybody recommend any internet packages i can purchase? i.e. a dongle or something i can plug into my laptop.

If the trip goes how i want, then my intention is to remain in the Philippines for some time, so can anyone recommend an estate agent in the area for long term rentals, and sales?

Regarding marrying a Filipino, is the process pretty straight forward? Is there anything that i should be aware of, that i may not encounter Until i get to the Philippines?

Finally, can anyone recommend any places in the area where i might bump into fellow Brits?

Any information will be much appreciated.

Many thanks

Pete

spouse of scouse

Hi there Pete, welcome to BE

We have a Philippines forum with some lovely expats living there, I'm sure they'll help you out with your questions Philippines - British Expats

As a new member could you please have a look at the BE site rules when you get a minute, and if you have any site related problems you can contact one of our friendly moderators. Their names are in the lower right hand corner of each forum in bold font.

Best of luck with your trip, I hope you and your girlfriend have a wonderful time together.

Rete

Good morning, Pete

I see that you became a member of BE in 2015 and posted here in the Welcome Inn about marrying your US citizen girlfriend and immigrating to America.

I guess that did not pan out and now you are about to embark on a potential marriage journey with a young lady in the Philippines. http://britishexpats.com/forum/welco...friend-856769/

As SOS stated, please wander over to the Philippines forum and ask about places to stay while visiting your new friend.

Good luck.

Jerseygirl

Please note the Welcome In is purely for new members to introduce themselves. As you are not a new member I will move your post over to our Philippines forum.

quiltman

Hi Pete, welcome to BE Philippines.
Re hotels - are you talking about Dapitan City in Mindanao, or the Dapitan area of Manila? In either case just look on Trip Advisor.
Re internet packages. If not using any free wifi you can buy portable wifi hubs for arouns £10. I use the SMART one and you just load the SIM with credit, tell the network its data then log your laptop onto the network. works quite well , if a little slow at times! An open network one is a little more expensive but probably worth it if you intend travelling around.

Re marriage in Philippines - generally the answer is don't do it! Divorce is illegal here and you'll likely end up having the family asking you for money etc. There are plenty of threads here - look for something like "getting married in Philppines" in the search box at the top of this page.It's fairly straightforward if you have all your ducks in a row but many expats go to hong kong to get married. Having said that, there are many expats who are quite happily married here - not me, I'm married to my English wife of 49 years. Whoops! Of course I'm happliy married so she tells me!
Once married, you'll be eligible for your wife to sponsor you for a 13A visa and after a probationary one year she can apply for this to be converted to a permanent 13 visa.
Any other questions you have, just post here and we'll be pleased to help.

quiltman

Here's a start: http://britishexpats.com/forum/searc...archid=9543494

Gazza-d

Divorce is not illegal in the Philippines, a divorce from your home country is completely acceptable to the Philippines authority.

quiltman

Even though you can get divorced elsewhere and if recognised in that country then it is recognised here yes. However, even if you get a divorce elsewhere, the Filipina is still considered married here and cannot get married again without a recognition from the courts here that the divorce to a foreigner is approved. Here's the law;
https://www.hg.org/article.asp?id=20090

Stokkevn

Things must have changed in the last 7 years, when I went for my 13a, they said that I could not have one as my wife had divorced in the UK and they did not accept divorce. Or maybe that was just said to encourage the contents of my wallet into their pocket.

Gazza-d

It all depends on who divorces who. If the lady divorces then it's not recognized in the Philippines. If the foreign husband divorces and the divorce is lodged in the Philippines then the divorce is recognized and the lady is free to marry again. Even if the lady divorces she can still remarry outside the Philippines but just don't take the new husband home to meet the family.

Stokkevn

Sounds like the Missus and I have got everything 100% wrong. She divorced her UK husband in UK. I got divorced from two wives ( UK and Norway ). We both got a certificate of No Impedance from UK ( which looking at the certificate now it is evident that they did not know of my marriage/divorce from my Norwegian wife ), married in Capiz and now live here.

Gazza-d

In theory your wife could go to prison for adultery and you deported and black listed. But hay, welcome to the Philippines.

Stokkevn

Thanks for your reply, it started on a high note but went down hill from there.

Gazza-d

If her previous husband was filipino I'd be more worried. Like all laws in the Philippines unlikely to be acted apon.

pmvt

Thanks for all your comments, and rest assured, although your comments regarding divorce are educational, i'm not even married yet, so, i'm kind of in the honeymoon frame of mind... :-)