I'm considering moving with my partner to the Philippines to start a business and open an office in the CBD Makiti city. I assume I will be hiring 3-5 locals if that makes a difference.

Both of us are English and will require visas. I have a few questions.

1) are there any business visas available or how do they work? Can my partner stay on this visa despite not working with me. She plans to study online or do some training in skills in PL.

2) where can I live in high comfort close to CBD. I ideally would like to be close to as possible to work. I would like a modern fully or semi furnished house/apartment.

I would pay £1200+ for a 2-3 bed I guess.

What is best place to look online at places to rent? From my brief searching it seems you can pay as much or as little as you like for any kind of place.

3) how safe is it to walk around Makiti for me or my partner?

4) are there any western hospitals there? Or if you get sick you should look to go to Singapore or Hk?


5) can you get reliable internet at home and office?

6) can I get any tv station (Sky) on TV?


I probably have loads of more questions and am doing my own research but the advice on the forum here just seems so much more helpful than various blogs etc...

Plenty of others will be along to offer advice , but I'll start the ball rolling.
you say you are both English?
If so then you CANNOT own a business here. you can own 40% but the remaining 60% has to be owned by Filippinos. Strangely though, the bank account can be run by you.
There are various visas available - such as Alien Employment visa or quota visas but none negate the ownership rules. Neither can you ,as a foreigner, own land. you can buy a condo , or a lease on a house or lot but currently that's it. They are looking at this to maybe change this law , but Hey ho , this is the Philippines so don't hold your breath!

I live in Cebu so cannot offer any advice on living costs/areas etc in the Manila area - many others will , i'm sure.

Depending on your age you can get a retirement visa that enables you (plus dependents) to live, work and invest in PH however you will still require a Filipino partner you can trust if you want to start a business.

1.2K (I assume GBP) would get you a unfurnished or furnished property in Makati it depends on the quality. An office in CBD say 100 Sqm will cost at least 100K a month depending on the quality. Realistically for that budget you are looking at older buildings.

It is as safe to walk around as any other city in the World if you take the necessary precautions. It is also as polluted, crowded and full of traffic like any other city.

It is also no longer the main area for business as it has been replaced by Global City which is more modern, cleaner, greener and home for ex-pats and wealthy locals as it has the high end condos, high end shops, St. Luke's Medical Center (rated 4th best hospital in the World) and extremely safe day or night. A new high end furnished condo will set you back 60-120K a month in Global City before you factor in utility charges which can be steep.

Real estate agents get a bad press all over the World and the same can apply in PH plus there are no official figures on property prices or transactions and most property is found by word of mouth so a skill and honest agent is a must.

High speed internet and cable TV is available at a cost.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that PH is a low cost 3rd World country as it is not. If you want a Western life style be prepared to pay for it. If you try to do anything without a local partner be prepared for high cost, long delays or worse. I used a local consultancy to obtain a visa and apartment which saves a lot of time and money but others may like to go it alone.

I am sure you will have a lot of questions but you also need to do a lot of research. PH is not as easy as SG or HK to navigate -)

It's not quiet true that as a foreigner you can't own a business 100% but the circumstances are very strict. From memory you need to employ 10+ filipinos, be 100% export and probably be based in a designated export zone. I think the visa is about $11,000 and any dependant s would have to run the normal visit visa route.

I forgot about the Special Export Zones rules!
The OP did say he was thinking of employing 5/6 locals so would not currently meet the criteria - plus he doesn't say what type of business he is thinking of.

Let's hope he does his research before hopping on a plane!
We've retired here to end our days with our sons and seeing all the hoops they had to jump through to set up their company here , I'm glad I have no intention of ever working here - just enjoying our twilight days.

You have not stated how long you wish to base yourself from here. personally I would rather flush money down the toilet than do business here again. It will take a long time to get ROI and local staffing often causes more problems than solutions. There is a very good reason why the vast majority of foreign business goes elsewhere in ASIA than here and if here it is in the very rareified atmosphere of a PEZA zone. As with all investments onl spend what you can afford to lose.

That reminds me of the saying that if you want to make a million in the Philippines start with 2 million.

Excellent advise so far, a question though, have you both spent any significant time in the Philippines, without local knowledge, that CAN NOT be gleaned from forums, money can evaporate fast. And i agree, without a local partner, or Pinay wife, just come on vacation.

Not there full time yet although I intend to retire in the Phils in a few years time. Yes I have a Pinoy wife but we are just frequent visitor at the moment. It is my impression that foriegners can make it in thePhilippines in the short term, not sure about the longhaul though. The important thing though is that you need to find a niche and offer something that is not easy or is too expensive for the locals to copy, because if thay can compete you will be swamped and they can work far cheaper than the average foriegner. Something you must bare in mind is that the Philippines is very zenaphobic and doesn't want foriegner to run businesses in the same way they don't want you to own land.

Around Greenbelt is a good location. I'm having difficulty finding an agent for the exact properties I would like.

Perfectly. Didn't have a single problem in 18 months.

Makati Med is exceptionally good. Dr Chan is the man, he's the doctor for the US Embassy staff.


Yes.

What channels/programme types are you looking for? I run SKY through my laptop connected to an HD TV, using a UK VPN, for the football.

Makati is a very cosmopolitan city and there are a lot of condominium units furnished or not that you can rent with the budget you mentioned. There’s cable TV and internet. I wouldn’t worry about doctors and hospitals, they’ve got some of the best in the world. It’s also quite safe to walk around Makati except for some sleazy areas which are almost out of the main business and commercial sectors. As for visas, I’d check the official website of the Philippine travel bureau.

I know you can get a business visa from the Philippines. Am not too sure about your partner though (if she’s a business partner, maybe.) Check out the official website of the foreign office or Bureau of Immigration.