Remster76

Hi, I am wanting to travel back with my wife in may and work in Philippines, Makati City is the closest place to work so im hoping to find work there. I know its not going to be easy and I have money to survive for 1 year inc rent food bills ect. Im 38 years old from England with lots of sales exp and management exp. I have thought about opening a business of some kind but would prefer to work in a company.

Any advise would be greatly welcomed.
Thanks

Stokkevn

If you are going to open a company, there are a few things to look out for:-

1. Check to see if the company business base is allowed to be owned by a foreigner ( many company types are not allowed to be owned by foreigners )
2. Ensure that YOU supervise all transactions both incoming and outgoing.
3. Do not employ family members
4. Do not give credit, operate purely on a COD basis or 50% up front.
5. Remember it is your business, not a loan bank for the family.
6. Be prepared to be there yourself 100% of the time.

Sorry some comments sound a bit cruel, but I am sure there are others on this site that will concur with them.

If you work for a local company, make sure the work visa is in order, they are notoriously bad at saying "it is in order" when actually they have done nothing and it will be you that is deported.

quiltman

Agree entirely with Stokkevn. Finding a job is likely to be the hardest part!
Watch out for the work permit point.Salaries here are very low compared to UK , even for managerial level.
Is your wife a Filipina? What kind of business are you looking at?
People can then offer even more advice as to whether you have a chance.
sorry to be negative but here things are set up to disadvantage Foreigners getting involved in business - with very limited exceptions.

Gazza-d

The first thing to consider is in general the Philippines doesn't want you there running a business. Any business apart from a few exceptions must be 60% filipino owned. The usual way around this is for the business to be in the wifes name. But this begs the question, can you legally work for her, you would still need a work permit which to obtain the business owner needs to prove that your skills can not be obtained locally.

I'm not sure if the forum allows this but here is a link to a blog concerning running a business in the Philippines.

Running A Business in the Philippines

Remster76

Thanks for the good advise i will take that onboard :-)

Remster76

yes shes filipina, I have bought a house there and the bottom floor is huge and was used as a shop, we had thought about making 1/3rd of it as a convience store and 2/3rds as a cloths shop where u buy 350 pieces of clothing for 5-7k pesos. So that will keep my wife busy and i can find work and bring in extra income, im aware of the salaries and i wont be thinking oh i should be getting paid this and that the cost of living there doesnt require me to be earing what i was here in uk. If we open the shop we can employ a filipino that way im giving something back to the community :-)

Remster76

thanks for your advise i will look at the link you provided im sure it will help me alot :-) I read somewhere that philippines is one of the worst places to start a new business... The challenge begins!

mikemike

As you are married, you can apply for a 13a visa this entitles you to work.

Once you have that there are many call centers and BPO businesses in Makati who will take a serious look at a 13a native English speaker.

You can complete the 13a visa process through the Philippines embassy, faster than doing it from Manila

Gazza-d

You would need to gain the 13a before entering the Philippines as one of the requirement is financial support. Once in the Philippines and you need a job you won't be able to fulfil this requiremnet.

harryacay

i am a local from the Philippines and currently working as a Project Manager focusing on Business Management at JPMorgan Chase & Co. we have a couple of Job openings that you might be interested to apply on. Feel free to send me your CV/Resume at <snip>

ANDY161

Be very careful about starting a business in Phil, do your market research, many expats have failed.
Andy

ANDY161

Mr Acay,
I am a British Expat living in Davao. I am trying to help my sister-in-law gain work in Banking. She is an honours graduate with a Business Admin degree with a years work experience in accounts data recording. Would have any contacts in Manila? Excuse me for asking.
Sincerely
Mr Andrew Toy

mikemike

Has she logged on to 'Job street' plenty of opportunities to apply for banking jobs there

ANDY161

Thanks will check it out