Topic: I am currently country shopping. What are some good ones? (Read 8002 times)

I spend a few months in Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, and Philippines throughout the year.  I love the fact you can travel around so easily and cheaply.  For about a year I rented a place in Jomtien Beach (15 minutes south of Pattaya, which is 1.5 hours south of Bangkok)..   It was only $200/month and 10 minute walk to the beach.  I've also rented a 6 bedroom home in Saigon in Phu My Hung (District 7)... which is like little Korea in Saigon... that was $1500/month.  This area is very nice and not as crowded as other parts of Saigon/HCMC.  You can get brand new 2 bed room condos for like $1k/month.   It's only 20 minutes south of the District 1 HCMC where all the action is.  I tend to live in quieter places, but near the main downtown areas.  I liked Philippines, but only enough to visit.   The inefficiency that exist there just drove me crazy.  The nature is amazing,and the people are fun and friendly.  Food is bad.  Almost the opposite of that is Hong Kong where things are smart and fast, but it's a very expensive place to live compared to surrounding countries.  Good place if you're ambitious - like maybe starting a bitcoin business.

It's really nice to move around and if you're able to do it, I highly recommend it, at least for awhile.  I'd definitely do that before committing to any particular country because you really need to live there for a bit to see if it fits you. 

Mumbai being the financial centre is one the most expensive cities in India.

I found it more efficient to be very sensitive to their emotions when I want to make a "suggestion". This applies even when making a suggestion to your gf. Don't think you can command her item after item. You will have to prioritize your "suggestions" and dole them out infrequently.

The lower class filipinos are all about their emotions and feelings. This is a roller coaster ride from a foreigner perspective. The filipinos don't view time, consistency, efficiency, planning, etc.. the way we do. There is a saying in visayan, "depende sa hangin" it means "go with the direction of the wind".

I am curious to hear your other feedback even if you disagree with me. Some of my comments didn't reflect the fact that I do see diversity of attitudes and people here. And I am already so adjusted that none of it bothers me any more. But for the first time foreigner, I think they will pull their hair out with frustration if they get involved in anything serious (investment or relationship). Those who are not bothered by anything, do best here.

I once asked a filipino how they can tolerate their neighbor blasting the music so loud through all hours of the day and night, and they couldn't explain it to me. They just don't have the same sense of ownership of space, consistency, etc..

This comes from native cultures I think, where no one owned any space. It was all shared and come what may every day.

Edit: I forgot to mention that most public rest rooms (CRs) don't have toilet paper, not even in the malls. The method here is to use your hand and the water in the toilet bowl to clean your anus. You rub your hand enough times to remove the smell even there is often no soap. Most foreigners will panic when they need release their bowl movement. I am adjusted to this already, so it means I am not a westerner any more.

Edit#2: Went jogging tonight at 11pm and remembered have to carry a stick to protect against all the stray dogs roaming.

Bring a filipino friend to do the complaining. That will work, unless your friend does not agree with you. I'll comment on the other points tomorrow, I'm on a tablet evenings.

Watching the videos is more instructive than looking at the photos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_apH0ZDnXK0

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x183pbl_czarina-struts-her-stuff-beautiful-verified-single-pinays-asian-dating-philippines-bebotsonly_lifestyle

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x176yxm_bebotsonly-making-friends-with-beautiful-pinays-marie-and-francesca-pt-1-angeles-city-philippines_lifestyle

You will clearly see that the girls are not in tune with you, the typical westerner. They aren't even able to answer his questions. The only thing they are interested in is singing, dancing, shopping, eating, and joking. Watch and see for yourself.

You can see a difference in the one studying to be an architect:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16zcvk_angelica-s-intro-meet-real-beautiful-cutest-single-pinay-girls-angeles-city-philippines-bebotsonly_lifestyle

This video is a very accurate explanation of filipino culture:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x170a4z_filipino-cultural-terms-part-2-tampo-explained-beautiful-pretty-single-pinay-babe-bebotsonly_lifestyle

When a filipina is angry at you, she won't talk to you. She will not tell you why. She will not argue with you. She will not talk it out. She will avoid you. You can't force her to talk. You might as well just go do something else and just give up, because you can't get her to talk. Forget it. Learn the filipino concept of "move on".

And for example, if you make a big complaint to the receptionists in the hotel, all the workers in the hotel will ignore you. The louder and more persistent you are, the more they will ignore you.

It can reach the point where no one is around when you are around. They will actively go hide when you come around.

Even if your complaint was justified.

Be very, very sweet and soft with your words when you complain. You are walking on egg shell emotions.

Good to have a discussion with someone over here, so we can compare our perspectives, which mostly seem to agree. Just a few clarifications I want to make.


As far as I know, the solid concrete was not destroyed any where by the wind. Only the water surge destroyed some concrete in the low lying areas along the coastline. If you build your house out of solid concrete with a concrete roof, then put 3/4 marine plywood over your windows during a typhoon (as we do in New Orleans where I was born), and build on high ground away from any potential flash flooding, then your house will be always fine.

Mindanao rarely gets a typhoon, although we got Pablo last year which was a "once in 20 years" event.


I met members of the Davao Death Squad back before it became international and national news item. They used to openly carry their pistols and they explained to me that the local barangay officials will report on who is doing petty crime, especially drug users and pushers. Then those offenders will be warned 3 times over a period of weeks or months. Many end up in other cities around Mindanao if they can't reform themselves, because they will be killed if they stay in Davao past the 3rd warning if they have not reformed.

Recently a lady instructor from our gym was mugged and murdered in an alleyway by several drug addicts in downtown Davao. The offenders were caught, killed, and stacked back at the alleyway with a note, "criminals come to Davao to die".

However, Manila and the international press are now hounding Mayor Duturte and so now I no longer see dead boys along the curb. And by watching TV Patrol, it appears to me that big money from Manila is starting to move into Davao and he is beginning to lose control. I always expected this would happen eventually. Nevertheless for the time being Davao is one of the safest, yet we are paying for this with police and Task Force Davao (Army) checkpoints every where. I get tired of seeing machine guns and being watched always. I smile and I understand the necessity, but it feels to me as though this will backfire on those of us who want to survive the coming global hunt for capital (net worth tax and 71% tax recently announced by the IMF).

I am seriously thinking I need to move to some place more sparsely populated.

Duturte believes in a police state. I appreciate him and I understand him, but I don't think he understands how this can all go awry. And how the powers-that-be can misuse his police apparatus.


I lived there for a while. It is very up and down terrain and the flat portions of the small valley are already taken. I couldn't even find a functioning hot tub in that cold climate! The track oval was muddy.

Typical sad state of infrastructure in Philippines. It isn't important to the locals, thus it isn't a priority.

Also Baguio is becoming very polluted with vehicle exhaust fumes since it is an upland valley.

There are similar upland valleys (two I know of) here around Davao, but they are too far to day-trip and development, internet, electricity, theft remain a problem. Also the land rights are very problemmatic. Every foreigner I've know to build in the upland loses their investment to locals. Rich locals can sometimes manage it.


The local suppliers sell the China versions which were ripped off from Morningstar. I buy the originals:

http://windsun.com

But my balikbayan box still hasn't arrived after 2+ months. Also the balikbayan boxes are $55 - $75. I can't find $40 to Mindanao from Bellingham, WA where my mom is.

Readers note that although you are not charged import duties on things you hide in these boxes, this is illegal and your items could disappear or be taxed. And if you do it the legal way and declare and pay import taxes, then typically the taxes are 50 - 200% of the value of the item. This is why most stuff is sourced from China.


I had Globe in Cebu right next to the Insular Waterfront Hotel and it sucked. Was often offline.

I had Globe and Sky Cable internet (two lines) in Bago Aplaya, Davao over the years, and the lines were often offline. The Globe started to improve in 2012.

Recently I obtained Globe in the skyline area of Davao, and so far it is excellent.

I hear PLDT has the best quality because they own the only line going directly to western countries. Globe bounces around through Singapore and Japan, thus high latency and often down.

But PLDT is extremely difficult to get. You go on a waiting list.


The fires were burning on Roxas Blvd (Manila Bay) when I arrived in 1990. I guess Mayor Lim outlawed that.

It happens every where in the rest of the country and every afternoon.

Enjoy your clothes smelling like a barbacue daily. Although I am exaggerating and typically it isn't a serious problem for me. Yet some of my foreigner friends complain a lot.


Hahaha.  

It doesn't matter how many times you give an instruction to a typical (not upper class) filipino in the provinces, they will still do it the way they grew up doing it.

For example, tell them not to stand on the toilet and not to wear their slippers in the bathroom ("CR" for comfort room), and you will pull your hair out because they will continue doing it. For filipinos, the bathroom door is always closed and it is supposed to be dirty and smell bad.


Yeah I noticed those special local brews in the SM mall grocery store recently.

I don't drink any more also, so haven't tried them.

But then no longer cheap. Still cheaper than the imported brews.


I agree that Palawan and other far flung places are interesting and beautiful. But the travel is arduous just for some sand and sun. We have beautiful scenery in the western world and the infrastructure and travel is much more pleasant. I am reminded of the title of a book about traveling to Philippines for the girls, A Long Way to Go for A Date.

Also Philippines will in the coming decades be overrun by Chinese and Koreans, thus it will no longer be as friendly to European and American men. These north east asians like exclusivity. Thus we white guys will not be welcomed in the establishments and resorts.

The allure of Boracay (and also Angeles City and Puerto Galera) is the nightlife. For me, the bar scene gets boring after a about a week or two. I long past my wild youthful days in Olongapo. If I go, I just enjoy taking in the scenery. These bar workers are the ladies who were not pretty enough to attract a rich husband. They look nice in bikinis in black lighting, but don't open your eyes in the morning and view their faces.  

There are a few attractive ones, but then their attitudes are the reason they are not happily married.

Basic problem around these areas, is the people have been corrupted by money, even if they don't work in the bar.

You need to go far from where any foreigners are, if you want to find the original Philippines.


I posted about this today.


I am happy to see we agree on this.

Most of the wealthier people here have houses made from poured cement. The walls are a solid 6 inches thick. (Or more.) Those kinds of houses don't go down easily.

But then, a typhoon of the magnitude that hit recently destroyed everything. The main cities, the center, Metro Manila, Makati ... those were hardly affected.


The current mayor of Davao is an old classmate of my dad. That mayor makes sure there is no petty crime in his city. Even the Ampatuans (the ones responsible for the massacre in Maguindanao) don't have any power in Davao, despite the vicinity.

How the crime situation is handled in Davao is up for debate. The criminals simply do not exist. Good place for you guys with long noses and fair skin color (because, yes, you look like dollars.)
Have you tried Baguio? One bitcoiner is staying there. I've been there several times, but never stayed longer than a month. It's considered a Filipino vacation place to Filipinos who do not live there, because of the colder weather.

It's also about 4 hours away from the 3rd tallest mountain in the country, Mt. Pulag. If you like mountain climbing.


You'll have to import the stuff you really want. I get my stuff from Amazon, or other places, wait for a relative to come home, the box rides with them. Or you can have it shipped here for $40 a "balikbayan" box. Fill up the box first. My brother does that all the time for all his imported books and toys.

Also, there are specialized shops that sell high-end inverters. Those don't break, those are used by the local cell phone companies for their cell-sites. I managed to get one. What you want to be looking for are pure-sine wave inverters. Not the cheap square wave ones.


The bigger cities would have the better internets. PLDT and Globe have high speed links. Expensive though.


That's prohibited within Metro Manila. Outside, or in the provinces, it happens.

And when they try to, they still look like they can't think.


A few have come up with all-hops beer. Look for it. Both San Miguel and Asia Brewery have it. One of them is called "Manila Beer" I think. I don't drink as much as I used to anymore, so I'm actually out of the loop. My dad has a friend who used to work as a brew master, tasting beer all day.


I'm not talking about Boracay. I'm talking about the other 7000 islands. Palawan. Coron. Batangas. Anilao. Then there are hundreds even I do not know about, they are just there, literally virgin beaches.

The last time I went to Boracay (and I live in this country okay) was more than 20 years ago. I've been to at least 200 hundred other places. I can't remember them all.

Boracay was probably the best beach, 20 years ago. I can't say the same now, about the beach itself. I'm not talking about the night life though, as that one has changed dramatically since.


Somehow, the ones who want to hide their money find a way to do it. Now, we're in the bitcoin forum, so ... ... ...


Yup! More than anything, it's the people.

Check out the Isle of Man.

• No capital gains tax
• No wealth tax
• Dividends and interest payments are treated as income
• Income tax is 10% on the first GBP10,500 of taxable income and 20% on the remainder

In short, come to the Philippines for the friendships and the raw naturalness, or don't come. There isn't much here other than that. Really. Everything else is sub-par from a modern westerner's perspective.


The flooding and traffic in Manila are horrendous and very big drag on daily life.

The power outages in Mindanao in 2013 outside of Davao (which never has them) was so bad that I stopped going to my mountain house.

So none of the above is affecting me much. To me the above list does not reflect the true problems from a westerners' perspective.

My problems here are (some are over-generalizations and not true in all cases):

a. I can't be a citizen, thus I can't own land nor do business as a 100% owner (but I hope it stays this way!)

b. There is no grass field nor oval in a cold climate nearby where I can do my sports at the level I could in a non-tropical climate.

c. I can't buy many of things I want to buy, such as there are no gold and silver coin dealers. No ASIC sales. Can't buy Mexican food. Can't buy electronics I need such as inverter that isn't China made junk that breaks after 36 hours.

d. Prepared food choice really sucks. It is much better in Manila, but then you face all the serious daily problems I listed above.

e. Before I could never get decent internet connection. I finally have one since Oct 26.

f. Noise pollution. A karaoke so loud you can't work or sleep. A male rooster so loud you can work or sleep.

g. Smoke pollution. Filipinos burn the trash in piles every day, so there is smoke all over in evenings.

h. Mosquitos. Dengue (had it 2X already). All sorts of other infections. I nearly died May 2012. The people are always coughing and always sick, because they don't eat properly and they live like rats and sardines so the infections spread.

i. People don't think. You will wonder if they have a brain stem. For example, they will walk right in front of your oncoming car and if you hit them, you will be the one with a huge problem. They drive on the wrong side of the road. They make U-turn to the left from the rightmost lane on a 4 lane highway cutting you off. You hit them, you as a foreigner will be pay for everything. They drive crazy especially the motorcycles and if you hit them even it was their fault, you will pay all. They signal right then turn left!!! They brake from a full speed to a full stop in the middle of the highway without pulling off the road. I am entirely adjusted to this now, so it doesn't bother me really.

j. They are expert at stealth theft.

k. Lack of sincerity or feeling like you are just a dollar bill. If you have a party, they will leave as soon as they can put all the food in their pockets to take home.

l. Heat and humidity, although this doesn't bother me any more because I am adjusted, I use airconditioning such as while driving, and I find places to exercise in aircoin and/or on the mountain early morning or evening.


Knowing the local language puts you on the inside track. You are now seen less as a dollar bill and more as a friend. Especially if you smile and joke a lot.

The cheapest most horrible beer in my opinion. Almost no hops, barley, all sugar.

We have better beaches in Florida, and 100s of kilometers compared to the 10km strip in Boracay.

Bank secrecy is already gone. The IRS has an agreement and can see all they want. FATCA compliance is coming.

===============

What I love here is that I can always find someone to joke with and talk to. Filipinos love to make new friends and they love to eat. So offer food and you have new friends.

Filipinos are not overly serious. They are always ignoring any problem and smiling, finding something fun to do even as simple as singing or joking.

The people here are natural. They eat the entire fish, including the skin, head, and eyeball. They eat the baby chicken in the egg including the feathers. People here always telling me don't eat fast food too often and eat more vegetables and fresh fish. The fruit is awesome and fresh.

I have many friends. I probably exceeded the Dunbar number limit.

I am not totally ignored here in public as I would be in the USA. Here I am special (even if it comes with certain downsides such as being a walking dollar bill). It isn't only money, I am special because I have a long nose, am thought to be a more stable providers, etc..

Yes the bebots. But also the boys too for pickup basketball games, clowning around.

I love to see children every where.

I love to see people who are not all the same, at different financial levels. I love to see people taking a shower at the side of the road, etc.

I don't get bored with the eye candy. In the USA, I feel like everything is a xerox stripmall and the people are all hiding inside their cars, homes, and facades in public.

So it is really about the people.

1 & 3 mostly relates to the autonomous region, yes? From what I've read, it sounds like a band of rapists and murderous thugs pretending to be legitimate, popular Islamic rebels, while the communist thugs seem more interested in terrorizing locals and operating like a retarded "agricultural mafia."
2 is worrying.... I'd call that the tradeoff for cheaper property, where city properties in PH are about on par with rural property prices in the US. I'm not sure there's much way to deal with that outside of considering houses disposable.
4 isn't much off what I pay now (~$.14-.18 after taxes and fees [progressive pricing, so you pay more per KWh as you use more]), and I could take a picture of our twig-like utility poles literally supported by trees in some cases so you can get an idea on how often our power's out.
5 - I have absolutely no idea how to deal with a volcano. I've never experienced anything like a volcano eruption.
6 - This may be a concern. Are you talking about bribery/"tips" kind of graft, or traitorous officers working on salary for rebel organizations or crime cartels?

At least worth a visit, I think. Could be fun. Maybe starting in a couple years, spend the next 5 years visiting one or two countries each year for a couple months each. At the end of the five year shopping period, pick out a place to live. I'd normally refuse to ever budget that kind of luxury, but if I can call it "country-shopping," could work out in my mind. Airfare's crazy-cheap anymore... $1,600 round-trip per person Detroit-Davao. For three, that's about a $5k expense. Assuming a decent furnished house in Davao @ 50K PHP/mo (factoring in a decent markup for the short contract), that's another $2.2K. Food, visa extension, land travel, and whatnots... That's about a $10k 2-month vacation as I see it, and so long as it has a decent Internet connection, I'd be generating the same income as at home.

It'd be cheaper to do one-month stays so I don't have to go through tourist visa extensions, package them all up into one year-long vacation when daughter's old enough to really appreciate it. Maybe get a group of Bitcoiners together and go patronize the existing BTC-accepting businesses there. For the whole year, I'd guess costs for a year-long potential-expat globe-trot to twelve different countries (excluding most of Westernized Europe) would be around $40k per person if managed well, including coach+ airfare (low-grade airfare for cross-ocean flights would suck), boarding in a "normal" house, a local or few to hang out with, and food. With enough publicity, maybe some towns would even put us up for free for the chance at a basket full of entrepreneurial expats. Go from US to PH, to Taiwan, to Goa, to Greece, to Slovakia, to Czech Republic, to Italy, to Uruguay, to Peru, to Ecuador, to Panama, to Belize, then back to the US to see whose house was looted while gone. I'll go ahead and make some sheets to see retail costs, potential travel hiccups, and how many weeks that involves sitting on a plane. Some of those may need to be dumped just because it's the only country with a particular language (which is good. Maybe we can fit in more tourist-y areas between intercontinental flights). Maybe it could turn into a "thing," though Idunno if having a group of Americans walking around in some of these places is a good idea. We could call it the White Flight!

If Bitcoin ever became widely accepted by that time, international travel would be a frictionless dreamland. Just bring a laminated piece of paper with the QR code of an encrypted wallet... head to place being stayed at, open wallet, send walk-around money to phone app. Traveling with a group, no need to worry about needing a short-notice loan if there's something you find in town.

But what about european contries?

The bebots?

http://www.bebotsonly.com/

Hmmm... There is something here. I don't know what it could be. I keep reminding everyone else about the following:

1. political instability
2. typhoons (there's a storm every year, not just this year.)
3. rebels
4. power outages (and electric rates above $0.20+ per kwh)
5. volcanos (rare, but happened a few times already.)
6. corrupt policemen, corrupt traffic enforcers, corrupt government officials. (PNoy is trying to get rid of them. He will fail.)

You can just look up history and see for yourself. It's not like the country can hide the truth that goes on. Every other blog has something, and even the locals have their own blogs, facebooks, tweets, etc.

However, some people manage to find what they want here, and stay.

I was born here, so ... I'm quite biased. But AnonyMint, Tagbond, and a bunch of others ... Why did they stay here?

Some of the good points about staying here:

1. Language. Almost everyone understands English. But you would do better if you learned Tagalog or Cebuano, or whatever dialect of whatever place you will stay in.
2. The best beer? San Miguel?
3. The best beaches? Boracay. And there are 100 others that are hidden and not mentioned in any book.
4. Culture. Some of these provinces have buildings really old, usually churches.
5. If you open a foreign currency account, no one can touch it, or look at it. Not even the Senate over ruled during the ousting of the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Of course, you'd do a lot better to just keep your stash in bitcoins.
6. If you become a citizen, you can buy full auto guns. If you're into that thing. (Even if you don't become a citizen, there are ways to get them, but I'll leave that for you to discover when you arrive here.)

Maybe there's something else, but I can't think of it.

Re-read the prior post, I added a link for you:

http://tdvpassports.com/

Philippines is not the right place, as you can't get citizenship here (unless you are Chinese and know how to work the system and deal with extortion because your fellow Chinese own the government).

Cambodia is an option for citizenship, but I don't trust it. I think they will reneg on it later.

Africa just seems so volatile and dangerous, although I've never been there.

I think Central or South America is more viable. I am assuming you are an American, because you mention by implication the US military. I agree with you, I am American and I don't like paying for that. As well, really bad sh8t is coming to the USA.

Note violence can be very high in latin american countries, so I would seek out low population density and more european mix, such as Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, or Paraguay.

The Phillipines are getting a lot of mention in the thread and I hadn't previously considered it (I haven't looked at South America at all, though, not because of any particular reservations, but because Africa and eastern Europe seemed most reasonable). I have no interest in women (other than "wife"). The widespread corruption is actually why I was considering South Africa. I'd love to be accepted as a tax-paying person in a foreign country so long as the up-front fees are low. I love the start the US has given me, but I really just don't want to live here. I don't want to have to bribe people to be accepted as an equal citizen in another country, but I'll do it if it gets me out of the major moral dilemma I'm in. All of my reservations toward paying taxes immediately disappear so long as the military is defensive rather than murderous, but most countries have a pretty grim attitude toward potential immigrants.

All I want is a quiet place where I can be eccentric online, earn my money there, not feel ashamed because of where I live, and be a complete recluse "in public." AFAIK, nobody offers citizenship just because a potential emigrant has moral qualms with the government insisting ownership over where they live. Everyone says "well, if you don't like the US, just move," but it's so much harder to do than say.

I'll look into some of the S.American countries you mentioned.

There is a community in Alcoy, Cebu of foreigners. Maybe they can help out. I had forgotten about this:

http://www.alternativephilippines.de/references.htm

Same here! I am also searching for a warm place for the winter at least and maybe even longer. And I already considered almost all the places mentioned in this thread here.

I would definitely like to have some fellow Bitcoin people around me and also hire some local developers.

Maybe we can also find a group of people who would like to move to the same place or nearby. Maybe renting out a villa in Thailand or caribbean together and creating a BTC hub.

Most beautiful would be a city with a nice beach and mountains behind. Somewhere between half a million and 4 million inhabitants. Nice infrastructure, fast internet, no or few/simple taxes, simple laws and friendly people. English speaking is a plus but I would also like to pick-up a new language.

Man I am thinking you want Argentina. Beef and cheese galore. Wide open spaces, farms, mountains, beaches and a Mediterranean (Californian) climate. You can bribe your way to what you want. The bureaucracy is slower than watching paint dry, so avoid it as much as possible.

You can get citizenship in Brazil or Paraguay. Then you are free to live in Argentina. Paraguay might have the best tax arrangement.

Why Asia? For the women?

Colombia is loaded with sexy women.

That fake marriage thing is asking for trouble. I used to have complex fantasies like that, I guess that is normal when young. As you get older, experience will beat you down and you will realize K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid).

Complex arrangements with people never work out. People are very, very unpredictable. Don't learn the hard way.

http://tdvpassports.com/

I'm 22. I don't think I'd qualify for a retirement visa quite yet. Is citizenship possible? I'd certainly be happy to fully renounce my US citizenship if I like the place after looking around, but I'm under the belief that that's impossible unless you're a citizen somewhere else. If nothing else, I'd be fine taking a "come and take it" stance, waiting for extradition from a country I don't want to be in so it can demand taxes I'd refuse to pay, anyway. I'd even be fine bribing the official overseeing my case a few thousand $ per year as necessary (Idunno how common corruption/bribes are there).

I can live with the education system. I prepared a decent home-schooling curriculum about a year ago (up to grade 6, I believe) and just need to fill out the actual lesson plans. If anything's missed, it's easy enough for me to fill in. I already have all the grade milestones I expect daughter to achieve.

I wasn't actually expecting much interaction at all with the fake family -- maybe $100 a month to both the husband and wife to leave us alone? A total annual cost for all this being <$5000, I think, would be quite reasonable to not have to support the US government (and be subject to its laws). That VAT seems quite extreme, but I can earn a fair amount without needing supplies (though if there's any kind of skilled worker visa, I certainly wouldn't meet their demands). In the US, I don't actually pay any taxes due to the deductions... Idunno how feasible that'd be in the Phillipines, though so long as they don't have an "adventurous" military force, I have no qualms paying it.

Thanks again for the responses.

ETA: I was thinking it'd be reasonable to just say the fake wife and husband live with us in a two-family room-mate situation?

Then you might do well. If you choose a very religious family, you may find the lady is very appreciative of you and truly so. Because it is how you integrate with the family that matters so much to her. You marry the family, not the girl.

If your filipina wife will declare the capital gains, the capital gains tax is only 5%! The VAT is 12.5%. The income tax is lower than USA and I think the top rate is around 36%.

You can find a wife here very easily. They will accept and care for your children, if you are supporting their family too.

---

Oh I read further and see you want an arranged situation. Yeah I am sure you can attain that, but then you need to be careful because you are subject to extortion. I think you would be much better off with the retirement visa, much less risk. You can bring your kids and "wife" in on that same visa. I don't know what the tax situation is on a retirement visa. I think it also depends on your home country. US citizens are taxed on their worldwide income and gains.

You can get meat here, but the beef is not really the most delicious. But it is not horrible. When I say the food is horrible, I mean the prepared food mostly. They import all the cheese. The tropics aren't a great place for raising cows apparently.

On the cheap? The filipinos expect you to support them, not the other way around. Their hospitality is wonderful, but you are paying for it.

The education system is not up to western standards. Too much dancing and not enough mathematics.

Edit: if you marry into a wealthier or upper middle class family in the Philippines, your experiences might be different than what I described. Also stereotypes are not always valid. People are diverse.