I just saw on the U.S. Embassy website that starting in June they will offer an ""easy way"" to renew expiring passports. It's supposed to be all done by courier (fedex.) I thought someone might find that information useful.

If anyone knows (expats or Filipinos living in the Philippines), could you tell me *if* having a Class A CDL license there will automatically allow me to be eligible to drive large (commercial type) vehicles? That would include trucks, buses, vans, or any other large vehicles. The reason I ask is, I am considering volunteering some of my time to Habitat for Humanity. I would hope to be an assest for them.

You can trust them when they hibernate. And that's where he should be. It is hard to notice here, but it is winter. Better tell him. He is not welcome this season or any other. But we love to hear from his master. Or could it be the other way around?

It's very hard for me to believe that a GI roof will last longer without paint. Like I said Don I would use a rubber base paint that is less likely to crack and with labor of P150 a day you wont have too many pains in the butt. Just get yourself a nice shady spot and a lawn chair that has plenty of padding for your rear end and watch that the prep is done properly. The GI roofs of long ago in the Philippines were of a much higher quality. When you see an unpainted GI roof that is 25 years old in Phil. just go look at it closely its very easy to see the difference in the quality.

I live between Iloilo City and San Miguel, in an Iloilo City suburb of Mandurriao, I like it much better here than, Tacloben, on Leyte, where my wife was raised, (in villiage about 30K, Aubuyog) I go to Guimarais every chance I get and really like it there because it is very remote, but since we have two children in elementary school, I cannot get her interested in Guimarais, we have already built house here in Mandurriao, have been here 10 months, the longer I stay the better I like it, Oton is very nice , again they are fairly remote but I like Leon and San Miguel also.

I have visited Roxas City in Panay Islands. I like the place. However, a friend told me that the Bantayan Island is a very nice place to live and retire. I am very much interested to know more about the place. I remember I read some posting about the Bantayan Island before from this group. Can anybody describe the place for me? I plan to visit the place next January and I want to know what to expect.

AIt isn't so much the cost of the labor - carpenters and painters labor is very cheap here. But rather the cost of the materials such as the acid preparations to remove the galvanization, and various bases and paints which drive up the cost. I have had numerous carpentry projects done here in the Philippines where the cost of the materials far exceeds the labor cost. I do like your idea of using Rubber based paints - frankly I didn't even know such a thing existed. But while I mention my lack of knowledge if you should also know that your carpenter/painter may not know how to properly prepare the GI roof for painting. I think the painters used a diluted lemon juice solution to try to strip the galvanization on my sister-in-laws roof. There appear to be many possibilities of messing up the paint job - as evidenced by my sister-in-laws unsatisfactory paint job on their GI roof. I find myself wondering occasionally as I glance at their eye sore of a roof - what was it that really messed the painting up, and realize I don't know. As I glance out the front door at the neighbors unpainted GI roof, which has been there a long time - I have to say, unpainted looks pretty good to me. I wonder if the painting really does more harm than good. While it may be a little late in your case Don - a nice slop on the roof lets the water roll right off, and not stay on the roof. But any cracks or bubbles in the paint will have the opposite effect.

With all the cute little ladies available in the RP, it strikes me that you would never miss the waterbed. Also, if you bring the little lady back to the US with you, they gain weight so fast once they are here, that in a few months you won't miss the waterbed here, either.

You and your husband are very welcome here. It is true there are a lot of US, Australian, British etc, men with Filipina wives, but we have other members who are of other various combinations, as well as a small but very valuable contingent of Filipinos who have lived in the RP all their lives. You'll find it's a good community and one of the best 'lists' I have ever seen for signal to noise ratio. I won't even begin to answer most of your specific questions, because so many of them 'depend' and I am also not yet living in the RP. My wife is from Central Luzon and we plan to return to the RP for good, perhaps, but not necessarily to Luzon. The question as to 'how much money do we need' is the most common one raised and the one most difficult to answer. You can spend from very little by US standards to very much. The bottom line is ... However much you think would be enough to live on in the US would be ample, quite ample, to live on in the RP in similar circumstances. Be sure you visit and absorb the information in the files aection here and look closely at the wealth of information that is on the list owner's, Don Herrington, web site:

On my island (Saipan), which adheres to most of the Filipino construction theories, and which has a very salty climate (even the rain tastes salty), the recommendations regarding painting a tin roof are similar to what has been posted here before. Never paint a brand new roof. The paint will peel off due to the galvanization. Let it age a few months, this makes the surface rough and the paint sticks better. If any rust has developed, remove it before painting. Then wash it well and apply a paint specified for tin. And rememeber to pay special care to the nail holes. If you don't paint a tin roof here, it will rust through in five or so years.

Only if you want to violate the laws of two countries and commit immigration fraud. But you can get her to fill out a G-325A, give you two right-frontal visa pics, write a 3-paragraph ""Statement of Intent,"" and petition her as a fiancee.

Its funny you say Lingayen because thats the place I was looking at. Well as far as getting rich I don't care about that as long as we can eat lol. Going to have one of those signs thats says ""Gone Fishing"". How about a taxi and hiring a driver, can we make any money that way? One other thing I was thinking about was selling stuff on Auctions. Can we send stuff out of philippines and what is good there to sell off the internet? Sorry so many questions. Do you know if there are any casinos in that area? We both work in a casino now and deal cards?

Since we're on the subject, I once almost ran into a Tijuana, Mexico truck in the middle of the highway outside of Bakersfield, California, with a broken axle. The truck was full of pears and the truck wasn't going anywhere. I helped unload the pears at the side of road, under the supervision (and with some physical help) of California Highway Patrol officers. I asked them how they were going to cite the truck and driver and they told me there was no point, they had no control over it. Apparently a limited number of trucks were allowed to make runs like that from Baja, California to Northern California before the current opening of borders to Mexican trucks. This was about 1985. On the other hand, I've seen very professionally-maintained trucks of the largest size on Mexican highways. One of them kept me from passing on a mountain road, deliberately because of oncoming traffic that I could not see. I slowed down after that. To drive in Mexico as a professional truck driver requires real skill, so tough are the road conditions. But so long as regulation is lax and businesses there and in the Philippines look for ways to cut expenses, there'll be broken axles.

I have been over here too long to follow that logic. The way I see it is the most important thing is to make you happy. If the woman can't wait, then she may not care for you very much. Getting married after only a month is not the best thing to do. You can't know very much about her or the other women who are available who may make better wives. What about your happiness? She should be overjoyed you are considering her, I feel. Being apart and writing for a while may give you some more insight. A trip away from this rush of love, may help, but I doubt it. Do you think maybe you have just possibly gone into something to fast and too hard? This is a permanent life changing decision, that often does not work out, especially when you take the girl out of the Philippines. I know. I have been a victim and have known many too, who suffered serious circumstanced in their on rush to get the most fantastic girl in the world, only to find out we were mistaken. I agree with the other posters. If you do it, do it legally. But why not think about a marriage a little longer than a month from meeting? I may be misreading this. You may have know her for months or years before you came here. Or maybe you have visited her before. But I didn't get that from your post.

I was in a similar sitution. After six years in the philippines i chose to move back to the states. Here are some of the reasons: - My parents are in their late 70's. I wanted them and my daughter to spend time together while my folks are still on this earth. - Green card...I want my filipina wife to get her green card so that we'll have more flexibility in traveling back and forth. - Security...since becoming a father in 2001, I have become much more sensitive to the security issues in the PI ...namely my daughter as a potential victim. The security didn't bother me when I was single...fatherhood really kicked in those instincts. Also note..most of my Philippine experience is in Manila....which isn't as safe as Cebu. - Values... I prefer to raise my daughter in the American enviornment. There are good and bad qualities in every society. Our hope is to give our daughter the best of both American and Philippine values. My key value issue in raising our daughter in the states is entitlement vs equality. In the Philippines, my daughter's place in society is very much determined by birth. My daughter being rich and American would be entitled to undue respect from the lower and middle classes. We lived in a high end neighborhood in the PI and saw far too many adults kowtowing to rich spoiled children and teens. I'd rather she grow up in America where she'll be middle class. Here we start out on a more equal footing and one's place in society is earned not granted by birthright. Granted the Philippine culture does much better in other values like childrens respect for their family. I'm hoping we can instill more of that at home but realize we'll be fighting and uphill battle against what she'll pick up in US society. - Education was not a major concern. I saw many kids thriving in the international schools around manila.

Land is about the only thing I have seen here that is a little bit higher than in the states. Building costs, you can figure on about 20 cents on the dollar or less. I built a house here, just moved in two weeks ago. the same house in central Florida, I looked at in a subdivision there and was priced at about $500K, the same house I built here for about $61K, Only thing the house I built here is much better built and much stronger than would have ever been in Florida, the 61K does not include central air, I brought 2 units from the states and plan on installing here, which I figure will cost me around 2K to have all duct work done and get them up and running, my wife says no we don't need, and we don't now but probably by summer would be nice to have if we can afford the elec bill, Ha who knows. The new houses being built here have over 200MPH wind factors built in and from the way they are built will stand more than that. Too bad there was not houses built as such when Andrew passed thru South Florida. and since, there is no noticable difference in the way the houses are built there, just sort of like match boxes compared to the ones being built here. Jim Does anyone have any statistics on building costs in the Philippines? Just looking for range for what to expect when constructing a retirement home is nice subdivision.

I'm new in this newsgroup, hope I can get to know the members here and maybe make a few friends :) I live in Manila, born in the Philippines but of Chinese ethnicity, my ancestors all came from China but having been born and lived here I considered myself quite multi-cultural in terms of beliefs and practices. Hope to know more of you members, do you chat? How often do you correspond? How many are you in this newsgroup, I mean the active ones? What are the frequent topics of interest? Later!!

Allas that link is not complete but here are section 13 and 14. As for the interpretation of section 14, I would say that when holding dual citizenship you would be regarded a Filipino citizen when you are in the Philippines and not when you are in the US. So now what if you apply for a spousal visa in the US or can we say that we apply at the embassy so we are at Philippine territory? As for the difference between 13a and 13g once obtained I would say that this does not exist but as said I am open for other interpretations. Sec. 13. Under the conditions set forth in this Act, there may be admitted into the Philippines immigrants, termed ""quota immigrants"" not in excess of fifty (50) of any one nationality or without nationality for any one calendar year, except that the following immigrants, termed ""non-quota immigrants,"" may be admitted without regard to such numerical limitations. The corresponding Philippine Consular representative abroad shall investigate and certify the eligibility of a quota immigrant previous to his admission into the Philippines. Qualified and desirable aliens who are in the Philippines under temporary stay may be admitted within the quota, subject to the provisions of the last paragraph of Section 9 of this Act. (a) The wife or the husband or the unmarried child under twenty-one. years of age of a Philippine citizen, if accompanying or following to join such citizen; (b) A child of alien parents born during the temporary visit abroad of the mother, the mother having been previously lawfully admitted into the Philippines for permanent residence, if the child is accompanying or coming to join a parent and applies for admission within five years from the date of its birth; (c) A child born subsequent to the issuance of the immigration visa of the accompanying parent, the visa not having expired; (d) A woman who was a citizen of the Philippines and who lost her citizenship because of her marriage to an alien or by reason of the loss of Philippine citizenship by her husband, and her unmarried child under twenty- one years of age, if accompanying or following to join her; (e) A person previously lawfully admitted into the Philippines for permanent residence, who is returning from a temporary visit abroad to an unrelinquished residence in the Philippines; (g) A natural-born citizen of the Philippines, who has been naturalized in a foreign country, and is returning to the Philippines for permanent residence, including his spouse and minor unmarried children, shall be considered a non-quota immigrant for purposes of entering the Philippines. Sec. 14. Persons with dual nationality - The nationality of an immigrant whose admission is subject to the numerical limitations imposed by Section Thirteen of this Act shall be that of the country of which the immigrant is a citizen or subject, self-governing dominions being treated as separate countries. The nationality of an immigrant possessing dual nationality may be that of either of the two countries regarding him as a citizen or subject if he applies for a visa in a third country, but if he applies for such visa within one of the two countries regarding him as a national, his nationality shall be that of the country in which he shall file his application.

I would like to know, if you are willing to share, what single thing do you miss most from the USA? That is, something that is *not* readily available to you in the PI, but you wish you could have taken with you.

Your question's much too broad for an accurate answer. But if you're past the ""just thinking"" stage, here's an offer you can't refuse. I put an architect on retainer a while back, but decided renting was best for me, so he owes me work. I won't be able to get a refund (shame on me), so if you have even rudimentary building plans I can put him to work, get refined drawings and cost estimates at no cost to you. I can't accurately advise on the cost of a plot, but plan on a minimum USD40,000 for 500 square meters in ""nice"" subdivisions in urban areas down south....more for urban areas north of the Visayas. I haven't seen ""nice"" subdivisions in rural areas. Cheap is relative. Real quality in the Philippines will be no less than $100,000. The same property in the U.S. will give you a bigger back yard (RP land is expensive), but will cost $300,000. You can build at three or four levels of quality. U.S. quality for a 2,000 square ft, three bedroom place will come to $80,000. You can drop down two levels and pay $45,000 for a place of the same size, but that will require never-ending maintenance. (All prices exclude land.) Strange anomaly: Build a place for USD200,000, or rent the equivalent ( 3000 sq ft, five bedrooms) for $475 - $600 per month. (Requires a lot of head-knocking with alternate phases of kow-towing to negotiate the lease, but cost that out based on what you can earn on $200K, or the price of in-country financing at 18-21% for a five-year loan). My next trip to the Philippines will begin on January 20th, I can get you a free estimate if have your plans before I leave.

I will check them out but I confess I don't drink a lot of beer. Plus, we need to understand it was the Anonymous Bear who did the showering with coins, not me. Now Don might say somethine about alter ego's, even mild schizophrenia, but the Anonymous Bear is a soveriegn entity in his own, furry right. Honest! Perry ""tata_ayong Perry, Those tin circles are flattened San Mig crowns. Take a peek at my post last year under message #3858. With the proliferation of plastic bottles and caps nowadays, those tin caps are getting harder to come by. So, instead of showering those kids with peso coins, save those san mig crowns and those tykes might value those tin caps even more.

I had the same did not need a picture as they took one there. I needed to show them my ACR, passport with entry stamp and UK driving license. Took the drug test, paid 50 pesos for the medical but did not have to taken any written test. Was given a temporary license the same day the whole process took about 2 hours, because I relieved myself before going and could not fill up the bottle for the drug test!

Not applicable for permanent residents, but I've kept an international driving license for the past thrity years, or so, and have been legal without the whatevers. Good for a year, no records kept when the local constable takes it away for ignoring his wooden and constantly moving no left turn sign. Just get legal again on your next trip to a country where AAA maintains offices. My lawyer requires me to remind you that I am financially liable for nothing that sends you to jail.

Learning a lot and would like to keep this thread open long enough to hear from anyone with facutal experience. Special retiree visa instructions say former Filipinos pay $1,500 plus add-ons for visa and and can import $7,000 of household stuff. Does 13a really allow everything (100%) free?

A question for you. How much business experience do you have? I mean have you run a business in your country? I have been wondering about business in the RP also. Not so much about starting one, rather about running one. Income would be much lower there but what is the return to investment, say in an internet cafe. My wife uses and Internet cafe beside her house in Manila and has a difficult time getting a unit as she is near a university.

Steel roofing with steel supports (prefab or welded on-site is the only way to go for the roof. Quality of wood is pretty poor over there and roof trusses such as we routinely get for home construction in any part of the US is not an option in the RP. Steel framing, rather than wood, is now preferred for better homes, but cinderblock or stucco (or combination of steel framing and stucco) are pretty standard, too. On the other hand, you might just lease something already built, older or newer, and be quite happy with it.

Its a Filipino tradition which starts as soon as the SImbang Gabi (Morning Masses) do, which is on December 16th. Most parols should be up by then to signify the Christmas Star and the start of the search for the child Jesus by the Magi. The ""carolers"" ask for coins from you and if you give a lot the first time, they will come back every night for the next 8 more days.... lol!!!! However, other church choirs will send letters requesting to sing some carols in your homes and asking for donations for fund raising activities. Those are real treats since they sing beautifully. Incidentally, the Philippines is the only country that the Pope allowed to continue with its Simbang Gabi tradition.

A good high gain directional antennae (Yagi Beam) on a pole to give you some elevation over local buildings will help alot. These look very similar to the UHF TV antennae's in the UK. The antennae is then pointed in the direction of the nearest cell site. Cell phones work on something called ""Line of Sight "" communication (except under special conditions). After all ""Cell Phones"" are only low power mobile radios at the end of the day that rely on the signal being relayed by your nearest cell site. Radio Amateurs have been using a network of repeater (relay) stations for mobile radios in the 145MHz and 440MHz band for over 30 years! As the frequencies used on the cell phones are in the UHF/SHF good quality coaxial feed cable and connectors are important. These types of antennae are available (locally made but not very good quality) in some of the cell phone shops in the shopping malls. I have seen this type of antennae in Audio Net in the Ayala Centre, Cebu. If you can not get any joy try having a look around for specialist Amateur Radio, Marine/Aircraft Radio suppliers the may be able to help. An alternative is to try and get an Amateur Radio magazine which may well be useful. I used to use SMC (South Midland Communications) in Southampton UK for my Amateur Radio gear when I was licensed. They may well have a web site now. The antennae is what will make a big difference but it means that your mobile phone will cease to be mobile when you are hooked up to your base antennae. Of course you must have a type of phone where you can use an external antennae. Motorola's ""L series"" has an antennae which can be unscrewed from the cell phone body. The cable from your base antennae can be connected to this phone using the correct RF (Radio Frequency) Connector. I do have the information available here so that you can manufacture your own antennae if you are interested (a bit of maths involved ugh!). You can stick a car cell phone antennae on a pole but you will need to make some modifications (something called a ground plane) to make it work properly. This is worth a try first of all. You can see how well you are picking (signal strength) up the cell site by the signal strength indicator on the display of most phones. My reference is the RSGB (Radio Society of Great Britain) VHF/UHF handbook.

With just a quick glance at dreamhomessource.com these homes, the ones I glanced at, are typically for temperate weather regions. Like a Swiss chalet as an extreme example with their super long slopeing roofs(I think so the snow will slide off) in Phil. would generate the last thing you want and that is excessive heat. I picture those roofs with all those gables full of hot air and no where for the air to go. The long slopeing roofs are perfect for nipa-you need the rain water to move quickly but for a GI roof or any heat absorbing roof in Phil. this long slope allows for a bigger square footage of roof space and maximizes your house heat. With a GI roof you need the least amount of pitch as possible(smallest square footage) with wide eaves over hanging to shade and keep the rain off the house. I've seen many guys build a house for nipa with a steep pitch, later change it to GI and find there house uncomfortably hot. Just one small point, but there are many

More seriously I have land on a sub division and decided not to build the model house, as it seemed overpriced and not exactly to what I wanted. I tried looking at what I needed on the internet etc, I am no architect. The best though I found is just to go round looking at the houses in the Philippines, I suppose because of the weather they have a different concept to what I was thinking of. Just find an estate agent making out you are renting or buying and you will see many houses. Also now when I go to friends house, I am constantly looking and discussing with them, taking my time before I make the final descision. Being on a sub division I do have some restrictions as to what I can build, such as the style, minimum size, maximum height etc. all which must be approved by the SD committee.

As to the business aspect, I have no interest, as I have my hands full with my own business. However I must set Pete the moderator straight. It is not illegal to partner with a native citizen, as long as the citizen agrees to be responsible for the business, which they would be under the law. This includes being responsible for taxes and liability, for lawsuits against the business. Of course any american that profits from running a business, be it a partnership or not, is responsible for paying taxes to the government of the Philippines. There are loopholes in the law here, just like in America. I suppose many Fillipino's would be interested in letting you use their name, as the country has a high rate of poverty, and for most people here, the chance for more monthly income is hard to resist. Not only are you going to have to trust them, , but they must also trust you, to run the business responsibly. I would strongly recommend a partnership agreement to be signed by both people involved. Any lawyer can draw up a simple agreement for a small fee. Pete is right in one aspect. If you have no legal binding agreement on paper, there is nothing stopping your partner from walking away with the business, and pretending he doesn't know you. Also you must take into consideration, that if for some reason you decide to leave the Philippines, your partner may be reluctant to sell the property. I am certain you will get several responses to your questions, especially regarding the profits to be reaped from the types of businesses you are referring to. However, I advise you to look into the laws in the Philippines re. foreign ownership. What you are proposing is illegal, but you will find many interested parties that will allow you to use their names for your business. Just be prepared to also give up your investment at that point as your local ""partners"" will be the legal owners of your business(es) and you have no legal rights as you have violated the investment laws to start with. And please, don't post to the list with further propositions that violate the law.

Well, I would say the Filipino would get it, since the Filipino was the National and the American was still a foreigner. However, I'm no lawyer or am I voiced in Filipino law. I'm solely going by the right to own property in the PI.

As we may already be aware, if property settlement goes to court, it could take years to resolve. Given a foreigner's limitations of property ownership, a judge might eventually rule to liquidate the property and divide the proceeds, if the case even gets that far. If both parties are motivated to be fair and avoid litigation, it can best be settled between their attorneys in a mediation mode.

Businesses started from scratch here in the US have a better than 80% failure rate. Restraunts have even a higher rate, I believe. If you have started and are operating a business successfully in the US, you would certainly have a fighting chance in the RP, but if you can't/havene't made a success of a business here in the US (where there are thousands of government help programs, university sponsored 'business incubators', franchise programs, etc.) then your chances of just waltzing into a Philippine city and building up something from nothing are small. If that 'something from nothing' attempts to cater mainly to Americans, then those chances become perishingly small. The non-Asian 'western' ex-pat community in the Philippines is small, scattered across the country in many cities and towns, and perhaps only half American percentage-wise, maybe even less. To cater to ex-pats you'd have to offer an ""Australian, Canadian, English, Dutch, Finish, German, Norwegian, Spanish, South African, Swedish, Swiss"" style-restraunt. These are just the nationalites I have corressponded wiht or know personally to have a non-trival presence in the Philippines, there are assurredly many more. Al these apparently negative opinions said, I don't at all want to discourage you. Take a look through the archives here ... I think it was Perry Gamsby who posted an excellent message on establishing/operating food pushcarts. You could build a business one puschcart at a time, learn who has to be dealt with in your particular city, find the best suppliers, and capitalize on the Filipino penchant for street food. I could envision someone who's heart was in the food industry making a business strictly in this fashion, or building up a fleet, and then selling it off to use the profits for a big 'real' food establishment.

Typically you can find black and red powder additives here in the Philippines to mix with the cement to get the color different from the standard gray. You can of course vary the amounts of those additives to get the degree of black or red that you desire. I have used those colors before and I think those are the only colors available at an ordinary hardware store, but it is possible there are more. And there is also ""White Portland Cement"" which can be used for grouting tiles and various other uses. It is not as strong as regular portland cement but it is still fairly strong and I use it quite a bit for patching holes in interior walls, etc. I like it as it does not shrink and it works off of a blade nicely.