The Dream of Living in the Philippines – Can You Work There?

Many guys have the dream of living in the Philippines but are not ready to retire. The biggest factor stopping us from moving to the Philippines immediately is money, because most of us that don’t have a huge investment portfolio they can live off, need to make a living while living in the Philippines.

One of the first questions that occurs to many is “Can I get employment in the Philippines in my current vocation, or if not what type of work could I find in the Philippines?”. Most realize that they will need a special sort of Visa in order to work in the Philippines and anyone that takes that a little further will find out that obtaining such a visa is not easy.

The short answer is you can’t get a work permit before you arrive unless you are going to a pre-arranged job. You can’t get a work permit once you arrive and then go looking for work. Even if you lived here as a permanent resident with a 13A non-quota immigrant visa, you technically can’t work without a Mayor’s Permit. Having said that I have never had one of those in my life and I have held several positions here, including a few that were very above board.

Even if you had the 13A visa (which means you are married to a Filipina) or hold a 13B Quota Visa ( which will set you back a few grand but it’s cheaper than getting married in the long run!) as a non-Filipino citizen there is a whopping great list of jobs you CAN’T do. It is called the “6th REGULAR FOREIGN INVESTMENT NEGATIVE LIST”. It sets out all the jobs you can’t do as well as the businesses you can’t invest in and those that you can providing you have the right percentage of local ownership.

Just to give you some examples, you can’t; be a doctor, dentist, pharmacist, engineer, accountant, lawyer, chemist, lecturer or teacher unless you have a sponsor. In other words you can’t set up your own medical practise and charge the usual rate of about US$10 a consultation… but would you want to?

The same restrictions apply to plumbers, carpenters, electricians, mechanics and anyone else. The list is long and comprehensive. But of course, di is da pilipeens and that means there is always a way around these things!