Retiring to the Philippines offers year round warm weather at a cost of living much lower than the USA and most of Europe. You have a choice of living in a big city; Manila, Cebu, Davao, on the beach; Boracay, Palawan, or in a cooler mountainous area such as Baguio. Of course in the smaller towns your retirement income will go much further as the rentals can be more than 50% lower than in Manila. In the farming areas your food bill especially for fruits and vegetables will be considerably smaller.

Live the good life, most middle class families in the Philippines can afford one or more full time house help; maids and drivers. That means you can too.

In Asia, the Philippines retirement plan is probably the easiest retirement visa to obtain.

The Philippines government offers a retirement program through the PRA (Philippine Retirement Authority).

Retirees may avail of the Special Resident Retiree’s Visa (SRRV) which entitles the holder to reside permanently in the Philippines.

Who may apply? Citizens of most countries (as long as their country is not on the restricted list) with a minimum age of 35, no criminal record and can meet the minimum financial/investment requirement.

The PRA program fees:

One time payment of USD 1,400.00 for the principal applicant and USD 300.00 for each dependent (spouse/children). This fee includes the Bureau of Immigration fees and the fee of the PRA ID card.

Financial requirements:

Pensioners

Persons – 50 years old and above – are required to make a one-time deposit of USD10,000.00 and have a monthly pension of US$800.00 for a single applicant and US$1,000.00 for couples.

Persons without pensions:

35 to 49 years old – US$50,000.00 one-time deposit
50 years old and above – US$20,000.00 one-time deposit
Former Filipino Citizens (at least 35 years old, regardless of the number of dependents – US$1,500.00
Ambassadors of foreign countries who served and retired in the Philippines, current and former staff members of international organizations including ADB -US$1,500.00

Note: Time deposit may be converted into an investment

Documents needed to apply for the Philippines Retiree’s Visa:

PRA application form;
Original passport with valid entry status;
Medical Examination Clearance -can be secured abroad (with English translation) duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consular Office. If the applicant is in the Philippines, this can also be secured at the PRA One-Stop Shop
Bank Certificate of Dollar Time Deposit remitted to any PRA accredited banks;
Police Clearance issued abroad translated into English and duly authenticated by the Philippine/Consulate or National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Clearance issued in the Philippines. This also applies to spouse and dependents 18 years of age and above;

Pictures, 12 pieces 2”x2”;
If the spouse is also applying for SRRV, Marriage Certificate or Marriage Contract translated into English (if necessary) and duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consulate nearest the applicant’s residence if the marriage was contracted abroad. If the marriage was solemnized in the Philippines, original Marriage Certificate; and
If dependent/s is/are also applying for the SRRV, original Birth Certificate/s of dependent/s born in the Philippines or Birth Certificate/s or Household Register translated into English (if necessary) and duly authenticated by the Philippine Embassy/Consulate nearest the applicant’s residence abroad.

Additional documents needed for pensioners:

a. Certification of Retirement Benefits issued by the concerned government and/or private entity which clearly states your identity, start date of the payment of pension and the amount of monthly pension

b. Proof of your monthly pension remitted to the Philippines.

Try before you apply, upon arrival most tourists can avail of a 21 day visa renewable for another 38 days. Further renewals of 59 days can be had. One can stay in the Philippines for one year as a tourist without leaving the country.

Need to find out more about the Philippines? Read the latest news and trends at the Manila Philippines leading website: www.wazzupmanila.com

This is a review of the “Retire to Asia” e-Book which is a guide to living and staying in Asia.

If you are looking for a way to get more enjoyment from your life via foreign travel to exotic countries but you only have average income, then this e-Book may be what you need.

The e-book explains a step by step formula for living a life of luxury in Asia for minimum expenditure.

You can learn how to enjoy mini-retirements where you spend a few months away from home away from the cold of winter or as a break from your normal routine.

Also, the e-Book covers the alternative to retiring poor and needing to do part time work to keep your head above water financially.

The author, Ken Silver has spent years travelling and living in Asia and has put together a Blue Print for how you can take what he learned and avoid the pitfalls to make luxury overseas living a reality, even when you are on a shoestring budget.

The book starts out with a clarification on all the reasons Ken considers Asia to be the most beautiful, exciting and friendly place on Earth.

Ken points out examples of how the very low cost of living allows you to make use of services such as laundry. Since it’s so cheap to get your laundry done for you, there’s no need to own a washing machine and do washing and ironing ever again!

Next, follows a section on motivation to escape the rat race and the daily grind of work and start living. He talks about the problem of traditional retirement and how the problems are only going to get worse and what you can do to escape from this trap.

Ken explains why Asia is a better choice for retirement than Central America and Mexico. He also explodes some myths about the pros and cons of choosing between the 2 areas.

Following this is a set of guidelines for how to retire, live, winter or just travel in Asia.

The cost comparisons with the USA may astound you such as hotel rooms for $4 or less. There are also tips on price bargaining when shopping.

Countries covered include:

• Thailand
• India
• Cambodia
• Vietnam
• Laos
• Nepal
• Indonesia
• Philippines

Also, countries to avoid are mentioned.

Other chapters include a guide to hotels and guest houses, and making money in Asia.

For people considering retirement overseas, there is advice on buying or renting homes and developing a social life.

In conclusion, this e-Book is a concise reference for anyone interested in learning about how to retire to a life of luxury or simply to get more out of their travels to exotic low-cost countries.

Download a copy now for just $19.97

In South-East Asia, Thailand is the number one tourist destination. This low cost country has something for everyone such as delicious food, warm sea with beautiful beaches, a safe and friendly environment. So it is of little surprise that people that were once tourists want to live in Thailand for longer than just a couple of weeks.
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This site is very new but rest assured that it will get big traffic in a few months time since I have the marketing wheels in motion now to drive future traffic.

As the title of this post suggests, I am welcoming guest blogger posts. In case you are unfamiliar with this concept it is a way to get exposure for your own blog in a round about way by blogging on another site. If you are very good then you may end up stealing all the traffic from the blog you post on.

So I am offering this opportunity at some risk. But I hope it works out as a win-win situation for both of us. Additionally, I am available for posting as a guest blogger on your blog too!

Let’s help each other out here and see how it works out. Post a comment if you are interested to take part…

The status of this site is that it is evolving. Once I had the idea planted in my head, the priority was to get the site launched. This is why it currently doesn’t look as slick and polished as it maybe should.
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Here are some of the embarrassing mistakes that I have made whilst staying in Japan.
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Skye advises foreigners to not visit Manila due to the noise, pollution and corrupt traffic cops. It seems like a bad idea to drive around the city judging by the crazy incidents that can occur in just one day of driving. Read about the guy who stopped the traffic to take a leak against his own car wheel!

Her blog looks great and the articles are addictive reads so don’t go there unless you have plenty of time on your hands.

Read about the Manila Streets here

Hello! Well I just installed the MyBlogLog widget onto this site. This displays recent visitors to this site. To kick it off, I searched on “Thailand” on the MyBlogLog site and visited over 100 blogs that were related to this term. It didn’t take too long and I found a few sites to bookmark along the way.

Already I am seeing my traffic increase. Sorry if I don’t personally welcome every blogger who checks out this site, but I have some ideas to help you get more free traffic.

You will already appear in the MyBlogLog widget so you can get traffic that way if you recently visited this site, but a much more powerful way to get traffic is to post a comment here! Introduce yourself and say something about your web site. I have the rel nofollow tag turned off so search engines and visitors to this site will find you and increase your traffic.

Go on… post a comment to freely advertise your site and get free long term targeted traffic :-

There are many countries within Asia since it covers 8.6% of the Earth’s surface so I will have to be a little picky as to which countries I write about.

The theme of this site is luxury living on a low budget so this helps with narrowing down the choices to places that English speaking people would want to live. Places that are popular tourist destinations and where the cost of living is low would be a good starting point. Also, places that are relatively safe and there is no war going on would be good too.

My thinking at the moment is to start with Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia. Later I can add other countries as the site grows and reader interests become clearer.

In September I will be staying in Phuket (Thailand) where I hope to take some nice photos to share here. I have been there before but I didn’t have a digital camera at the time. But I do remember having a great time snorkeling over coral reefs amongst tropical fish, riding an elephant, going for trips in fast boats and visiting the small island featured in the James Bond movie Gold Finger.

My flight from Japan where I am currently staying will only cost me about $400 and my accommodation is something like $18 a night so it will hardly break the bank. It’s actually work, since I need more photos and experiences to share on this blog.

I look forward to your comments.

Hi folks,

this is my first post on this site that will help you learn how to retire early to a life of luxury while you are still young enough to enjoy it. Even if you need medical care, you can get it cheap and be pushed around in your wheel chair by young attractive carers whilst you admire the sun setting over a palm beach.

We are talking nice warm weather, friendly people and a very low cost of living.