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Best residency option with $100,000?
- Thread starter lopez007
- Start date
i like good food (thai for example) and developed countries. can the philippines keep up and if so in which region of the country?
The Philippines (PH), like Thailand, is a developing nation. Infrastructure in the PH is certainly worse than in Thailand where you have a functioning railroad system. The more than 7'000 islands of the PH doesn't make things easier.
On the flip side, PH isn't crowded with tourists, is relatively low-priced, has a good cusone that doesn't turn your stomach upside down and is welcoming towards "Kanos" (Americans and everyone who looks like an American).
I am not sure you will like it since it is clearly a third-world country. You need to improvise. But then, why do you want to leave Europe (or the Western world) if you are looking for developed nations?
Perhaps best you make a trip to SE-Asia and see yourself. Three weeks should be sufficient for a first impression. Visit the following areas/cities: Manila (NCR), Cebu and Dumaguete (Visayas), Davao (Mindanao), Pagudpud and Vigan (Ilocos Norte). Avoid traveling by plane within the country, instead travel by bus -> Victory Liner or ferry -> https://travel.2go.com.ph/
Do yourself a favour and stay away from Boracay, a noisy and dirty tourist hotspot full of Chinese.
PH is a place that works for some people but you will think the food is absolute garbage if you go in expecting it to be on Thailand's level. I've only been to Angeles, but the only place I found to get consistently good meals was the Angeles Beach Club hotel. Authentic PH Jollibee is less gross than western fast food but beyond terrible if you compare it to Thai street food. Nothing competes with Thailand's food on quality and price. I'd only give the nod to Singapore and Hong Kong if you're spending US$60-200+ per meal.
If infrastructure is a big deal to you PH may not work. Their infrastructure makes Thailand look like Singapore. Thailand is usually the happy medium of affordability and not quite first world everything else. If you end up liking life in a major city that isn't Bangkok, like Chiang Mai or Pattaya, your money goes even farther.
If you're going to make food a priority Seoul is an underrated destination. The frozen food from Lotte is better than most Korean restaurants anywhere else in the world. There is an AYCE lobster buffet and lots of other fun places to eat. There are hole in the wall places everywhere that have awesome Korean food. Some are amazingly affordable, less than US$10 for buffets and US$5 for a single Korean portion (small by western standards). AYCE Korean BBQ places are around for less than US$15. Check out Simply Dumpling's videos to get an idea of some of the things in the area: https://www.youtube.com/c/strictlydumpling/search?query=seoul Actually, searching his account for a city/country you might be interested in will give you an idea of some of the better food options available in the city. Housing in Seoul isn't as expensive as you might think. I'm not sure about the ease of getting residency visas though. When I was a pro gamer the organization bringing me in got me a C-4 visa, which is temporary and useless for long term residency.
If infrastructure is a big deal to you PH may not work. Their infrastructure makes Thailand look like Singapore. Thailand is usually the happy medium of affordability and not quite first world everything else. If you end up liking life in a major city that isn't Bangkok, like Chiang Mai or Pattaya, your money goes even farther.
If you're going to make food a priority Seoul is an underrated destination. The frozen food from Lotte is better than most Korean restaurants anywhere else in the world. There is an AYCE lobster buffet and lots of other fun places to eat. There are hole in the wall places everywhere that have awesome Korean food. Some are amazingly affordable, less than US$10 for buffets and US$5 for a single Korean portion (small by western standards). AYCE Korean BBQ places are around for less than US$15. Check out Simply Dumpling's videos to get an idea of some of the things in the area: https://www.youtube.com/c/strictlydumpling/search?query=seoul Actually, searching his account for a city/country you might be interested in will give you an idea of some of the better food options available in the city. Housing in Seoul isn't as expensive as you might think. I'm not sure about the ease of getting residency visas though. When I was a pro gamer the organization bringing me in got me a C-4 visa, which is temporary and useless for long term residency.
That's how different people's taste can be.
That's like talking about the France and only having been to Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad
or Porte de Clignacourt 
:You have been to one of the worst "districts" of the entire country.
Forget Jollibee - leave the sweet Spaghetti to the kids. This is an awful fast food chain with extremely low quality.
You can not compare a global fast food chain to street food, no matter where on Planet Earth.
I prefer Arabic and Turkish cuisine every time of the day over Thai food.
Quality of Thai food in Thailand (do not confuse with what you get served as Thai food in the West) is very often doubtful. Moreover, when you compare how much is needed to really fill your stomach, food is quite expensive over there.
I suggest Mexico. Very easy to get residency with the right people and right contacts. Also very cheap around 6k USD. Close to the USA, Canada and to the rest of latin America. You can stay 180 days on a tourist visa and then get the residency inside the country without proving financial requirements or any other BS. Can be done very fast.
Resident individuals are subject to Mexican income tax on their worldwide income.
Not sure if that is a good deal ...
Yes that is the thing which is not so good. But hey in Mexico nobody cares believe me. For those who do not mind and want to just get the hell out of Russia, EU or any other part of the world, then Mexico is the best and easiest option to settle and figure out their lives and future without spending a fortune and with a very relaxed way of life. They proved themself during the pandemic. It was the only country open without any restrictions.
My brother-in-law lived in TJ for a while. One night his neighbor was flattened by a squadron of machine gun fire. He immediately moved to SoCal.
Its like if I were to tell you the same story just from Chicago. One needs to move to a different city and all is good. Mexico has bad reputation and described as a whole country too dangerous. No its not. Its a big country and there are places where life goes normal and actually much safer than any other large US city. Yuu said it, that guy was in TJ. Google more about that city and everybody will know that this is the most dangerous city in all of Mexico. Forget TJ. Those residency services that I described a few posts above are done in the safest places in all of Mexico, where the most tourists come and even stay as expats. The problem is the quantity of how many want to apply for this at the moment.
I dont have to google it, have been to TJ multiple times. Its a walk from San Diego. Only place in Mexico that is relative safe for gringos is north east of Yucatán...
No, the north east of Yucatan is not the only relative safe place for gringos. There are more scattered all over the country. The most popular are Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Escondido and actually the whole of the state of Oaxxaca, Campeche, Queretaro, Monterrey, parts of Mexico City, Guadalajara, Cabo san Lucas and specially the state of Yucatan where Merida is located and known as the safest city in Mexico. I would even go as far saying that anywhere except the northern border areas, Sinaloa, Durango, Chihuahua, Guerrero, Colima and Jalisco I feel safe and no problem to live as a gringo.
From expats what I heared is that its comparable to the west in the big cities and for dental work even surpasses the US or EU.
Not kidding at all but we are talking here about private healthcare infrastructure. I tell all the time to all who can not believe many good things in Mexico to get their as*es here and see in person. The dental tourism is just flourishing and people from USA/Canada book dates for weeks ahead. Snowbirds are the prime example and best source of information. Ofcourse the best thing is to be healthy anywhere in the world and have prevention as the number one priority not to have to use any healthcare system if possible and I mean anywhere in the world.
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