Bali offers TAX-FREE status to anyone who moves there to permanently 'work from home'
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If you prefer accountability and stability when it comes to immigration law and taxes, the Philippines are definitely a better choice.
Nobody has seen any details of this new and much hyped Indonesian "tax-free visa". However, considering the history of Indonesia with these kind of marketing attempts I would be very careful about the tax situation. Indonesia is not expat-friendly (specifically towards Westerners) like PH and lacks any sort of flexibility once you are caught up in a net of extremely confusing laws.
Philippines: It is a bit more expensive than Indonesia but if you value friendliness and a relatively open-minded population this is a much better destination for a PERMANENT home, specifically now with the new president-elect.
Thanks Backpacker for the advice.Do you know anyone who can help with the residency part.I am 38 i wanted the SRRV smile but seems that it is discontinued now.What would be the next best option with low investment??
I am sorry if i hijacked the thread but this is what i needed and Backpacker seems to be a knowledgeable fellow.Sorry admin.
SRRV is still available if the applicant is at least 50 years old.
Since you are 38 you can use the SIRV (Special Investor's Resident Visa): USD 75'000.- is needed and you are in.
Biggest advantage compared to SRRV: You have almost zero annual costs (investment through SRRV produces "visitorial fees" and the ususal annual membership fee of USD 360.- + initial fee of USD 1'400.-). So, from a cost perspective SIRV is superior.
You can invest in almost anything. Best you pick tourism or open a travel agency. It can be a shared investment in a partnership.
Following two links with official info:
SIRV is probably the most underrated permanent residence visa in Asia. It is very easy to get and requires only minimal administrative work.
The other option would be to marry a Filipina. Then you are eligible for visa 13a (Conversion to Non-Quota Immigrant Visa by Marriage) which is almost equal to permanent residency.
Visa 13a costs only a couple of Peso administrative fees. However, the family of the Filipina might cost you more than a total loss of your SIRV investment. So, better go with the official SIRV and do not marry hap¤#"
Last edited: Jun 26, 2022
More or less the same. Food is better in Indonesia tho.
Infrastructure sucks on both places.
EDIT to add: IMO if you want to move to the region id be looking at Thailand and Malaysia as the best places.
Well i dont have any idea about thailand residency,Malaysia MM2H program has been changed .So in the economic scale not sure which will be cheaper.There is no point in wasting too much money for residency is what i feel.
Permanent Residency is not a matter of where life is 2 Dollar cheaper. It depends on where you like it, where you feel comfortable.
If you just look at it from an economic and tax point-of-view, you lost already before you started.
I actually already did quite a bit of research on phillipines and liked it somewhat and hearing that phillipines is a good bet from others gave my opinion.I haven't checked how good Indonesia,Cambodia ,Thailand are. Malaysia my brother says is good he spent time there.
Better Option will be Property investment visa.
https://immigrantinvest.com/insider/new-thai-visa-en/
Thai Elite visa, MOney you paid is gone. But in property visa , you can get rental income.
Thai elite visa is useless . To just feel VIP paying this much of amount does not make any sense.
Exactly my point some of the programs are s**t.The property investment visa looks like a better bet
Thai Elite Visa is and always was a total waste of money. I never understood why people shelled out so much money to purchase a simple tourist visa.
Thai Elite is not a resident visa, it is just a simple tourist visa! Sure, it can be used for an extended stay but the legal status is just "tourist".
The "new" 10-year investor visa also is not very attractive. The amount they want you to invest in Thailand (politically all but stable) is far too high for what you get.
Btw., Thailand is marketing this option as "new" but a much more simplified version (with about half the required amount) existed already before. People just did not read the law. Old amount was a minimum investment of THB 1'000'000.- into local currency government bonds. Of course, also far too high for what they gave you for your money.
As long as you do not get PERMANENT residency, stay away from these kind of "investments".
The next lockdown is lingering around the corner and we all know what happened to people without PERMANENT residency.
I agree, MY is much more advanced and the cuisine is definitely better.
Unfortunately, MY is also more expensive than the Philippines.
Aside from that, if you want to get residency in MY it can be a real challenge.
PERMANENT residency is anyway out of reach, and what MY did during COVID-lockdown with MM2H-visa holders should have anybody think twice about their attitude towards expats.
Sorry, (obvious) typo: Old amount was THB 10'000'000.-
Last edited: Jun 27, 2022
You can go this route if you want but the reality is you can get into the Ph and extend your visa to 24 or 36 months depending on your original visa, fly to H.K for some duty free shopping (electronics and imported items are heavily taxed in Ph) then repeat the process.
As for marring a girl to get residency ... remember, you are marrying into a family and a culture will be expect to provide for them as dictated by that culture.
These are typical visa runs. It involves a lot of hassle, is getting more and more under scrutiny by the Bureau of Immigration and does not help with legal permanent residency.
Btw., the Philippines has no multiple re-entry option if you are going the route @dread pirate explained. Everytime you want to stay for more than 30 days in the Philippines you will have to apply for a new extension of stay. Not a serious option, if you ask me.
Going to HK these days is rather inconvenient. And for electronics, savings are irrelevant if you are into low and middle price segment. A lot has changed since Lazada, Shopee and the likes struck deals with BOC in order to get special tariffs for direct market access of their Chinese sellers.
Ya no marriage ,i hear their families try to grab your money using various tactics.Girlfriend will be better.
No my intention is to trade the company account after getting phillipines residency thereby trying to make it zero tax through territorial taxation .My employees will be elsewhere.Dubai golden or resident visa and cyprus residency visa are costly affairs.And not sure i can recoup the investments made there.And i dont want to make investments in off plan properties in those two jurisdictions,unless there is no other way.
If it was a toss up between phillipines and Paraguay what would you recommend?Others please share your views as well.
Last edited: Jun 27, 2022
I spent some time in Bali and Malaysia this year and while I loved Kuala Lumpur I couldn't imagine living in Bali.
The reasons are:
- it is extremely hot and humid, you constantly have a dew point of 26-27° - I mean Malaysia is a tropical country but compared to Bali in KL I actually enjoyed walking around, you can work outside and sometimes turn off A/C etc.
- traffic in Bali is insane, everybody is honking all the time, you are constantly in traffic jams
- even the most "upper class" beaches like Nusa Dua are full of rubbish and not that beautiful
- most regular people don't really speak English
- as I foreigner you are constantly bothered if you walk down the street - for me within 15 minutes I would regularly be approached 7-8 times for sexy massage, taxi, drugs and other shenanigans
- the whole infrastructure is really bad, especially compared to Malaysia, there is a lot of stuff that you simply cannot buy
- it is actually not that cheap
- I got food poisoning in a luxury 5 star hotel
So for me I would take Malaysia over Bali every time. Better infrastructure, less garbage, *far* nicer weather, you can walk down the street and mind your own business, nice malls, online shopping, less traffic, friendlier people, ordering stuff via Grab, awesome apartments with nice amenities etc.
Thank you, very informative and caused me to put a final cross over Bali.
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