Our country earned another feather in its cap when Tripzilla, during its recent Excellence Awards, named it “Best Retirement Destination in Asia” for the year 2025. It is the first time our country has won such an award, and the first time in the Philippine Retirement Authority’s (PRA) 40-year existence.
Let’s take a closer look at what made us the first choice of foreign retirees. Based on my chats with many of them, here are the reasons:
in Metro Manila
The low cost of living in our country is a big magnet for foreign retirees. Because most of them receive fat pension checks every month, spending an average of approximately US$1,000 monthly here in our country to cover all their basic needs, still with a lot extra to spare, puts them in paradise. They can hardly believe that they can have a full-course, decent meal for less than US$10.00. Add to this benefit the easy access to nature’s bounty. Especially if they choose to live in the provinces, a pristine beach, verdant mountain, majestic waterfall, and other wonders of nature are within easy reach.
Our very interesting culture and our welcoming, caring attitude make it very easy for them to blend into our communities. The foreign retirees always tell me that they are easily struck by our happy faces and the way we treat them like family. A German national was even more specific when he told me that the reason he chose to settle down here is “the way we take care of old people.”
Of course, we are proud to have world-class health care facilities in our country to attend to whatever medical emergencies they may experience. More importantly, the PRA was able to partner with a local company that has made possible the portability of whatever foreign medical insurance these retirees may have from their country of origin. Their insurance policy may now be used in any of the 200 leading hospitals here in the country.
The fact that the Philippines is now known globally as the “caregiver capital of the world” has also helped in making foreign retirees choose us over our Asian neighbors, because they know caregivers are aplenty in any city they may choose to reside in.
But the clincher is our proficiency in English. This facility makes it very easy for English-speaking foreign retirees to blend in, immerse themselves in our culture, and understand the idiosyncrasies of Filipino life. Many times, after the ceremony the PRA hosts to officially welcome them to our country, I receive praises about my team’s expertise in the language, to which I proudly tell them that we have very good schools here in the country.
Aside from what our country offers, these foreign retirees also have benefits that go with the Special Resident Retirees Visa they obtain from the PRA. They have the option to reside here permanently without losing their citizenship and may travel in and out of the country without having to ask permission from any government agency. They also do not have to go through the hassle of securing an Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) yearly from the Bureau of Immigration.
If they decide to work, they do not need to apply for a separate work visa, and if their children want to enroll in any of our schools, no student visa is needed. They are also exempted from the travel tax on their first year in our country, when they decide to travel to any foreign destination. When they move in, they can bring in US$7,000 worth of personal belongings, tax-exempt.
So far, the PRA has succeeded in bringing in more than 84,000 foreign retirees from 150 countries. Most of them have settled in the Metro Manila area. The second favorite location is Central Visayas, while the third favorite is Central Luzon. However, I must point out that we have foreign retirees enjoying every single nook and cranny of our archipelago, a few in the Cordillera Region and all the way down to Southern Mindanao.
The top ten nationalities of these foreign retirees we now have on our shores are those from the People’s Republic of China, South Korea, India, the USA, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany, in that order.
It is then safe to say that the whole world is enjoying the beauty of our country, the charm of our people, and whatever is truly Filipino, making retirement in the Philippines their Best Decision Ever.
More information on the Special Resident Retirees Visa (SRRV) may be obtained from www.pra.gov.ph or through (632) 8848 1412.
For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com
