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As a US Expat can you get a job in the Philippines even though you don’t speak Tagalog?
chicomalo
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As a US Expat can you get a job in the Philippines even though you don’t speak Tagalog?
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If you are an expat you already have a job… If you are a US citizen who wants to work in the Philippines, you face several barriers that are more serious than the language issue. The first is getting a work permit, since there are plenty of well-educated filipinos chasing each vacancy, and since they do not have the right to apply for most vacancies in the USA, why should you have the right to take jobs away from them? Secondly, even if you get a work permit and a job offer, the pay offered (even once you adjust for local living costs) is not going to be attractive. At the time I lived and worked in Manila, the salary for a manager in a commercial organisation was roughly the same as the amount that the British government gave an unemployed person to live on while they were looking for work, in other words, the bare minimum that you need to survive while in the UK. And yes, on average costs in Britain were at least twice as high as those in the Philippines, but even so, two or three times survival income is not going to be enough for most US citizens to work hard every day. The solution to both problems is to be a genuine expat: be a highly skilled professional and get recruited in the USA by an organisation that operates in the Philippines. Then your employer will take care of all visa issues, and will pay you a salary that is competitive by US standards.
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Unless you possessing a skill that is very hard to get here in the Philippines, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Most people do speak English as a 2nd language. Sure, you could try a job at a call center but you will get the same paid as the local employee, which is not a lot (in USD). Most people I know could’t be bothered with that.