I know this forum is much quieter than when I joined 4 years ago, but I'll leave an update if any of the old timers are still around.
I'll be leaving for the Davao City area with my wife and father in about 30-45 days. I'll help my father through a separate SRRV Visa, as I do a 2nd for my wife and I.
We just moved to a hotel in the US, as an Estate Sale Company stages the house for a 3 day garage sale to liquidate everything. Afterwards, we'll list the house and take off.
We shipped 30 Balikbayan boxes ahead to relatives, with a generic "Personal and Household Items. Returning to the Philippines due to Retirement." We cited a generic $200 value of each regardless of what was in them, and UMAC (our freightcompany) is spreading out the shipments over 6 weeks so that no more than 5 are in any cargo container. They claim it will look like a commercial transfer if they go over 5 boxes (to an individual recipient) in a single container.
We've ported our phone numbers to a combination of Magic Jack (MagicApp) and Google Voice so we can do 2-Factor Authentication if either company is unavailable or dumps us.
We have been using NordVPN with a dedicated IP address in Miami, so we our digital footprint will look identical when we leave. (Our streaming companies won't know the difference).
After looking at more than a dozen mail forwading companies, we landed on TravilingMailbox.com.. and we'll use a mail collection address. They destroy junk mail, scan important looking mail, and manage credit card replacements. For credit card replacements, they offer two options. First, they can simply scan or relay the details so the card can be setup on a digital wallet (like Apple Pay). Second, they can forward them via FedEx, DHL, etc.
By choosing a Florida TravelingMailbox address as my new "Permanent" forwarding address, I still look like a Floridian for state taxes... and it matches my VPN, Phone Number Area code, etc.
We also setup our Schwab, Wise, and Revolut accounts... and linked them to our Credit Union and Fidelity. Any bank can send or pull from the other four. We told our credit union we were moving abroad for 2-3 years. They said that was fine... especially with our TravelingMailbox Florida address. We also have 3 credit cards with no international fees or currency conersion fees. (Fidelity Visa, Apple Card, and a Capital One card). From other expates, we've heard there is a 50/50 chance Chase and WElls Fargo will close our accounts with no notice.
I checked that our Term Life insurance companies don't care that I'm moving abroad, as long as I keep paying premiums. We are going to request our FDJI 1164 fingerprint card from FBI Via local police department tomorrow for SRRV Police Clearance.
Everything we care about (Photos, legal docs, etc) have been scanned and moved to the cloud in several places. (OneDrive, Bitlocker, and on a tiny encrypted drive I carry).
We did go through a whole International Moving quote just to see if it was as expensie and as bad as everyone says. United International (Part of United Vanlines -- a premium moving company) quoted us a price of about $22,000 to $28,000 with no assurance that additional duties wouldn't be required at the port... and a warning that if we didn't collect items from the port within 7 days of arriva that everything would be considered abandoned... then seized and sold (withno refund and no recorse). It sounded like a bad deal. So, we went with 30 (24x24x17in) Balikbayan boxes at $80 ea for $3200 (no tax) shipped in lots of 5 per container over several months.
We are also working with a Marketeer in the Philippines. We decided to go with FastPass in Davao... as many local expates said they were good. They say that we should have our SRRV visas in hand about 5 weeks after we arrive... if we stop in about 1-2 days after we get there. My father and I will each need to do our own $10k deposit for SRRV Classic with pension.... plus the $1400 application fee (Each). I'll need another $300 for my wife... as we had an issue with a single document for her Dual CItizenship when we traveled to DC.
Soon we'll be booking one way tickets... with an additional throw away ticket from onwardticket.com for $30 so we have something to put in the eticket system when we arrive in the Phlippines.
Everything is going smoothly.
-Asawa
I'll be leaving for the Davao City area with my wife and father in about 30-45 days. I'll help my father through a separate SRRV Visa, as I do a 2nd for my wife and I.
We just moved to a hotel in the US, as an Estate Sale Company stages the house for a 3 day garage sale to liquidate everything. Afterwards, we'll list the house and take off.
We shipped 30 Balikbayan boxes ahead to relatives, with a generic "Personal and Household Items. Returning to the Philippines due to Retirement." We cited a generic $200 value of each regardless of what was in them, and UMAC (our freightcompany) is spreading out the shipments over 6 weeks so that no more than 5 are in any cargo container. They claim it will look like a commercial transfer if they go over 5 boxes (to an individual recipient) in a single container.
We've ported our phone numbers to a combination of Magic Jack (MagicApp) and Google Voice so we can do 2-Factor Authentication if either company is unavailable or dumps us.
We have been using NordVPN with a dedicated IP address in Miami, so we our digital footprint will look identical when we leave. (Our streaming companies won't know the difference).
After looking at more than a dozen mail forwading companies, we landed on TravilingMailbox.com.. and we'll use a mail collection address. They destroy junk mail, scan important looking mail, and manage credit card replacements. For credit card replacements, they offer two options. First, they can simply scan or relay the details so the card can be setup on a digital wallet (like Apple Pay). Second, they can forward them via FedEx, DHL, etc.
By choosing a Florida TravelingMailbox address as my new "Permanent" forwarding address, I still look like a Floridian for state taxes... and it matches my VPN, Phone Number Area code, etc.
We also setup our Schwab, Wise, and Revolut accounts... and linked them to our Credit Union and Fidelity. Any bank can send or pull from the other four. We told our credit union we were moving abroad for 2-3 years. They said that was fine... especially with our TravelingMailbox Florida address. We also have 3 credit cards with no international fees or currency conersion fees. (Fidelity Visa, Apple Card, and a Capital One card). From other expates, we've heard there is a 50/50 chance Chase and WElls Fargo will close our accounts with no notice.
I checked that our Term Life insurance companies don't care that I'm moving abroad, as long as I keep paying premiums. We are going to request our FDJI 1164 fingerprint card from FBI Via local police department tomorrow for SRRV Police Clearance.
Everything we care about (Photos, legal docs, etc) have been scanned and moved to the cloud in several places. (OneDrive, Bitlocker, and on a tiny encrypted drive I carry).
We did go through a whole International Moving quote just to see if it was as expensie and as bad as everyone says. United International (Part of United Vanlines -- a premium moving company) quoted us a price of about $22,000 to $28,000 with no assurance that additional duties wouldn't be required at the port... and a warning that if we didn't collect items from the port within 7 days of arriva that everything would be considered abandoned... then seized and sold (withno refund and no recorse). It sounded like a bad deal. So, we went with 30 (24x24x17in) Balikbayan boxes at $80 ea for $3200 (no tax) shipped in lots of 5 per container over several months.
We are also working with a Marketeer in the Philippines. We decided to go with FastPass in Davao... as many local expates said they were good. They say that we should have our SRRV visas in hand about 5 weeks after we arrive... if we stop in about 1-2 days after we get there. My father and I will each need to do our own $10k deposit for SRRV Classic with pension.... plus the $1400 application fee (Each). I'll need another $300 for my wife... as we had an issue with a single document for her Dual CItizenship when we traveled to DC.
Soon we'll be booking one way tickets... with an additional throw away ticket from onwardticket.com for $30 so we have something to put in the eticket system when we arrive in the Phlippines.
Everything is going smoothly.
-Asawa
Loading Posts
No Replies... be the first to comment.
