Moving to asia

[freddie]

Hi all,

I am an IT Project Manger right now living in Germany, and I have determined that I want to live in Asia in the future, preferably in Thailand, China or the Philippines.
I am wondering if any of you folks have any tips for me on how to make my dream come true; I have a small amount of money I could invest, but I'm not sure about what to do and how to do it. You all are probably experienced in these things, I really would very much appreciate suggestions on what to do.

Thanks a lot in advance,

Freddie

[stogie bear]

Hi Freddie. You'll have to be very specific when asking questions on this forum and you'll also have to pony up a lot more information about yourself or the answers posted may be meaningless.

Use the search function and trawl the forum here as ALL your questions will be answered by a bit of patient mouse clicking!

You may like to visit www.thaivisa.com

Stogie

[Looker]

Very very basic tips from someone who has done the choice many years ago of being self-employed, in Far East.
a) Have enough money to be able to support y/self for at least one year W/O any business. Because it may happen!
b) Know your job sector very well. I have seen many people (included myself) venturing into sectors where they did not have a strong knowledge..
c) Choose a place where you can work easily, efficiently and troublefree as an independent businessman. Philippines is somehow a nice place but not so well suited for that, as an example.
d) Come already with a client portfolio.
e) Be careful about purchasing properties until you have known the markety properly well. You have no idea how many times I've heard "If I only knew..."
..and the list goes on..
Do not intend to scare you but making a jump from being an employee, if I've understood well as you are, to becoming a self-employed one it can be challenging

[Bravo]

Advice I was gven a few years ago which held me in good stead. Make a commitment to spend a specific period of time in the country of choice (say 3-6 months). If nothing works out, go home otherwise you will end sat in bar beers spending all your savings. Once here start meeting people and get a job, any job, and continue meeting people. If the initial job you get is not the one you want then you networking in the first year or so will help you find what you want. Do not, I repeat, do not, invest your savings in anything until you have been in Asia long enough to understand how things work. All the people I know who lost money did so because they did not have experience of understanding how things work.

[tropical]

Freddie,(just my thoughts,I am no expert)
 If you are looking to invest a small ammount of money in a business and retire in Asia then I suggest your local lottery or Casino may be more useful.
 Many people invest large amounts of money in businesses that eventually fail in Asia due to not understanding the customs and business culture that exists there.
This is assuming you want to still work in your field of expertise and live overseas.
 I would suggest you grow your business in your own country,where you are familiar with local laws,economics,language and have a bigger client base to whom you can relate easily to.
Work hard,take several well timed breaks a year and travel to prospective locations and research them on your holiday time, try to get any network connections going in that time.
  Once you have a reliable client base and maybe some staff you could look at relocating or branching out overseas.
 Remember there are plenty of  locals trained in your area of expertise,so unless you have something to offer that they dont,they will always have an edge on you.
 If this seems too dificult or too long to acheive success then you probably wouldnt make it in Asia without a lot of luck anyway.
 I wish you all the best

[limpdick]

I hear you! The EU and USA is too damm expensive!

First off you can forget China been here for 2 years, it sucks big time, if you like ladyboys there is basically none here, and oh I almost forgot it is a communist country that dont give a shit about anyone. Phillipines and Thailand are your best bet, in Thailand you can buy a nice place for 50K and it is pretty safe. Phillipines has better communication but there is a lot more danger there. I would bet Phillipines in the future will be a better place to live.

[stogie bear]