Brunei or Philippines
Two countries side by side across the same rows as the full comparison. A dash means the value is missing: fields are not filled with guesses. about the data
| Brunei | Philippines | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | — | — |
| Citizenship | 20 years | 10 years |
| Partner can work | no | yes |
| Parents | — | — |
| Pets | no trouble | no trouble |
| Pet limit | no limit | 3 |
| Quarantine | no | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 946 · estimate | $ 373 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 31,6 | $ 22,6 |
| Life expectancy | 75.5 | 69.95 |
| Homicides/100k | 0.49 | 4.31 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 2.8 | 8.2 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: Brunei — 19, Philippines — 32. Types present in both: work, family, investment and repatriation. Brunei adds: talent. Philippines adds: study and retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
Brunei: the fee is 50 BND wherever it is published. Philippines: fees range from 1,010 to 37,060 PHP. Routes with no fee: 2. Routes stating an income threshold: 1; the lowest is 800 USD a month. Routes with a published decision deadline: 1; the shortest is 2 days.
Beyond the first permit
Permanent status: Philippines after 1 year; the other country publishes no term. Citizenship: Brunei after 20 years, Philippines after 10 years. Neither recognises a second citizenship. A spouse’s right to work: Philippines — yes, Brunei — no.
Brunei in brief
Brunei is an oil-and-gas monarchy on the island of Borneo with one of the most closed long-term entry regimes in the world. The grounds for working residence are the Employment Pass, rigidly tied to a specific employer and requiring the employer to hold a Foreign Workers Licence from the Department of Labour, the Professional Visit Pass for select categories of experts, the Dependant's Pass for family members, and the Student's Pass. For none of these categories does the immigration service's official website publish processing times. There is no separate permanent residence status with a published number of years: the closest analogue, the Entry Permit, is granted at the discretion of the Controller of Immigration without an objective criterion. Naturalisation is governed by the Brunei Nationality Act (Cap. 15): 20 years of residence in the country out of the preceding 25 years, an oral exam in Malay before the Language Board, and a decision made entirely at the Sultan's discretion; time spent in the country on temporary passes (including work passes) does not count toward this period unless the Sultan directs otherwise. Dual citizenship is not permitted. There is no personal income tax — the Income Tax Act taxes only the income of legal entities. The country's economy rests on the extraction and export of oil and natural gas. Since 2014 the Syariah Penal Code Order, 2013 has been phased in and is in force; under the code's direct provision (s. 3(1)) it applies to both Muslims and non-Muslims unless expressly stated otherwise, and it includes hudud and qisas categories of offences. The sale of alcohol is banned throughout the country (Excise Order, 2006, s. 73).
Philippines in brief
What sets the Philippines apart from its neighbours is the language: English is official and used in business, so there is no separate language barrier. Getting in is easy — 30 days visa-free under a wide list of countries, extendable on the spot; permanent status through marriage arrives after one probationary year, which is rare in this guide. The 9(g) work visa, on the other hand, is firmly tied to the employer: the labour department issues the hiring permit for that specific company. The digital nomad visa created by Executive Order No. 86 in April 2025 is not open to everyone: the reciprocity condition requires the applicant's country to issue such visas to Filipinos itself and to host a Philippine Foreign Service Post. The order sets no income threshold at all — the widely quoted figure of 24,000 dollars a year comes from consultants' commentary, not from the text. The main constraint is not bureaucratic: on the INFORM scale this is one of the most hazard-exposed countries in the world — earthquakes 9.7 out of 10, tsunamis 9.4, typhoons 9.2. Naturalisation takes 10 years and requires giving up the previous citizenship.
Other comparisons
Brunei or… Taiwan · South Korea · Japan · Thailand · Kazakhstan · Lebanon · Uzbekistan · Malaysia
Philippines or… Azerbaijan · Bangladesh · Kuwait · Iraq · Mongolia · Oman · People's Republic of China · Sri Lanka
More on each: Brunei · Philippines. Build your own comparison — up to four countries
This material is for reference and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Visa rules, tax thresholds and prices change. Before deciding anything, check the official sources and consult a licensed professional in the relevant country.