South Korea 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
| South Korea | Philippines | |
|---|---|---|
| Salary in IT | $ 61 452 | — |
| Citizenship | 5 years | 10 years |
| Partner can work | no | yes |
| Parents | difficult | — |
| Pets | difficult | no trouble |
| Pet limit | 5 | 3 |
| Quarantine | 10 days | no |
| Residence permit fee | — | — |
| Rent, 2 bedrooms | $ 999 · estimate | $ 373 · estimate |
| Basket | $ 40,9 | $ 22,6 |
| Life expectancy | 83.63 | 69.95 |
| Homicides/100k | 0.49 | 4.31 |
| Natural hazards, 0–10 | 6 | 8.2 |
How the two sets of routes differ
Long-stay routes in this reference: South Korea — 91, Philippines — 32. Types present in both: work, study, family, investment and repatriation. South Korea adds: startup, talent, job seeking and working holiday. Philippines adds: retirement.
Fees, thresholds and deadlines
South Korea: fees range from 60 to 90 USD. Routes stating an income threshold: 1; the lowest is 1,500,000,000 KRW a month. 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: South Korea after 5 years, Philippines after 1 year. Citizenship: South Korea after 5 years, Philippines after 10 years. Neither recognises a second citizenship. A spouse’s right to work: Philippines — yes, South Korea — no.
South Korea in brief
South Korea combines a developed technology economy and low violent crime with a formal points system for long-term residence (E-7 → F-2-7 → F-5) and substantial restrictions on dual citizenship and on a spouse working. Parents, your own or a partner's, can only get the temporary renewable F-1-15 visa with no right to work. Natural hazards are moderate — seasonal typhoons and monsoon floods, earthquakes rare; the notable problem is air quality, the worst among OECD countries.
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
South Korea or… Taiwan · Japan · Thailand · Kazakhstan · Lebanon · Uzbekistan · Malaysia · Azerbaijan
Philippines or… Bangladesh · Kuwait · Iraq · Mongolia · Oman · People's Republic of China · Sri Lanka · Singapore
More on each: South Korea · 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.