Bringing Your Parents Over: the US, Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand Compared
Five countries, five different answers: where a parent can come for good, where only to visit, the cost, the wait, and the sponsorship promise you sign in each.
The practical guide for Filipino families, wherever life takes them
Caring for parents in the Philippines. Sending money home. The condo, the paperwork, the plan to return. Practical guides and calculators for the family life that spans an ocean.
Free: the Emergency Plan Checklist for families with parents in the Philippines
Printable, practical, and the first thing we send every new subscriber.
Start with a number
- How much care does Mom actually need?10 questions → a straight answer, and what it costs
- What would care cost back home instead?US memory care vs. a home team in Manila, side by side
- Am I losing money on every padala?What each provider really costs, margin included
Start with what's on your mind
Parents & Care
Caring for aging parents in the Philippines — from thousands of miles away.
Money Home
Remittances, family support, and pensions — without the guilt or the guesswork.
Property
The condo, the lot, the ancestral house — managed from abroad.
Coming Home
Dual citizenship, retirement, and moving a parent — the paperwork and the plan.
Immigration & Work Abroad
Petitions, visas, the queue — and what to tell the cousin who asks how to get out.
Featured calculator
What would Mom's care cost in the Philippines instead?
US memory care runs $6,000–$8,000 a month. Compare it, line by line, with hiring trained caregivers in Manila, Cebu, or Davao — salaries, benefits, and the real total.
Compare care costs →What changed · October 2026
The month's changes that actually affect your family
Dear Viva
The questions that are hard to ask out loud
My father refuses a caregiver. He's had two falls. How do I get him to accept help?
— Anonymous
Our helper keeps asking for cash advances. Are we being taken advantage of?
— Anonymous
My siblings won't help pay for Mom's care. What do I do?
— Anonymous
Send yours — money, siblings, aging parents, the guilt of living far away. We answer them here, anonymously if you prefer. Questions that need a licence go to the Ask an Expert columns: Philippine law, US immigration, taxes on both sides, property, elder care, repatriation.
New
Stay in — or buy — a place owned by a kababayan in the US
Condos and houses in Cebu, Manila, Davao and beyond, offered by Filipino owners living in the States. Someone you can actually call, in your own time zone.
Latest guides
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For the family backstop: the contract she should have, the rules that protect her in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Gulf, the no-fee law, and what to do when she goes quiet.
Keeping a Green Card While Living Part-Time in the Philippines
The six-month habit, the one-year cliff, the re-entry permit, and the tax return that proves you meant to come back — what an absent green-card holder must actually do.
The Filipino J-1 Teacher Pipeline: Three Years in a US Classroom — the Real Terms
What the J-1 teacher program really is, the two-year go-home rule most hear about in year three, the fee scams around it, and what the family should ask first.
The Nurse Pathway to the US: How Filipino Nurses Actually Get Here
NCLEX, VisaScreen, Schedule A, EB-3 — the real sequence, the real years, and the recruiter contracts worth reading twice. Also what it means for physical therapists and other professionals.
Nurses Abroad Beyond the US: The UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, the Gulf — How Each Door Actually Works
The US is one door with a three-year queue. The UK, Australia, Germany, Japan, the Gulf and Canada side by side — exams, English, visas and fee rules — on facts.