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My Wife’s Experiences Working in America as a Filipina

By Bob / January 21, 2019

Your Filipina will likely want to work in your country. Mine was a teacher for special needs children in the Philippines.

Hard working-not a complainer.

My wife started as a temporary worker and later got hired full-time.

She sends money home monthly, pays two bills, invests for her future and now has a car payment! Oh, and a 401-K too. She also insists we use a grocery card that gives us some cash back on gas purchases!

One time her mamma thanked me profusely for my wife’s latest help. She thanked me because as my wife put it, “you allowed me to”.

If she can do work that may eliminate issues with money to help her family. It is appropriate to help her family.

Staring out

While in the Philippines, my wife told me she wanted to work in America “with me”, meaning, she wanted to go to work with me at my company, which is a large manufacturing plant of close to 600 employees.

We got her SSN, then she was able to work and pay taxes.

While on a long vacation with my wife after she arrived, we went to the agency and she got an interview, did a language and math assessment, signed up on a website, did a drug test, watched a video on the particular department she’d be working in, then we prayed for an opportunity. Since she couldn’t drive at the time, the ONLY option was a packaging area near mine that started at 6 am.

Since I started at 7, my boss was kind enough to allow me to start at 6 so I could drive her to her job with me! Sure enough and praise God, the call came as my company specifically asked for her. We worked at the same time until they changed her hours.

Even starting out she made a lot more than an average worker would in the Philippines.

She was supposed to be there for 2 to 3 weeks for a certain rework project was completed, then no guarantees. She was giddy. I talked to her at length about the need to make a good first impression and she certainly did!

Making a good impression

I told my wife jobs are not automatic by any means here in America and talked to her about the little things they would be looking for such as punctuality to work and from breaks, not complaining, asking questions, being polite and friendly, and “sticking your nose to the grindstone”.

She is beautiful and little and looks younger than her 30 years. People could talk since they know or will find out I am her husband and am much older than she is.

I was a little nervous the first day we showed up together just because I wondered how people would react when we saw each other at breaks. We always sit together and I haven’t sensed any “talk” about us. We sit very close together, but that is how we are anywhere else. I have to resist hugging and kissing her because she isn’t comfortable with PDA.

 The table we sit at is where her coworkers sit so I stand out when I sit with her but everyone treats us like any other couple.

No doubt there will be curiosity and coworkers will talk about us (hubby also talks a lot about his Filipina). They have seen her photos on my screensaver. She is very attractive and many men will talk about her, but I can’t control that. I already have heard after I married her in the Philippines that not everyone at work thought highly of that move.

My coworkers realize I found a gem in the Philippines. I am sure they are a little shocked but I always stress that the way I treat her and the way I talk about her must reflect someone who really loves her and wants to take care of her. I don’t see how anyone could have a problem with that.

Working might be a great way for her to integrate herself in my country and to help with homesickness. She calls the group leaders “sir”. I am very proud of her.

My boss introduced himself to her and told her he had heard good things about her. Wow. Now she has ten little work uniforms and that was a good sign they wanted to keep her indefinitely. They found her the smallest size of shirt and pants and they are still too big! 

"My coworkers realize I found a gem in the Philippines."

Balance between work and life

She is thrilled she can get paid for not working (vacation, caregiving leave). She tends to work 40-60 hours a week.

And, despite how much she likes to work, she told my mom she would quit her job to take care of her if she needed that. “Filipinas make the best wives” they say. No argument here! Even with this work schedule she is still able to take care of our home and me too.

She has embraced saving money. She even saves coins.

She doesn’t have to live one day at a time anymore.

There have been no problems with money being used behind my back. I have treated her like an adult, like my wife, from the start. Maybe this is why she is eager to be responsible with money. Maybe it is because she is just good with money, but I have not had any horror stories with our finances.

A wife is a man’s helper. I did not envision my wife helping us like she has financially, and I am proud of her. She has also been a blessing physically and emotionally. She tells me when I am out of line with my behavior and so helps me to be a better man.

Naturally men looking toward the Philippines want a beautiful Filipina, but many don’t consider that she can also provide help financially if she wants to work. I have a hard-working woman in my Love Beyond The Sea!

About the author

Bob

Happily married to a lovely Filipina Bob V loves to encourage and inform honest men who are looking for a serious relationship with a woman in the Philippines. You can find him at his channel Love Beyond the Sea.

2comments
Jeff - April 7, 2019

Please know guys that “She tends to work 40-60 hours a week.” So that’s 240 + 40 hours 280 hours a month to support her family back home ? Every Pinay is the same they aren’t going to marry you for your handsome looks only 🙂 it is a way out . Affluent Filipino will never look at a foreigner or date you. What you will get are the ones who have huge family responsibility and or single moms. Be aware your filipina wife will be hounded by family and relatives for money . If you say no or try to control it she will give you tampo and cheat on you with someone who will give in . They are smart women and beautiful . Her family will always come before you .

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Bob - April 10, 2019

Thanks for your comments Jeff. I do allow her to support her family back home, but she also has a brand new SUV to pay off, and pays two utility bills for us. She works hard for her money.

I believe you are correct about her not marrying me for my great looks alone, I fully understand a Filipina needs to provide for her family, especially her parents, and there isn’t much she can do about that other than be shamed. Often enormous family pressure is placed on a Filipina.

The money issue is something that naturally must be discussed before marriage if possible, because she is almost guaranteed to want to work to help them. This also applies when her husband has so much money she doesn’t need to work, but she probably will anyway, because she sees supporting her family as her obligation, not her husbands.

Oh yes, smart and beautiful, I know. As a matter of fact, just this evening I told a man interested in a Filipina the same thing, I told him that her primary, main objective in marrying a foreign man is to be able to provide a better life for her family. This is what an Ethiopian coworker told me when I married my wife. He told me to consider an Ethiopian woman, but I should know that her family comes first.

Be that as it may, I don’t care. What I care about is being the best husband I can be to her. I love her family because she loves her family. Because of that, I have a wife who I cherish deeply, who gives me all the satisfaction I could want in our marriage.

Yes, she would prefer someone her own age in her own country, but often the Filipina feels she can get a more committed and faithful provider in another country, which is smart.

It is also my responsibility to make sure she doesn’t feel she needs to cheat on me.

Also, believe it or not, Filipinas can tell their family’s “no” from time to time. She will work hard in America, and with the taxes and high cost of living, will think twice before just handing over her hard earned money.

Bob

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