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Globetrotta
Joined: 13 Nov 2004
Posts: 3
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 Posted: Sat Nov 13, 2004 8:33 pm Post subject: Visa question, Please help |
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A question for all you Taiwan experts out there�
Based on all the helpful information I�ve acquired on this forum as well as other useful tips found at http://www.geocities.com/taiwanteacher2002/Success.html , http://www.forumosa.com and http://www.tealit.com I have developed a plan for coming to Taiwan.
But before I tell you about my plan, let my give you some quick background:
My Objectives:
� I want to work/live in Tai-Chung city
� Starting early January 2005
� Part-time, so I can enjoy the city and study the language (and save some money)
� Live in a decent single apartment that is close to my school
My Background:
� I have a two year college diploma
� Tesol certification
� And 1 � years of teaching experience working for an English school in Japan (on working holiday visa)
� I will complete all necessary courses for a BA in December 2004.
My Problem:
� I will not receive my parchment until mid May 2005, but I will have an official letter from the university and a transcript verifying that a degree is on the way. (I will also be carrying an original copy of my college diploma everywhere I go)
� Do Taiwanese officials know the difference between a diploma and a degree?
My approach so far:
Plan A:
1. Apply for a �multiple entry, tourist visa for business purposes� next week.
� How do I explain �business purposes� to the consulate?
� Is this the ideal visa to apply for?
2. Book flight for early January
� Can I book a 1 year open ticket without getting hassled by customs, even though the flight return date wouldn�t logically match the length of my tourist visa?
3. Fly into Tai-Chung airport and find a youth hostel.
4. Start job hunting immediately and look for decent school.
5. get the company to sponsor me for an ARC
� Is it possible to get a decent job without a university parchment? As mentioned earlier I will have a college diploma, Tesol, and other experience. I will have no official degree in hand until mid May 2005, but many documents to corroborate I am a university graduate.
� I don�t mind navigating Taiwanese bureaucracy and working the system, but I would much rather move through this process as legitimately as possible. In other words, I want to spend as little time as possible in government offices and more time enjoying the country.
� I have no interest in getting deported, but I don�t want to wait until May before coming to Taiwan. What should I do?
Plan B:
I have been speaking to the notorious Cosmos Education Consultant Company recently. They seem to guarantee me a job in Tai-Chung. They will pick me up at the airport and train me in Taipei and send me to work in Tai-Chung.
I sent them a scanned copy of my passport, college diploma and a recent photo. Oddly enough, they appeared to be satisfied with a scanned copy of my college diploma. I also had a telephone �interview� with one of their recruiters. They seem to be very keen on bringing me aboard.
Based on all I have experienced it seems they can get me a job (despite the degree issue) and make my entry into Taiwan a lot less stressful.
� If I am to �avoid Cosmos like the plague�, are there any good recruiting agencies?
� Should I even consider this option at all?
So guys, girls, what do you think? How should I approach this?
What are my best options?
All advice would be greatly appreciated and carefully considered.
Thank you |
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wombat
Joined: 18 Jun 2004
Posts: 134
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| Posted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 2:58 am Post subject: Re: Visa question, Please help |
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The first piece of advice that I would give you would be to basically ignore the advice that you got on Aristotles site and the forums at Tealit. This is not a personal grievance against these two sources, but a valued opinion.
Aristotles site is a free-website run by a guy who claims be the head of an illegal teachers organisation here in Taiwan. A lot of the information that he offers is now out of date as it does not reflect the changes that have occured here in Taiwan in the last two years or so.
Tealit's forum has been so heavily and unreasonably moderated that anyone who has used for a long time (experienced foreigners in Taiwan) have long ago tuned off. This has resulted in a forum of pretty much newbies dispensing advice to other newbies. Sure, sometimes they get it right, but more often than not you will see posts like 'a friend of a friend of mine said that...'. Not really quality information I think you would agree.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
My Background:
� I have a two year college diploma
� Tesol certification
� And 1 � years of teaching experience working for an English school in Japan (on working holiday visa)
� I will complete all necessary courses for a BA in December 2004. |
While I have stated on this forum that it is possible to get a legal job with the educational background that you have, it is important that I let you know that it won't be easy. Most schools will insist upon at least a full bachelors degree. Some schools mistakenly think that this is the minimum requirement, and others just prefer to be able to put your information up on a wall in the school stating which foreign university you graduated from. This will make the job search difficult, but not impossible.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
My Problem:
� I will not receive my parchment until mid May 2005, but I will have an official letter from the university and a transcript verifying that a degree is on the way. (I will also be carrying an original copy of my college diploma everywhere I go)
� Do Taiwanese officials know the difference between a diploma and a degree? |
You will need the original documents - letters and transcripts will not be accepted by the CLA. You should wait until you have these in hand before coming as it will make things a lot easier for you, particularly considering that you are alreadyn behind the eight ball when it comes to your educational background.
The second part of this quote suggests that you have been paying too much attention to Aristotles site. Of course the autorities know the difference between a diploma and a degree, and it is rather condascending to suggest otherwise.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
Plan A:
1. Apply for a �multiple entry, tourist visa for business purposes� next week.
� How do I explain �business purposes� to the consulate?
� Is this the ideal visa to apply for? |
Another indication that you have been paying attention to Aristotles posts, as he is the only person on any forum that I have ever seen recommending this. Either he is a genius and he knows something that none of the rest of us do, or things are not as straightforward when it comes to obtaining and using the 5 year business visa as Aristotle would have you believe. I don't believe that it is the former. To get this visa you would obviously have to lie to the visa office, and most likely forge some proof (an invitation letter). It would be interesting to see Aristotles reply to this question, and also the question as to whether the authorities readily transfer this visa over to a fully legal resident visa once you find a job.
The best visa to arrive on in my opinion is the one that probably 90% of legal foreign teachers arrive on, and that's a 60 day visitors visa for tourism purposes. Before you secure a job and start working you are effectively a tourist so you don't need to lie on your visa application, and once you have secured a job this is the only visa that I am aware of that can be transfered over to a Resident Visa for work purposes without too much trouble. It almost seems as if the system were set up this way, as this is what all of the relevant government departments seem to expect.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
2. Book flight for early January
� Can I book a 1 year open ticket without getting hassled by customs, even though the flight return date wouldn�t logically match the length of my tourist visa?
3. Fly into Tai-Chung airport and find a youth hostel.
4. Start job hunting immediately and look for decent school.
5. get the company to sponsor me for an ARC |
Arriving before Chinese New Year would not be a good idea as few schools will recruit a new teacher just prior to the major holiday period of the year. Best to arrive after Chinese New Year once everything settles down again.
If you have an open year return ticket then you can change the date of your return flight. Book a return flight home for within your initial visa period and then just change that return date if you happen to find a job and decide to stay. Booking a return flight for a year later, when you are arriving only on a sixty day visa could raise some eyebrows, and would be impossible to explain. Why risk it?
I am not sure that Taichung airport accepts many, if any, international flights yet. Best to plan an arrival at CKS Airport in Taoyuan (near Taipei) and then just take an airport bus to Taichung. This would be pretty cheap and easy to do, even in English.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
� Is it possible to get a decent job without a university parchment? As mentioned earlier I will have a college diploma, Tesol, and other experience. I will have no official degree in hand until mid May 2005, but many documents to corroborate I am a university graduate. |
As metioned above, 'no'. Best to wait until May.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
� I don�t mind navigating Taiwanese bureaucracy and working the system, but I would much rather move through this process as legitimately as possible. In other words, I want to spend as little time as possible in government offices and more time enjoying the country. |
You will be able to acheive this objective by working within the general procedures of the system such as I've outlined above.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
� I have no interest in getting deported, but I don�t want to wait until May before coming to Taiwan. What should I do? |
That's a catch 22 isn't it. 'I want to drive drunk through a breath testing station, but I don't want to lose my licence. What should I do?' The obvious answer, 'Don't'.
The facts are simple. You cannot work legally before you produce your original certificate. This seems reasonable as the authorities have no relialble way of verifying the letter or other transcripts. If you truely want to work legally then you will need to respect the system that protects legal workers, and abide by the rules, even if they are not in your favor.
You could possibly arrive as planned and study full time until your documents arrive, but you can't legally work until you are processed for that purpose.
| Globetrotta wrote: |
Plan B:
I have been speaking to the notorious Cosmos Education Consultant Company recently. They seem to guarantee me a job in Tai-Chung. They will pick me up at the airport and train me in Taipei and send me to work in Tai-Chung.
I sent them a scanned copy of my passport, college diploma and a recent photo. Oddly enough, they appeared to be satisfied with a scanned copy of my college diploma. I also had a telephone �interview� with one of their recruiters. They seem to be very keen on bringing me aboard.
Based on all I have experienced it seems they can get me a job (despite the degree issue) and make my entry into Taiwan a lot less stressful.
� If I am to �avoid Cosmos like the plague�, are there any good recruiting agencies?
� Should I even consider this option at all? |
When travelling overseas you need to use a good deal of commonsense and do research. The fact that you posted your question here suggests that you are trying to be as thorough as possible.
If the legislation states that you must have your diploma and other original documents in hand for the authorities to process you, then what makes you think that a private recruitment company can some how get around this. Even if they could, would you be happy working for a company that is able to break the rules and get you a job illegally. Afterall, if they bend the rules one way in your favor, surely they could bend them the other way to your detriment. There are no legal shortcuts, and attempting to find them will just get you into trouble.
Of course the recruiter wants you to get here ASAP. They don't get paid a cent until you sign up at a school and start working. The fact that you won't be able to get your work permit until after May will not bother the recruiter as they will have already been paid for the job. The problem then becomes yours, and at the end of the day you are the one that would be punished if you were caught, not the recruiter. |
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