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TheMoon
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 7
Location: New Orleans
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 Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 1:49 am Post subject: Questions re: coming to Taipei to look for a job (maybe?) |
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Thank you to any and all who review this post in advance. I have spent a significant amount of time reviewing prior posts regarding ESL instruction in Taiwan, but have a few questions. I sincerely thank anyone who provides information right now, because this is a major life adventure for me and I can only rely upon the information I have found on this and other sites in making decisions.
After sending off several resumes, I was contacted by David Huang (thanks, again, David), who has suggested that I to come to Taipei before I have a position.
Has anyone here worked with David before?
He has been quite helpful and has not made any untoward requests so I am inclined to believe him -- but I thought it might be a good idea to make at least an attempt at investigation before taking the big plunge.
Should I obtain a Tourist visa, obtain a visa upon arrival, apply for a "work" type visa in advance...?
Will the contracts be written in English?
Finally, can anyone recommend a good hotel to help ease the culture shock? |
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Aristotle
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1388
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:42 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| I was contacted by David Huang |
Names are meaningless on Taiwan. People change them with the seasons. Get a land line telephone number and/or address to check a persons background and verify they are who they say they are.
You can do this by going to the telephone company and typing the telephone number of the person into the billing machine. You will get a telephone bill with the persons name and address on it.
| Quote: |
| Should I obtain a Tourist visa, obtain a visa upon arrival, apply for a "work" type visa in advance...? |
Get a multiple entry tourist visa for business purposes. Here's how.
http://www.voy.com/113223/223.html
| Quote: |
| Will the contracts be written in English? |
English is not a recognized language on Taiwan that means any contract written in English is not worth the paper it is written on to you. Employers on the other hand have no problems getting English contracts recognized or ruled invalid depending on their intentions.
Do not sign a contract you can not read. If they insist upon it ask for a copy of the contract and call the Taiwan legal assistance foundation or scan it and email it to SSETT for a recommendation.
Bilingual contracts often differ in the English and Chinese text. You will see a line at the bottom that says only the Chinese text is valid.
Contracts are not required to get an ARC, a letter of intent is all you need from your employer to get an ARC.
Don't sign a contract that allows for pay deduction of any kind not stipulated under the labor laws of the ROC. If you do you waive your rights under the labor laws and are now a slave to your ARC sponsor.
Hostels and hotels:
Here is a good place to start.
http://www.bootsnall.com/hostels/asia/tai/taip/
http://www.theglobalexplorer.com/taiwan/hostels/taipei.htm
Please read this.
http://www.geocities.com/taiwanteacher2002/Success.html
Good luck,
A. |
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sbettinson
Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 81
Location: Taichung
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:35 am Post subject: |
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I don't have any advice to offer on the job front regarding contracts.
However, if you are coming here with no job organised you need to organise yourself a visitors visa before you leave. Most people seem to arrive on a 60 day's visitor visa. It all depends on what country you are coming from as to what visa they will issue. I am from the UK and managed to get a 60 day single entry visa. Do not arrive on a landing visa as you cannot convert this to an ARC. You have to leave the country on a visa run to do that. If you are on a budget then doing one of these will eat a nice portion of it.
As for hotels I have some advice for your stay in Taipei. I arrived with my girlfriend in November and had booked into the Paradise Hotel that was listed in the Lonely Planet guide. I had found some photos online of the hotel and it looked really nice. Apparently there are two Paradise Hotels in Taipei and the one in the Lonely Planet guide is not the one I saw online. It was an absolute dump and 800NT a night!
The majority of the hotels/hostels located near to the train station in Taipei that are listed as budget are pretty basic. After 1 night in the Paradise we went hotel hunting and visited about 10 of them in the area. The best way to obtain a room in these hotels is to visit, have a look at one of the rooms for yourself and then decide if you want to stay there or not.
We finally chose a hotel called the Royal Park Hotel which they gave us for 800NT a night. It was basic and pretty clean (although not marvellous) and was cheaper than 2 beds in a hostel as they charge for the room. If you are travelling on your own I would honestly recommend staying in a hostel as you are going to meet people in the same boat as you. Stewing in a hotel room on your own is a seriously lonely experience - even for 2 people!
If you want to lessen the culture shock during your first 2 or 3 days before moving into one of these hostels then try something in the mid-range category although the cost rises quite a lot. These larger mid range hotels have the nice lobby and signs outside. The budget ones tend to be hidden away or not noticeable until you get up close. For example I have stayed in the First Hotel which I thought was pretty decent. It's in a nicer looking area of the city and would certainly lessen the initial shock. However I think it is around 3000NT a night which is pretty steep. I wasn't paying though, my school paid. (I work for one of the larger chain schools here)
When are you coming to Taipei as I would be happy to dig through some of the cards I got in Taipei and try to remember which ones were the better of the budget hotels.
We are now in Taichung though as our school had job vacancies at their branches here. If you are ever down this way then the place to stay here is the Fuh Chun Hotel near the train station. The women who run that place are absolutely wonderful! They looked after us so well, gave us fruit, drinks, pringles, chocolate etc nearly everyday. The room was also 600 NT a night!
Shaun |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:28 am Post subject: |
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| Aristotle wrote: |
| Quote: |
| I was contacted by David Huang |
Names are meaningless on Taiwan. People change them with the seasons. |
That's a bit of an exaggeration. It is true that sometimes schools change their names to avoid bad publicity, just see how many names the school called Little Forest has had over on the blacklist at Buxiban.com. Another trick is to use acronyms for their names, again check out IACC over on the balcklist. But to suggest that individuals change their name for this purpose is going over the top.
I did a search over at Buxiban.com for the name 'David Huang' apparently he is associated with the recruiter John Dewey International, which is actually recommended by that site. It seems that he could be a good recruiter, despite the fact that you don't need a recruiter to find work here.
| Aristotle wrote: |
Get a land line telephone number and/or address to check a persons background and verify they are who they say they are.
You can do this by going to the telephone company and typing the telephone number of the person into the billing machine. You will get a telephone bill with the persons name and address on it. |
In Taiwan? In English?
Is this seriously meant to consitute good advice for someone who is not even in Taiwan?
| Aristotle wrote: |
| Get a multiple entry tourist visa for business purposes. |
This type of visa does not entitle you to teach in Taiwan legally.
You would be far better off taking the advice of sbettinson and get yourself a 60 day tourist visa. It will be a lot easier to get, will require no forged documentation or lying, and will be more readily acceptible should you then find a job and want to change over to a resident visa.
| Quote: |
| Will the contracts be written in English? |
Most contracts for English teachers are in Chinese and English, but in most cases the Chinese version is the one that prevails in the case of a dispute. So for all intents and purposes you are really signing a Chinese contract. At reputable schools this isn't too much of a big deal, however you would want to exercise a certain degree of care if you were signing such a contract at a smaller school. This is one good reason that newbies are best served starting out at a well known chain school then you need not worry about this problem.
It is legal to have a contract entirely written in English as the law states that it need not be a Chinese contract to be enforceable. The fact however is that Chinese employers feel more comfortable with a Chinese contract, and I can certainly appreciate this. Were the roles reversed and I was employing Chinese staff back home, I know that I would want a contract written in English.
Be careful, but don't be overly concerned about this issue.
| Aristotle wrote: |
| English is not a recognized language on Taiwan that means any contract written in English is not worth the paper it is written on to you. Employers on the other hand have no problems getting English contracts recognized or ruled invalid depending on their intentions. |
This is incorrect. The legislation clearly states that an all English contract is a requirement under Employment Legislation for foreign English teachers.
See Employment and Supervision of Foreign Persons
| Quote: |
Article 13
An employer shall sign, with foreign persons engaging in the lines of work prescribed in Sub-Paragraph 7 and 8 of Paragraph 1, Article 43 of the Act, a fixed term labor or employment contract prior to the foreign workers entrance into the Republic of China.
The duration of employment of the contract mentioned in the preceding Paragraph shall not exceed the limit time permitted by the central competent authority.
The contract mentioned in Paragraph 1 shall be made in Chinese and translated into the native language of the employed foreign workers. |
| Aristotle wrote: |
| Do not sign a contract you can not read. |
This is not helpful advice. Considering that every employment contract for foreign teachers is likely to have a Chinese component to it, this advice is invalid. The only exception may be some international schools recruiting 'overseas hires'.
| Aristotle wrote: |
| If they insist upon it ask for a copy of the contract and call the Taiwan legal assistance foundation or scan it and email it to SSETT for a recommendation. |
Care to provide the contact details for this 'Taiwan legal assistance foundation' that you name.
I wonder whether SSETT accepts responsibility for offering legal advice when looking over contracts. Aristotle, do you guarantee your services in this regard. If not, then aren't you creating a sense of false security. If you happened to overlook something, it would be the teacher that would have to wear the consequences afterall. I would suggest that teachers who are really concerned by this aspect of employment in Taiwan would be better served paying a registered lawyer to do this for them, but personally I am not sure that it would be worth the money.
Aristotle - What is your office address should someone want to take up your offer and have you look over a contract for them?
| Aristotle wrote: |
| Contracts are not required to get an ARC, a letter of intent is all you need from your employer to get an ARC. |
Incorrect. You need a work permit and a resident visa in order to get an ARC.
In order to get the resident visa you need to get a work permit. And in order to get the work permit you must provide the CLA with a signed contract in the Chinese language from a registered school showing that you will be working more than 14 hours a week.
You cannot secure an ARC for the purposes of working with just a letter alone.
See Applying for an Alien Resident Certificate
| Aristotle wrote: |
| Don't sign a contract that allows for pay deduction of any kind not stipulated under the labor laws of the ROC. If you do you waive your rights under the labor laws and are now a slave to your ARC sponsor. |
Again, impractical advice. Most schools charge a premature contract breach penalty. This is perfectly legal and inline with the situation that faces local staff. What is not legal, and hence not enforceable is the taking of these deposits upfront or out of wages by way of a bond. These penalties may only be deducted from the final pay, or pursued through civil court action. Despite what Aristotle may suggest it is not something reserved solely for punishing foreigners. In fact if you were to compare the penalties levied you would see that the penalties levied by the schools we work for are far more severe for local workers than they are for us foreign workers.
The second part is wrong also. An employer cannot legally enforce under a contract something that is illegal under the law. Foreign workers have rights here in Taiwan, and employers cannot contract these away. |
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Girl Scout
Joined: 13 Jan 2005
Posts: 525
Location: Inbetween worlds
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 10:05 am Post subject: |
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I have had experience with David Haung from John Dewey International. He was great on the phone and in e-mails. However, when I first got here he did try to rush me to pick a school and sign a contract. There were few problems when I wanted to see a school before signing a contract. I never did sign with him. I actually found a school on my own.
Check out the school before you sign. |
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TheMoon
Joined: 10 Feb 2005
Posts: 7
Location: New Orleans
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| Posted: Wed Feb 16, 2005 7:44 pm Post subject: Thank you -- really (more thanks and just a few more queries |
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Too rarely is the internet utilized for its highest and best purpose (subjectively) -- the fast and free exchange of information between individuals in distant locations. I have to be honest with you guys, I consider myself intelligent, but I also recognize that it is quite possible that I am not so intelligent as I believe. Hearing from those of you who are in Taiwan now, knowing that there are real, live people who have tread this path before and lived-to-tell, is reassuring. I am no coward, but I am quite frightened. The descriptions of others' general experiences and also the posts about teaching experiences, crime and culture are the bread and butter of my preparation.
But I do have just a few more questions so I thank you all again for your patience.
I am not worried about racism (how can someone who doesn't even understand the concept of racial oppression be racist?). I was raised by white hippies. I understand that I will be physically different from the native population and that people may stare at me (for example) because I am black. But honestly, will I have difficulty finding a job? Does anyone know if this is even an issue? I only asked because I was warned by my former managing partner's son (I used to be a lawyer; but I never hurt anybody who didn't deserve it -- I promise  ) insisted that the Chinese and Taiwanese do not welcome blacks to their country. It occurred to me that the boss's son, who is my age but was still in college when I graduated from law school, may have had his own objectives...
Do I need a new mobile phone?
Is $5,000.00 US enough to live on until I get my first pay check?
Is white linen frowned upon... is linen frowned upon?
I am guessing that I should only bring clothes (well, also my Cannondale moutainbike, though its much too ostentatious, and my slot car track), but should I bring all of my business suits or will three be enough?
How difficult is it for a person of average intelligence to learn to speak Chinese -- I mean Mandarin?
Will you guys be annoyed if I keep asking questions when I get to Taiwan ? |
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clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
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| Posted: Thu Feb 17, 2005 2:02 pm Post subject: Re: Thank you -- really (more thanks and just a few more que |
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| TheMoon wrote: |
| But honestly, will I have difficulty finding a job? Does anyone know if this is even an issue? |
Unfortunately is an issue, but not to such a degree that you should reconsider your plans to come here. My advice is that you attach your picture to any applications that you send to schools. The ones that don�t reply are quite possibly the ones to whom your color was a problem, and good riddance to them. You can then concentrate on the ones that are genuine in their job offers. My guess would be that overall you could expect about a 30% rate of interest.
The good news is that the schools that do offer you a job are likely to be the better schools as far as managed in a way suitable for foreigners.
| TheMoon wrote: |
| Do I need a new mobile phone? |
It would certainly be handy. In fact a lot of people don�t worry about putting on a home phone but choose to live off their mobile. I brought mine from overseas and just changed the chip here. You may be able to do that, but you best check with your phone company.
| TheMoon wrote: |
| Is $5,000.00 US enough to live on until I get my first pay check? |
I would say yes. A lot of people have survived here on a lot less.
| TheMoon wrote: |
| Is white linen frowned upon... is linen frowned upon? |
I am afraid that I don�t understand this question.
| TheMoon wrote: |
| I am guessing that I should only bring clothes (well, also my Cannondale moutainbike, though its much too ostentatious, and my slot car track), but should I bring all of my business suits or will three be enough? |
Depends upon what you are going to be doing here. If you are going to be teaching in a buxiban then one suit should be enough. You won�t need it for work and would probably only ever wear it to a wedding.
| TheMoon wrote: |
| How difficult is it for a person of average intelligence to learn to speak Chinese -- I mean Mandarin? |
I think that Mandarin isn�t too difficult to learn. I speak, read, and write with a capability to converse relatively freely and write letters to friends. It takes time and learning characters is repetitive business, but I didn�t find it too difficult to get to the level that I am at. I have a lot of respect for those that become fluent as the tones have been the most difficult part for me, and I doubt that I will ever reach the level of fluency where people say that I sound like a Chinese. |
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