Job Discussion Forums

[lumber Jack]

That's what I'm looking for! And that's my lame attempt at a seductive thread title I'm afraid.

You see, I'd like to work in Taiwan, but I have a 1 year old son and a Korean wife, so though I'm not fussy about jobs or cities (though I'm up for nice jobs if anyone would like to give me one!) I'd like to get a decent apartment. I'd like to arrange that from Korea, but the job adverts often say "temporary accommodation while you look for a place". Will I just have to head out by myself? Should it be easy to get a decent place quickly?

My wife is a Chinese major but she still worries a lot about the dirt, you see. As to myself I'm another one of these herberts with an on-line app.ling MA, I also have a regular Chinese studies MA, TEFL cert, seven years exp and a reasonablish level of mandarin.

[Welshguy]

Certainly if you were to choose Taipei then I cant imaging why you would have a problem finding a decent apartment for around 10000-15000 or so a month depending on location of course. This gets cheaper outside of the capital as well.

W

[lumber Jack]

Thanks for that Welshguy. Therefore, people pretty much always find apartments for themselves?

Anyone know if employers in Taiwan are happy to sort out papers for dependents?

[Xenophobe]

You should have no problem getting a teaching job at a local university (why they require Masters and above is merely window dressing as the level of English competency is low, even in university students here) or highschool. As to getting visas for your family, it is pretty straight forward. All you have to do is prove your relationship (marriage license and a birth certificate). You and your wife will require medicals as well. You then need to submit your degree, work permit(provided by your Taiwanese employer), medical and passports along with the proper forms and fees to the closest Taiwanese mission. Within a week or two you should have your passports back with resident visas.

Costs for apartments range. We have a four story townhouse, with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and are paying 11 000 a month. Our last place we had as part of the contract so no rent. Our first place was a huge 1600 sq ft fully furnished 4 bedroom apt, located beside the Cultural Centre in Kaohsiung. The rent ther was 28 000 a month but like I said it was huge and fully furnished. Kaohsiung tends to be a lot cheaper than Taipei when it comes to cost of living. Not as many western conveniences, but they are steadily increasing. While traffic can be annoying, Kaohsiung is easy to navigate. Taipei trends to be hotter in the summer and cooler in the winter than Kaohsiung, but the air quality tends to be better.

[lumber Jack]

Thanks Xenophobe, that sounds pretty positive stuff.

It seemed to me that the situation in Taiwan was a bit like Korea though, plenty of nice university jobs around if you are qualified and on the spot, but somewhat tricky to get hold of if you are anywhere else, so you would have to spend some time in the country sniffing around to get one. (They certainly don't appear on Dave's jobs board too often - even regular high schools and such like seem rare) My dear wife wouldn't like me having such a little job seeking holiday very much - and it sounds like the visas would then be tricky too. On the other hand, I've seen a good few people here warning others off from taking a job from outside of the country - is it really so risky?

Anyway, since I work in a Korean university, my experience is more geared towards teaching academy kids !