Job Discussion Forums

kidkanada · Posted: Sat Jan 10, 2004 9:25 am Post subject: Some advice for a newbie please

Hello, I need some advice on my situation here. Im 24 Canadian male with no BA. Im currently traveling around SE Asia and i want to come to Taiwan to look for work in a couple months. Since i dont have a BA is it practical to just go to taiwan and look around for a job in the papers or something? Do the employers actually contact your University to make sure your degree is valid? Any advice is apreciated. Thank you.

brian · Joined: 15 May 2003 Posts: 299

If you are totally committed to coming to Taiwan to work then by all means come. According to the information that you have posted, it is next to certain that if you were offered a job then you would be working illegally. If you are not committed to coming to Taiwan to teach, you might be better heading to another country where a BA isn't a requirement.

If I have read your post correctly you seem to be enquiring about the possibility of using a fake degree. This has certainly been done in the past, and many have gotten away with, while others have been caught. It would depend upon the school as to if they checked it or not. What is for certain though is that you would be arrested and deported if someone did find out that it was a fake degree. The authorities seem to go pretty soft on some things here, but fake degrees is something that they don't seem to have much of a sense of humor about. I recall seeing a foreigner being arrested and carted away, amid groups of angry parents on the local news not too long ago. Do so at your own risk.

Overall, you might be better off heading somewhere else.

daily chai · Joined: 16 Nov 2003 Posts: 150 Location: Brussels

Kidkanada, Brian gave good advice. Personally, I'm in Taiwan now with degrees & experience but I'm thinking of moving. It is not the land of opportunity it once was, when I used to live here a few years back. You would definetly have to teach kids. It's hard to find a job teaching adults, especially a legal one. Check out www.tealit.com for part time work. Those jobs are illegal, so they couldn't require a degree. Be sure to ASK first, and look before you leap.

If you want to invest in your future, why not look into a distance degree program to do alongside teaching? Canadian programs might be able to offer you financial aid too. It's cheaper to live in many parts of Asia than Canada, so you cuold really get the most bang for your buck.

Take care!

Aristotle · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1388 Location: Taiwan

Do come to Taiwan you will have no problem finding a job teaching English.
Don't use a fake degree as that is a good way to end up in trouble. Just tell a little white lie and say you have a degree but it is in the mail.
More than likely you will never be asked for it again unless you want to apply for a work permit which is a bad idea for nearly everyone.
Get a multiple entry visa and make visa runs. You can quit anytime you wish and will lose far less pay and rights doing so if you work without official government permission.