Job Discussion Forums

[brettb]

Hi Everyone!

This is my situation.

My girlfriend and I are planning on coming to Taiwan without jobs lined up. We've made a comprehensive list of ESL schools that we will be contacting when we're there in search of work.

Can anyone who has done the same offer any advice regarding visas / work permits?

Without a job lined up before we get there I think we can only get a visitors visa. To add confusion to the matter, I've just read on the Taipei Cultural & Economic Office Canada website that:
"Effective April 1st, 2011, the Republic of China (Taiwan) visa waiver for holders of Canadian passports is extended to 90 days from its current 30 days for non-working purposes. The Canadian passport holders who wish to enter Taiwan must possess passports with at least 6 months validity, and provide necessary supporting documents if asked by customs officers."

I've also read that:
[i]"Holders of visitor visas are not permitted to accept employment without prior approval from the Taiwanese government. Persons whose application for employment is approved must leave Taiwan to acquire a resident visa at a Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office abroad."

So now I might not need a visa at all for the first 90 days, but then if we do find work will we need to leave and re-enter the country to get a resident visa?


Thanks in advance for any advice that you can provide.

[ptm234]

I came here last summer with no job in hand looking for a job. I eventually found a job. I'm Canadian and came with a 60 day tourist visa which allowed me to accept employment and receive a work permit without having to leave the country. Then the work permit is needed to apply for an Alien Resident Certificate. Under a 30 day visitor visa back then wouldn't allow me to do this. I would have had to leave the country.

So 60 day tourist visas are no longer given anymore? Try for that, if they don't allow that, then you may have to look in Taiwan for a job and then leave the country and come back in.


Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any more questions.

[brettb]

Thanks ptm. They are now issuing up to 90 day tourist visas to Canadians.

Based on your reply, it sounds as though maybe you didn't have to make a visa run and you were able to get your resident / work visa / ARC without having to leave Taiwan. Is this correct and if so, how did you do this?

One last question / clarification:

Do I understand correctly that I will need three separate documents
1. Resident visa (to be obtained after I am offered a job)
2. Work permit (obtained by the school I am working for)
3. ARC (obtained by the school I am working for)


Thanks so much.

[yamahuh]

In your first post it sounds as if the TECO office is now allowing tourists to enter the country and remain there for 90 days without a visa (instead of the previous 30 days that they allowed before) yet in your subsequent post it sounds as if you are talking about them issuing a 90 day tourist visa.

The actual wording that I found here:

http://www.roc-taiwan.org/CA/ct.asp?xItem=188573&ctNode=150&mp=77

states that Canadians can enter Taiwan visa exempt for stays of up to 90 days for non-working purposes. This is not the same as being issued a 90 day tourist visa. It means you have no visa but are allowed to stay in the country for up to 3 months and it is probably in response to the Canadian Govt offering a similar program to Taiwanese tourists entering Canada in the fall of last year.

This doesn't sound like good news for people wishing to work however. So far as I know - and please feel free to correct me - you cannot use a visa exempt entry to get a work permit. In the recent past we were able to (try and convince) the TECO bureaucrats that 30 days was not enough time to visit their beautiful isle and that we needed 60 day tourist visas which would allow us to be issued work permits without leaving the country.

Sounds like this is the Taiwanese way of getting people to stop arriving on non-working tourist visas and then working. It's going to force people to arrive, secure jobs, be issued work permits and then do visa runs to get resident visas, which kinda sucks when we used to have 60 days to find a job and not have to leave the country to get our work permit and ARC issued.

The TECO website I was looking at no longer even offered Tourist Visas.

[dangerousapple]

I think it might be possible to change 90-day visa free entry into a work permit. I did this exact thing for a teacher from Ireland last year. He had 90-day visa free entry as well.

The visa office first issued him a visitor visa, then immediately changed that into a resident visa (a pretty lame attempt to charge an extra fee, if you ask me). I forget what the amount was, but it was several thousand dollars. As this was merely a formality, it didn't add any extra processing time. The rest of the procedure was as normal, and he didn't need to leave the country.

I see no reason why it wouldn't be the same for us Canadians.

[yamahuh]

Wonder if it's possible to get confirmation of that from somewhere?
It would certainly make getting to Taiwan and looking for work much simpler for those of us who move around after contracts and end up having to go through the visa application to come back and seek employment.

Can't say I'd miss having to deal with TECO Toronto...

[ptm234]

My job hunt was a bit more complicated and wasn't smooth sailing for me when I arrived.

I had to leave the country due to certain circumstances so when I applied again for a tourist visa, the country I applied for it in only granted me 60 more days with"NO EXTENSION". When I got my job, I had to go to the ARC office as my work gave me my work permit to apply for my ARC. It was complicated because they couldn't give me an ARC with the "No extension" status on my tourist visa. I had to go to the National Immigration Office and apply for Resident visa on my passport. When I received that, then I applied for an ARC. I had to apply for my ARC where as other schools will do it for you.

Also, during my job hunt, some schools such as HESS require a police security check from your home city so to have your bases covered, it would be good to get it done as I heard more schools are asking for security checks.

[dangerousapple]

[rbos]

dangerousapple, you mentioned regarding the ARC, work permit, and resident visa that:

[dangerousapple]

Medical check ~NT$1500 (depends on the hospital, could be more or less)

Work Permit - $500

ARC - $1000 per year (if you sign a two-year contract you can get a two-year ARC)

There is also a fee for changing to or getting a resident visa. This can vary based on the country you come from. The last time I did this, the teacher had to pay $2200. As he had come in on visa-free status, I asked him to pay that charge, but I paid for all the others.

[rbos]

Thanks dangerousapple. Are these amounts you listed all in New Taiwanese Dollars rather than US dollars?

[yamahuh]

All prices quoted in $NT

[dangerousapple]

Sorry, my bad. All numbers are NT$.