Job Discussion Forums

andrewhcolwell · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 3

Hello Cafe Land,

I have read that it is possible to stay in Taiwan without a visa for 30 days.
For any longer period, a visa is required.
So, I have a job secured. I want to arrive and then get the work visa afterwards. Typically, teachers seem to get the 60 day tourist visa and then switch over to the work visa for security's sake. Makes sense. But I've heard from the Taiwanese Representative Office that the transfer of the tourist visa to the work visa can result in "complications."
Q: 1) Just what are those "complcations?"
Q: 2) Has experience shown that it is generally not too bad an idea to arrive without a visa, stay for 30 days, and from there get the working visa through your employer?

Thanks for any assistance,

Andrew

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

The 30 day landing visa is not extend able without significant amounts of cash and/or quanxi.
If you come in on a 30 day landing visa you will probably have to make a visa run to change your visa.
You have three visa options as a foreign teacher on Taiwan.
1.You can obtain a visa (work permit and ARC) as a teacher before you come. This is by far the most complicated and difficult way to do it. This process is usually reserved for teachers at the two big international schools in Taipei. There have been reports that others have obtained a visa this way but they are rare (not recommended!).

2.Come in on a tourist visa (preferably for business purposes) and exchange that for an ARC if you choose to(recommended).
http://www.voy.com/113223/223.html

3. Come without a visa and obtain a landing permit good for 30 days, you can not extend or exchange it for an ARC (recommended for short term teachers).
It really comes down to how long you want to stay and where you are going to work.

It is not advisable to obligate yourself to an employer before you arrive on Taiwan.
Please read this.
http://www.geocities.com/taiwanteacher2002/Success.html
Good luck,
A.

clark.w.griswald · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 2056

andrewhcolwell · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 3

Thanks for the replies.

I understand the preferability of the tourist visa and see it as the best option. But I'd lik to know more about the landing visa.

Griswald:

clark.w.griswald · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 2056

Ki · Joined: 23 Jul 2004 Posts: 475

You say that you have a job secured before arriving here. Is this with a recruiter or a chain school? If it the former then you don't actually have a job. If it is the latter then you may be sent to some small country town with a lower than average pay. This may be fine if it is your first job and is what you want to do.

andrewhcolwell · Joined: 21 Jan 2005 Posts: 3

I was notified of the job through the recruiter, but I know where and with which school I am going to teach. I called the school and talked to the British teacher there who said it was a kosher place to work at. The recruiter is CAT's and the school is JOY English School.
Now I believe I've seen warnings about teaching with JOY Education, but after talking at length with the teacher (who didn't seem like a paid informant), I decided that the most important thing about the school was that they would pay on time and not screw you. That's what he said. And apparently one school from a branch can be completely different than another school of the same branch.
The salary (NT 55,000 for 22 hrs pr week) is good and the benefits are acceptable, in so far that they are trustworthy. We'll see. Certainly the risk has not been completely avoided and so I hope to get my tourist visa. Does anywone see a huge NO-NO in any of what I just said?

Andrew

clark.w.griswald · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 2056

Joy is one of the better, if not the best chain school in Taiwan. To my knowledge there have never been any huge problems with them, and the majority of comments are very positive. If you check out the www.buxiban.com website you can see that Joy School's head office is the only school on that site to get a five star rating. Reading through the comments about the school you can see why. I have a number of good friends that work there, and therefore I have a pretty good understanding of that organization.

It is true that each individual branch is independantly owned and run, and therefore experiences will vary from branch to branch.

CATS is a relatively new recruiter as far as I can tell. They appeared a couple of months ago, and have been flooding message boards with offers ever since. There is a CATS school in Taipei, and I assume that the school has decided to branch out into recruitment. There is no reason that you have anything to be concerned about, but had you not chosen to go with them you could have secured a job direct with the Joy school in question as their contact information is quite readily available on the internet. I think that this is most peoples point of view when it comes to recruiters - Why deal with a recruiter when you can contact the school itself?