Job Discussion Forums

[bruniasty]

Hello everyone!
I been watching the Job Discussions Forums for a quite long time now and I do have a questions regarding working in Taiwan. I do understand that it is very difficult for non-native speaker to find a teaching job, but can anyone advise me step by step what should I do to be able to work and stay in Taiwan? Here is a little background about me:

I was born in Poland and moved to the United States to pursue studies. I graduated from catholic high school and now I will graduate from University at Buffalo, New York on December 2005. Although I have only minimal teaching experience that I received in school, I was a teacher assistant for ESL classes in my first years of high school. On January 2006 I am planning to move to Taiwan since my fiance is Taiwanese; therefore, I need a job to support myself. Unfortunately I do not posses an American passport, but I can offer any school that would potentially hire me with contract that may last for more than a year and wilingness of working as many hours as necessary by the school. I will also accept lower pay if contract is offered, since I do not plan to save up money and leave the country - I plan to work there and live there for good.

Basically this is it, now what should I do? How can I go to Taiwan and be able to stay there legally? I cannot marry my fiance now, maybe in 3 years, so this is out. I tried to contact some of the recruters but they always say: no passport - no contract. I also tried to contact different schools but most often I received no responce. It is very important for me to move to Taiwan and be able to support myself there, and I am willing to do anything, even if I have to get small salary, just to be able to be there.

Please, if anyone knows any recruiter that could help me or any school officials that would hire me (even if I have to do visa runs, since I will attend schools in Taiwan to learn Chinese) I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thanks for reading my post
Mac

[Chris_Crossley]

Hi, Mac, and welcome to the forum!

I can understand the difficulties you are facing if you are not a U.S. passport holder. For many schools in the Far East, a passport is like currency: you just have to have the "right" one; if not, forget it. As far as their mentality goes, sometimes it is like offering to pay for something with stones when what they want is the "proper" hard currency.

You may get schools telling you that their country's government will consider issuing visas "only" to those who hold passports from certain countries, but that may be just BS. Usually, schools who trumpet the so-called employment of "native" teachers want to make sure that the parents of younger students will have absolutely no grounds for complaint. American English is so popular nowadays, yet teachers have to have a U.S. (or Canadian) passport to teach that because it is a kind of "approved currency".

The lack of it will disadvantage you to a considerable extent, even if that is in no way your fault, but, in the end, that can be very frustrating for those people who, like yourself, have benefitted from the American high school system and speak the lingo as good as any U.S.-born "native" citizen (and I don't just mean in the ethnic sense).

I would say keep on persisting, even if schools say no because of your lack of passport. Alternatively, if you find that time marches on and that all schools you approach in Taiwan say no to you simply because you do not have a U.S. passport, you could always consider mainland China, provided that your fiancee could herself travel there and you could be together. I know of a few non-native speakers who have got perfectly good jobs teaching English on the mainland.

Incidentally, is it not possible for your fiancee to join you in the U.S.A.?

[bruniasty]

Thank you Chris for your reply,

Yes I do face troubles of finding work in Taiwan since all recruiters do not even give me a chance, even though I have a lot to offer as being honor nominated student. However, I am not aware of one situation. Will Taiwanese immigration grant me a working permit if a school applies for it? Since one of the recruiter that I had contact with simply said I will not obtain working permit due to lack of American passport and he insisted me to get one, which... is simply a joke.

I am planning to go to Taiwan on August for visit so I will look around. Unfortunately, like you said, we are not able to decide where we are born and in my belief this is harsh for people like me to face the reality. I really love to teach and on the long run I plan to finish my masters in education.


Mainlaind China is, at least for now, a no. Relantionship between Mainland and Taiwan is not looking to good and it will be very hard for me and my fiance to meet each other since she is not allowed to enter China freely. Also, she just got her masters in Tesol from American University, and recently, she came back to Taiwan to teach; therefore, there is no chance she will return to States to teach English. To find a job for teaching English as a second language in the United States for non-native speaker is close to impossible, so this, unfortunatelly, is also a no .

I will keep your suggestion and I will try persist on any replies that I may receive. After all, I do not ask for much - just enough to cover my living expenses for time being. Well, thank you for your responce and hopefully after a long weekend I may get an email or two from some schools. [/quote]

[Chris_Crossley]

[bruniasty]

Chris,
After I read your reply I called my fiance right away and I told her about her being my "agent" and she said ok. When I go to Taiwan for visit this August, I will try to look around. So thank you again for your suggestions.

You made me feel much less worry about the working permit situation, since I thought that if I do not have native speaker passport - I cannot obtain papers to work. So thanks again .

By the way, finally one of the school responded me very warmly, and I am in process of sending all the documents to her, I hope it will pass.

Warm regards

[Chris_Crossley]

[Ki]

The American or Canadian passport is considered by many schools as being important. Not having any native English speaking country will also hinder you. However, being white, provided that you are white, is probably your biggest advantage. That and speaking without any strong accent (at least without any strong non-North American accent) will count in your favour.

Arrive on a two month tourist visa and sign up for Chinese classes. Visa runs every 6 months could be nice holidays in neighboring countries. You should be able to do this for about two years before the authorities start clamping down on you.

You will be able to find a job. It just might be a little harder for you. Don't sign anything from overseas. You need to be in Taiwan to see the job. Otherwise, you will get screwed. Also, being available to start immediately often counts as the most important factor.

Marry the girl. Why wait three years? It will be so much easier on you if you were married. You wouldn't have to worry about paying for Chinese classes, visa runs, and you wouldn't have to work ILLEGALLY.