Job Discussion Forums

[Northwood]

So, what happens when you get deported?

My question is based on the example of someone caught teaching illegally.

1. Are you fined in the process?
2. Is there any form of hearing/appeal?
3. How long do you have to leave the country?
4. Are you ever allowed to return to Taiwan? If so, when and in what capacity?
5. Does deportation from Taiwan have a negative effect on future visa applications to other countries?
6. Any other questions I should be asking?

Please, no moral guidance. Just the facts.

[markholmes]

I have to assume they also cut out your tongue and cut off your fingers to stop deportees talking or writing about their experience. I say that jokingly, because first hand accounts of deportation are extremely rare, in fact in five years of surfing teaching websites and knowing English teachers in Taiwan I have never met anyone who has been deported.

That's not to say that it doesn't happen, but I think it's a lot rarer than some people make out.

In answer to number 5, it certainly won't help you get visas for other countries that's for sure.

[Ki]

A twist on number 5 is that if for whatever reason you are deported from Taiwan you can always state that you have never been deported from another country. Most places don't officially recognise Taiwan as being an independent sovereign state. So even if you have been deported from Taiwan you haven't actually been deported from a country, at least in the eyes of the new country.

[SanChong]

[TaoyuanSteve]

[clark.w.griswald]

I understand your point TaoyuanSteve and it is one that needs to be made, but I don�t entirely agree with it.

In my opinion it is the individual person�s responsibility to ensure that he or she is acting within the law � no matter how silly those laws may seem. If the law of Taiwan states that it is illegal for us to work in kindies, then no matter how much every person on this island may disagree with that law, it is the law, and anyone who chooses to ignore it or act contrary to it is placing him or herself at risk of getting into trouble for their choice.

The only exception in my mind would be teachers who did everything that they could to be legal, but were misled into believing that they were working legally when they weren�t. The most common example of this would be people who are given an ARC unaware that it has been issued through the name of another company and therefore has them working illegally. In those cases I fully support the idea that the government should protect the teacher and punish the employer.

[TaoyuanSteve]

[Northwood]

Thanks to SanChong and others for your replies.

It would be appreciated if anyone out there is prepared to share their first hand experience of being deported from Taiwan.

On the matter of whether individuals should be responsible for knowing their legal status: well, it probably doesn�t even occur to most westerners that they could be working illegally. Most of us have been raised in an environment where it is unheard of that an employer would offer a contract that to all intent binds you into illegal work. For obvious reason, employers in Taiwan are not going to educate us on this matter. It is therefore up to the individual to become more worldly, aware, suspicious and ultimately informed.

In the eyes of the law, we cannot expect ignorance to get us off the hook. I agree that the government could do more to promote awareness and understanding about the laws. If caught out, you could ask for leniency and try to point the finger at someone else � but at the end of the day it is up to you to empower yourself with enough knowledge to make an informed decision.

It is for these reasons I am asking what happens when you get deported. I want to assess the implications and make a decision for myself. That�s what life is all about.

Choose your own category:
Those who make things happen
Those who watch things happen
Those who wonder what happened

[SanChong]

Steve said:

[twinkletoes]

I have known three people who have been deported in the last month. One was working illegally at a kindergarten. One had an ARC through a buxiban and was hired believing that's all her job would entail but her boss talked her into doing some hours at the kindy he also owns and assured her it would be okay. (It was insinuated that if she said "no", she would lose her job and ARC). Now she's gone. The third has a fully legal job with ARC, but took some substitute hours for a buddy who needed a day off. The school was raided, and the police don't care that he was only there for one afternoon, not actually employed there. Bye-Bye.

NOTE: these are not people I have heard "of" being deported, these are MY FRIENDS. Having people you like suddenly get ripped from your life really sucks. I used to enjoy their company and now they are gone.

Northwood: I'm not up on the technicalities of deportation. Forumosa forum (link in questions thread) has a whole forum specifically for visa & ARC issues and legal matters. Do a search over there and you can read stories of what it was like for a few people to go through deportations. (just type "deported" or "deportation" into the search box and it also might help if you search specifically in the legal / visa/ teaching english/ forums as opposed to every forum on forumosa.) I remember skimming a few threads over there where somebody got deported, asked for advice, got advice from posters, and updated their whole saga over the time period which it occurred. If you go there and dig some of those up (some of them are 10+ pages long) maybe you can post some links on this thread. You will learn far more from reading those FIRSTHAND accounts and the advice they received by people more knowledgeable than I and the outcome of following that advice than you will from anything I could tell you even if I wrote everything I know for ten pages.


I am fully legal and will accept NO substitute hours for anyone at another school regardless of how much I like them. If my boss asks me to do something illegal, I'd find another job.

Kudos to you for doing the research necessary to making sure you prevent unfortunate things happening to you. [/b]

[Jared]

[SanChong]

[Northwood]

[SanChong]

All good points and I agree with all of them. However, all the issues you mentioned are economic. Really, the entire world is having the same issues. The problems with jobs, money and technology going over to China is an issue the US and Europe are dealing with as much as Taiwan.

Politically and on a governmental level, Taiwan is entirely independent. That may change, but aside from a LOT of talk and posturing, nothing much has changed since the 50's.

[daily chai]