Job Discussion Forums

[celia]

Hi, I've been reading messages on this site for quite a while, but just decided to start posting. I have taught English in Germany and China before, and have taught other languages in the USA. And I have an M.A. in linguistics, so I hope to find a good job in Taiwan.

I'm going to Taiwan in October to look for a job. I'm very concerned with working legally after having been burned by EF in China. Funny, I live in Sweden and it felt secure to go to China with a Swedish company (yes, EF is Swedish). Ha,ha,ha.

So here's my first question:
Is there such a thing as a tax-free, legal job in Taiwan?
I'm seeing lots of ads for them, claiming they are tax-free AND legal. Obviously I'm very skeptical.

My second question:
Should I believe schools that want me to enter Taiwan as a tourist and then switch to a working visa?

In China they assured me I should come on a tourist visa and switch to a work visa in China. I'll spare you the details of what happened. I'm very wary now. I have a ticket to Taiwan in October, to look for a job. I want to sign a contract, return to Sweden and apply for a work visa, then come to Taiwan again. I suspect a lot of schools will try to talk me out of this and ask me to switch to a work visa IN Taiwan. Should I believe their promises that it will work?

I appreciate all advice. And yes, I have used the search function on this site already.
Celia

[I_is_teach_English]

[celia]

ok, i understand that it's normal, but do a lot of people get screwed over? I don't want to end up in the same situation as in China, where they kept promising myself and the other teachers that our work visas were being processed and would come "any day now...", and in the end it turns out they have no intention of getting you a work visa at all...

How can I prevent that from happening to me in Taiwan?

And by the way, thank you for the information and the helpful links.

Thanks,
Celia

[BigWally]

hi celia

I'm actually arriving in Taiwan in about 10 days with my GF and we are both arriving on Visitors Visas. We already have jobs in place with a school that we have friends already employed with, and they will be making sure that all the paperwork gets started for us to transfer those VV's into Resident Visas as soon as we arrive.

Obviously, as with everything in life, there are no guarantees, but from the information I've researched, there seems to be much more "questionable" activity taking place in english schools in China, than in Taiwan.

Clearly, coming from a bad experience in China, you would have every right to be wary about arriving in Taiwan, but in all honesty, it seems that flying all the way back to Sweden at your expense is unnecessary. I've heard of many people just travelling to Hong Kong, or a few other places to make their VV's into Resident Visas. Also, If you find a job, odds are the employer is going to want you to start right away, especially with your credentials.

As "I Teach" mentioned, you will be taxed, and that works based on your stay in the country. Their tax year runs JAN to DEC, and if you are arriving in October you will pay the "non-resident" tax rate of 20% for those few months. Starting in January you will become a resident after working for 183 days (start counting Jan 1, i think that number is right) that will make you eligible to pay the "resident" rate of 6%. Do a quick search on TAXES, there have been some excellent posts on this in the past few months.

I would be cautious of anywhere that is offering you "tax-free". As well, if you're not paying taxes, how can it possibly be legal? What country anywhere allows you to work tax free legaly?

I hope this helps you out a bit, obviously as I'm not in Taiwan yet, I'm not the greatest resource of information, but I have been doing A LOT of reading, and posting in the past 8-10 months or so.

One last idea...if you're really concerned with job security, and keeping the visa situation as easy as possible, perhaps you may want to consider a larger chain school operation (ie. Hess) which "in theory" provides more support & a softer landing, which may be just the thing you need after coming off an experience as you had in China.

Ganbei!

[celia]

Thank you very much for your info. Actually, I'm not looking for a tax-free job, what I'm trying to do is sift out all the job ads that are actually for illegal employment. I figured I could immediately sift out anything claiming to be tax-free, but I wanted to double-check. Some of the tax-free gigs are public schools, after all, and I was surprised that public schools would be illegally employing teachers.

Ok, so maybe I shouldn't go back to Sweden to apply for the visa. But when I asked about application procedures at the Taiwan embassy here, they told me applying for a work visa can take a couple of months. In that case I don't want to stay in HK or China during the waiting period, I'd rather be at home with my boyfriend in Sweden.

But if the application process can actually be done in Taiwan, then I could stay there and start working. Do I need to get a 90 day visitor visa to allow for time to switch to the work visa? My plane ticket to Taiwan is only for a 3-week stay, so I don't imagine they will grant me a 3 month visa, unless they do that automatically.

Again, I'm thankful for all tips and personal experiences.

Celia

[BigWally]

Technically you would start work while still on a Visitors Visa, and during that time your Resident Visa application would be processed. Depending on how fast the school gets your paperwork done, you may only see 4 to 6 weeks before you have your Resident Visa in place.

It just seems like a GIANT waste of money to fly from Sweden to Taiwan, back to Sweden again and then back to Taiwan, when realistically you can arrive and most likely begin working within a few weeks.

Again, this is coming from the information I have been given by friends and from other posts on this and other websites.

Cheers!

[SanChong]

To answer your question: Yes, a visitor visa is the correct way to enter Taiwan. I'll spare you the complicated legal details, but this is the way all teachers here do things. It would be great if the government offered a different way of doing this, but this is currently the only practical way of getting a working permit in Taiwan.

As for sifting through all the jobs out there, you should take a look at

Buxiban website at:
http://Buxiban.com

Reach To Teach
at http://ReachToTeachRecruiting.com

Buxiban is a listing/rating of schools. Reach To Teach is a Human Resource Company which only places their teachers in legal, honest jobs.

[BigWally]

i just recieved an email today from the admins at buxiban indicating that they will soon be charging $30usd to maintain a "membership" to the website, below are the contents of the email.

Membership Notice from Buxiban.com

This is just a quick email to let you know about some changes over at the Buxiban.com website. As an existing member of the site we ask that you log on to the site within the next seven days if you wish to maintain your membership account. If you no longer wish to be a member of our site then you need not do anything and your account will deleted from our system after seven days.

Membership Options

Temporary membership to our site is free of charge and this gives you access to everything on our site with the exception of the schools and reviews databases. To obtain full access to these areas of our site we now ask users to support our site through the payment of an annual membership fee of USD30. To make payment please log on to your account and click on the 'Subscribe Now' icon to make a secure online payment. Bank transfers within Taiwan and China are also available so send us an email if you are interested in this option.

Get Paid to Review Schools

In an effort to reward those users who become full subscribers to our site we now offer payment for school and recruiter reviews that meet our review guidelines. Temporary members and casual users may also post comments on our site but we are unfortunately unable to offer payment to non-subscribers.

Teacher Mentors

Both full and temporary members who post comments about schools and recruiters on our site can elect to participate in our 'Teacher Mentors' scheme. This is simply a list of teachers who have experience with nominated schools and who make themselves available to answer direct questions via email about these schools. Full members to our site can contact these teacher mentors directly through our site for first hand information about schools and recruiters.

Job Search

The jobs area of our site is not the main emphasis of our site but is quite a popular area of the site. Full members can research schools that offer positions on our site simply by clicking the 'More Information' link within each ad. This will take you to the school listing page as well as any comments that have been made about that school.

If you are using the site for a job search then please remember a few points:

1. Please confirm that you meet the minimum requirements of the position advertised. In particular are considerations of nationality and academic qualifications which may be listed in job ads. In Taiwan these requirements are set by the government such that only passport holders from Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK, Canada, and South Africa, can be considered for legal positions. If you are not from one of these countries then the employer is not able to employ you regardless of how good your English ability may be. Some schools in China have similar restrictions.

2. We recommend that you check and re-check your correspondence for spelling and grammatical mistakes prior to sending it out to schools through our site. Nothing turns an employer off faster than an application for an English teaching position that is full of spelling and grammatical errors.

3. It is generally best if you write in an amicable but friendly tone. Try not to sound too demanding, or too confident in the correspondence that you send through our site. It can often be best to phrase your requests and requirements as questions rather than demands. The standard rules of business communication should apply as far as addressing your enquiry and the content that you include.

4. We ask schools and recruiters to contact all applicants within 48 hours of receiving your application for a position. Unfortunately it is not standard business practice for Chinese companies to do this. Should you not receive a reply to an application that you send through our site then this likely indicates that the school is not able or willing to offer you a position and that you may be best pursuing employment at an alternative school. All correspondence goes directly to schools and Buxiban.com doesn't maintain any involvement in this process.

Does Buxiban.com do teacher recruitment?

No. Buxiban.com is not a recruitment company and we have no hand in recruiting teachers. As a result of regular requests for assistance in this regard we have however entered into a services agreement with a recruitment company that has a good reputation locally. This company provides free placement services for teachers and can be contacted through the link on the front page of our site titled 'Teacher Placement Services'. The recruitment company does not pay us anything for teachers that they may place through our site, but they do maintain paid school membership to our site along with many other schools and recruiters.

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Regards,
Admin