I got a situation/problem arising withing the next six months that I need to start thinking about now. I have read numerous posts on here for years and if it wasn’t for this site I really do not think I could have ever got my JFRV four years ago.
So here is my problem. Currently I am on my JFRV, and it expires in June of this year. Generally no problem, HOWEVER I am now divorced so I will not be able to extend my JFRV and I have to start looking for some other way to stay here since I do have a child with my ex and she does need my support and help even though she would never mention it. Plus it is my kid so I want to be here for him full-time not only a couple of weeks a year when I can get time to visit should I move back to the states.
I know the easiest way for most in my circumstance would be to get a job teaching, however I do not have a degree so I would not qualify for the work permit. Previous to moving to TAiwan almost 5 years ago I was in senior management at one of the top investment firms worldwide (Yes, without a degree!!!) and was in the industry for seven years in which I save up alot and semi-retired at a very early age so getting a job in the financial industry here is no problem. I worked at one for almost a year and have had plenty of offers, BUT I find the pay to be very low compared to stateside and the jobs extremely boring and slow paced so I am trying to stay away from that option.
During my time here since working at the securities firm, I used the contacts I made there and outside to create a lucrative (in that I have alot of free time and the pay is not too bad, enough to survive, save and give a big chunk to the well being of my child) business of assisting financial executives at the banks and firms consulting them on wide range of issues, but with this there is no way to get a work permit.
Sorry for the drawn out story, but to sum it up what can I do? I cant get a job teaching, and I would like to keep my small one man business going while staying here to raise my son. So what type of permit could I get? I wasn’t married long enough for the APRC (5 years), I don’t have a degree required for a teaching work permit, so is my only option to drop what I am currently doing and get a job at a financial institution (I have the required experience for a permit in finance)?
You most certainly can get a work permit by forming your own company and applying as an investor. It doesn’t cost a lot and given your work history there should be no problem dealing with the mechanics of it all.
Thanks I have never really thought about this option. Could you possibly guide me to where I might find some more information regarding the capital and steps involved. My little project is not too big nor do I wish it to be right now so I am not sure if I would meet some of the requirements that I am sure are there.
[quote=“iamjkk”]Thanks I have never really thought about this option. Could you possibly guide me to where I might find some more information regarding the capital and steps involved. My little project is not too big nor do I wish it to be right now so I am not sure if I would meet some of the requirements that I am sure are there.
Thanks!![/quote]
If you search for ‘representative office’ in the Business & Money forum you’ll find a comprehensive guide I wrote to setting up a small agency type company in Taiwan.
This occurred to me off the top of my head (I’m not actually familiar with the rules on JFRVs) –
Have you investigated whether you might be eligible for a new JFRV based not on marriage but rather on your relationship as a parent to your child? (Does anyone else on here know the JFRV rules and whether they encompass this?)
Hopefully you can get a resident visa one way or another and keep it long enough to fill out the time remaining to qualify for the APRC, which once gotten would qualify you for an Article 51 work permit so you could continue working for yourself under that.
[quote=“Rotalsnart”]
Have you investigated whether you might be eligible for a new JFRV based not on marriage but rather on your relationship as a parent to your child? (Does anyone else on here know the JFRV rules and whether they encompass this?)[/quote]
Hmm, get a local preggers, convince her to keep the child, and win residency!
Great concept. Still, something tells me it won’t fly. Worth a try perhaps … or not.
[quote]Have you investigated whether you might be eligible for a new JFRV based not on marriage but rather on your relationship as a parent to your child? (Does anyone else on here know the JFRV rules and whether they encompass this?)
[/quote]
No this will not work, I have already attempted this. However, they did say that I could stay here on a visitor visa and fly abroad every six months, but unfortunately I do need to work some and since I have a child here I do not want to take a chance getting caught.
I suppose I will attempt the agent option. Does anyone know how long this takes? Is it possible to do in six months?
Yes, you can get this done within 6 months. I recommend you go for a meeting with MOEA as a first step and explain your situation. Take someone Taiwanese with you if your Chinese isn’t fluent - they can be very impatient if you give them hassle but conversely they can be extremely helpful if you treat them well. First impressions will dictate your future relationship with MOEA and I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a well prepared and attractive business plan, wear a suit and speak confidently about why you need an ARC to do business here. Keep your mouth shut about anything you’re not directly asked about - some people really know how to dig their own graves. I have helped a few people get their representative office set up and the ones who did their homework and were nice to MOEA staff had everything go very smoothly.
There are two main sticking points with setting up the rep. office - 1) getting your foreign company documents notarized by your country’s Taiwan rep. office is a pain in the ass and 2) you will need some proof of existing contracts between your foreign company and Taiwanese companies to get the final authorisation to stay in Taiwan. Get this second one sorted out now - I shouldn’t have to tell you how to call in a few favours to do this
You will find this a lot easier if you already have a good few months time left on your current visa. It took me about 4 months but I reckon if you use my guide and don’t have to run around renewing visas at the same time you can get this done in two.
[quote=“llary”]Yes, you can get this done within 6 months. I recommend you go for a meeting with MOEA as a first step and explain your situation. Take someone Taiwanese with you if your Chinese isn’t fluent - they can be very impatient if you give them hassle but conversely they can be extremely helpful if you treat them well. First impressions will dictate your future relationship with MOEA and I can’t stress enough how important it is to have a well prepared and attractive business plan, wear a suit and speak confidently about why you need an ARC to do business here. Keep your mouth shut about anything you’re not directly asked about - some people really know how to dig their own graves. I have helped a few people get their representative office set up and the ones who did their homework and were nice to MOEA staff had everything go very smoothly.
There are two main sticking points with setting up the rep. office - 1) getting your foreign company documents notarized by your country’s Taiwan rep. office is a pain in the ass and 2) you will need some proof of existing contracts between your foreign company and Taiwanese companies to get the final authorisation to stay in Taiwan. Get this second one sorted out now - I shouldn’t have to tell you how to call in a few favours to do this
You will find this a lot easier if you already have a good few months time left on your current visa. It took me about 4 months but I reckon if you use my guide and don’t have to run around renewing visas at the same time you can get this done in two.[/quote]
Your orginal posts helped me a great deal getting started Llary but I have to say, half this stuff is just not true. Wear a suit?? Please … Business plan? Don’t have one & was never asked. You don’t need contracts with local companies either. Never had them.
For work permit OP needs to show a source of income - not necessarily via contracts w/ local companies. (He is in a different business/industry after all, and pursuing a different model than you.)
[quote=“Opihiman”]Your orginal posts helped me a great deal getting started Llary but I have to say, half this stuff is just not true. Wear a suit?? Please … Business plan? Don’t have one & was never asked. You don’t need contracts with local companies either. Never had them.
For work permit OP needs to show a source of income - not necessarily via contracts w/ local companies. (He is in a different business/industry after all, and pursuing a different model than you.)[/quote]
I’m curious about what is printed on your ARC - investor or work? Were you setting up a rep. office for a company that is 100% your own? I know some people who set up differently from me but they were not strictly working for themselves and ended up with regular work permits and work based ARCs. There is not much information readily available on the rep. office format and it would be very useful if you could add your own experiences to the thread in Business & Money.
I kept a letter from MOFA explicitly stating that I must provide MOEA with at least one contract with a Taiwanese company before they would authorise my resident visa. If you set up a rep. office for your own company and have an investor ARC without this contract then this an important development that others should know about.
I stand by my advice of going in smart and well prepared I tried to be as smart and polite as possible and ended up with a 3 year ARC and some very useful friends.
[quote=“llary”]I’m curious about what is printed on your ARC - investor or work? Were you setting up a rep. office for a company that is 100% your own? I know some people who set up differently from me but they were not strictly working for themselves and ended up with regular work permits and work based ARCs. There is not much information readily available on the rep. office format and it would be very useful if you could add your own experiences to the thread in Business & Money.
I kept a letter from MOFA explicitly stating that I must provide MOEA with at least one contract with a Taiwanese company before they would authorise my resident visa. If you set up a rep. office for your own company and have an investor ARC without this contract then this an important development that others should know about.
I stand by my advice of going in smart and well prepared I tried to be as smart and polite as possible and ended up with a 3 year ARC and some very useful friends.[/quote]
Investor structure doesn’t work for the OP. We are in the same industry. We get paid by overseas clients for our work in Taiwan - essentially no local contracts. (We are Taipei-based consultants for overseas clients.) Thus, your guidance along that line only serves to confuse.
But it can be done. I’m a partner in an LLP, employed by a sub company. Thus, a 3-year work ARC.
I was barely business casual & got all the help I needed, and more, from MOEA, CLA, MOFA. They follow the rulebooks, not likeability - though speaking Chinese goes a real long way. My experience was shared here:
[quote=“Opihiman”]Investor structure doesn’t work for the OP. We are in the same industry. We get paid by overseas clients for our work in Taiwan - essentially no local contracts. (We are Taipei-based consultants for overseas clients.) Thus, your guidance along that line only serves to confuse.
But it can be done. I’m a partner in an LLP, employed by a sub company. Thus, a 3-year work ARC.[/quote]
You went about your rep. office very differently from me. I don’t have any local customers at all but I was still asked to show contracts with a local company to get my resident visa authorisation. I vaguely recall talking to you about this when you were setting up and you were effectively coming into Taiwan as an employee (sorry, I don’t really remember). Yours is quite an unusual situation.
I might have misread the OP’s intention but it seems like he wants to be a freelance consultant while staying legally in Taiwan. If he’s not working for a foreign company already like you then he will need to go through a similar process as me - it doesn’t really matter what industry we are all in.
To the OP - sorry, we have taken your thread completely off track I guess one thing that Opihiman and I could agree on is that YES, you can set up your own thing in Taiwan pretty easily and should be able to get it done within 6 months.
I guess I should clear up a few things. I will be getting paid by Taiwanese companies/individuals for consulting. Got a lot of contacts in the financial sector with high-level executives, IR Dept. etc which give me various cases from time to time ranging from strategies to attract international investors to working with them on speeches etc. The cases are random and almost each one unique, but I do have one coming up that will be a year long project with a contract included so I suppose that will suffice for the agency requirements. Am I correct in this assumption?
As I said it is nothing big, however this research, etc. has gotten my entrepreneurial spirit going again so I am now thinking about taking it to the next level.
So should I just set a LLP or LLC in the states and register as an agent here in Taiwan for the said company?
Dressing nice? No problem it’s my habit anyway, don’t really have the chance too often to don one of my tailored suits so I’ll do that any chance I got. And it might not be needed, but I will work up a business plan for the hell of it. It’s been a long time since doing that. Just been getting my life sorted for the past year since the big D, so it will be good to get back to doing some work again. Thanks for the guidance!
[quote=“llary”]You went about your rep. office very differently from me. I don’t have any local customers at all but I was still asked to show contracts with a local company to get my resident visa authorisation. I vaguely recall talking to you about this when you were setting up and you were effectively coming into Taiwan as an employee (sorry, I don’t really remember). Yours is quite an unusual situation.
I might have misread the OP’s intention but it seems like he wants to be a freelance consultant while staying legally in Taiwan. If he’s not working for a foreign company already like you then he will need to go through a similar process as me - it doesn’t really matter what industry we are all in.
To the OP - sorry, we have taken your thread completely off track I guess one thing that Opihiman and I could agree on is that YES, you can set up your own thing in Taiwan pretty easily and should be able to get it done within 6 months.[/quote]
You were asked to show contracts because you needed a letter from the MOEA in support of your residence visa (if memory serves.) When it came time to pursue my visa MOEA told me such a process was ‘exceptional.’ I would not encourage others to try obtaining a visa as yet another ‘exceptional’ case.
As I’ve said, perhaps you should have just written yourself an employment contract. Would have been more straightforward than coming up with local contracts when by your own admission you had none.
Industry is VERY RELEVANT. Depending on how OP presents himself, he might need some clearance from Ministry of Finance. I avoid this by not having local clients - he may not, something those in Taiwan’s finance industry must remain quite careful about.
I guess one thing that Opihiman and I could agree on is that YES, you can set up your own thing in Taiwan pretty easily and should be able to get it done within 6 months.