I just quit my job (quite happily!) but have a new one on the horizon. I can’t avoid the visa run in between, however, so I would like to know how long I have before I need to leave. I’ve tried various locations without finding a definitive answer, and am having a difficult time finding a government link. (Forumosa’s search being disable hasn’t helped!) Anyway, does anyone know how many days I have and can anyone please provide a government web site with this information?
It depends a lot on when the paperwork gets submitted to your employer and how long it takes the CLA and NIA to process it. Only after that will the ‘you must leave by’ notice be issued. If you want to know for sure then check periodically with NIA if your ARC has been canceled yet. Once it has, they can tell you exactly when you must leave.
From the time the govt (NIA? CLA? FAP? Immigration? Not sure which) gets notification of the cancellation of your ARC, you’ll have 15 days.
If you parted on good terms with your old boss, and they don’t have any problems in regard to hiring your replacement, then they could delay the notification until the paperwork goes through for your new job.
If you didn’t part on good terms, then they’ve probably already told the relevant authorities, in which case you have 15 days minus however many it’s been since then.
And if you are changing jobs at the end of a contract, and your ARC is about to expire anyway, then you may need to leave as soon as the ARC runs out.
The big question is - a visa run to HK shouldn’t cost more than $5-7K. If you’ve previously been working here, that shouldn’t be much. Why can’t you afford it? If you’re a FOB English teacher straight out of school, and previously had a dodgy employer, then it might be understandable.
If you quit, does the employer put you on the ‘blacklist?’
I’m seriously considering leaving my job, and until reading about the blacklist - I was going to just disappear on the next pay day.
I can understand the blacklist situation if I just take off, and leave them in the lurch… But surely quitting puts them in the same position? (No foreign teacher, empty apartment etc…)
I think that your safest bet is to ensure that you leave the country within 10 days of your last day of work. On occasion teachers who have been given the impression that their work documents would remain open for a while find out that they were in fact cancelled by the school long ago. You may then be unaware that you have overstayed until you try to leave for your visa run and it could have an impact upon future visas.
No.
Employers cannot place you on the official government blacklist only the CLA can do that.
Provided that you give at least one months written notice then you can quit without blacklisting repercussions. If you do a runner without resigning then you may be automatically blacklisted and this will be permanent unless you can prove that you did not do a runner.
The employer is required to cancel your work permit with the CLA when you leave them early and if the school indicates that you left without notice then you will be blacklisted. You can of course appeal this if this is not the case but you will need proof hence the suggestion to do your resignation in writing.
Blacklisting by the CLA is a black and white process and does not take into account any hardship by the school.
I would say that if you give notice then at least you are not responsible for any hardship that the school may face. They have one month to find a new teachers and quite honestly if they don’t or can’t do that then that is their problem not yours so don’t worry about them.
The legally specified advanced notice requirements are based on your time working with the employer. The total time worked is cumulative across all your contracts with the same employer unless you have a gap of more than 30 days between contracts.
Less than 3 months: not specified (my reading is that you have to give advance notice but that it can be immediate)
3 months to 1 year: 10 days
1 year to 3 years: 20 days
3 years+: 30 days
The same time limits apply to termination by both the employer and employee. There are certain exceptions that would allow the employee or employer to terminate employment without notice but apply only in specific situations, so in general one should follow the above time limits.
If I give my employer a month’s notice (hypothetical situation)…
Can I really expect them to pay me for that month worked? Because if they don’t and I have to contact the CLA to fight them over it, that will take a lot of time, no? I would quit a month in advance of needing to return to the USA for graduate school;
Are there certain kinds of employers that will not cheat you if you give them a month’s notice? Like Hess or the bigger chains? And even if I sign a year’s contract, if I give a month’s notice that I will leave before the year is up, I cannot be blacklisted by the CLA?
I do not yet have a job in Taiwan and I believe I would stay for more than a year, but just in case I get into the graduate school I want, I want to know what I’d have to do to leave. (There is about a 90% chance I will not get into this graduate school.)
I’d say you’d be fine. One of the problems of the internet is, while its a fine resource for those looking for information from overseas, you also get to see the horror stories. It is not as lawless here as you would believe. Yes, people don’t follow contracts 100%, but those stories of people gettting shafted and blacklisted are very few and far between. You see a lot on the net but it is not a representative picture of the average English teacher on the street.
You are probably better off with a large chain school as they will have more to lose.
Keep in mind though that just because you give them a one month notice doesn’t mean they won’t turn around and give you a termination notice in return. If you’ve worked more than three months but less than a year they only need to give you 10 days.
If you do have to go through a dispute, it may not take a long time. Besides the CLA your local city might have their own labor department which can help arbitrate disputes. In Taipei City the Department of Labor disputes department is in Taipei City hall 5th floor North East Area. You should be able to get an arbitration date in about two weeks.
What would be a typical turnaround time between having a labor hearing and getting the money? Other stories on here involve the employee having to take the employer to court, etc., etc.
Are there any chains that have a general policy of avoiding labor disputes? You would think, especially with the possibility of litigation, that it would be in most employers’ best interest to avoid this.