So following through the divorce, I am switching my ARC to be sponsored via employment. I have until February before I apply for my APRC so there is some time I have to fill. My question is as follows:
My employer has obtained work permits for each of the four sites I am presently working in. The pay is OK, but it is far less than what I need to be earning each month…because of this, I am still on the lookout for new work. If I were to take a new job, what happens to the ARC and how would this work out with the new employer.
Additionally, does this in any way make it so that I would have to leave Taiwan and reenter in order to obtain a work permit? I guess what I want to know is am I “locked in”?
Yes, but technically each site is a separate buxiban, and my understanding is that each one tells the WDA it’s giving you x hours in order to meet the requirements for the work permit.
I hope OP realizes that there is high likelihood that this will reset his residence clock to zero for APRC purposes. Unless the NIA dramatically changed procedures.
Yeah - OP, you don’t have an ARC right now, you have a JFRV. For your time on your JFRV to count towards permanent residence your JFRV needs to still be valid when you apply. Please someone correct me if I’m wrong, I think we’ll call resident guru @yyy for this one…
I went to NIA and they said it would not. They said that as long as I obtained the ARC before having signed the divorce papers that I would not have to leave the country to obtain a new visa…nor would I lose progress on my APRC.
When I first moved here I had an ARC sponsored by my employer through a work permit. Only two years afterward did I obtain one sponsored by marriage. On the front of the card it does still say ARC…so I guess I just need a little clarity here.
I lost out on a lot of things by not being in the United States…I could have been working in technology for five years, I would likely have NOT had to leave my Ph.D. program…and at this point if I lose the ability to have an APRC at the end of all this bullshit, my entire existence in Taiwan would have been a complete waste of five years.
If someone would kindly offer some clarity on this…I would certainly appreciate it. Because if I am not going to get an APRC out of all of this shit, there really is absolutely ZERO point in remaining in Taiwan…continuing to eat shit and work shitty jobs to have a life that does not meet the same QoL I had in the US before having met my “wife”.
“JFRV” is one of these half-incorrect terms that willy sadly never disappear from Forumosa. OP has an ARC （it clearly states ARC 外僑居留證). OP’s residence purpose is “依親-妻“ (or - 夫 if OP was a woman) which is usually referred to as JFRV on Forumosa. In principle, this is still an ARC.
The calculation of residence for the purpose of qualifying for an APRC is relatively strict and several residence purposes do not qualify at all. Certain residence purposes qualify, but changing to another residence purpose may reset the clock to zero. In the past, changing from an ARC with residence purpose stated as “依親” (“JFRV”) to work would reset the clock to zero.
OP is therefore strongly advised to be very careful and ask the NIA to provide a written confirmation. OP can get a written confirmation by explaining his circumstances in writing. OP will need to send a CHINESE letter to the NIA by registered mail (i.e. My name is XXX, ARC number XXX, nationality XXX, I have been living in Taiwan for XXX years. I am currently married to a ROC spouse and my residence purpose is 依親. In case I change to a working ARC and divorce, will my previous XXX years of residence count for APRC qualification, or will I start from zero again?). The NIA will reply in a few days to weeks in Chinese, so OP should get a local friend to properly translate all the details or even spend some cash on getting a professional translation.
[quote=“jmtenet211, post:10, topic:161234, full:true”]
So…I changed from work related to marriage and it did not reset this timer.[/quote]
Are you sure? @hsinhai78 tried to explain you the most correct way to have a written confirmation. You know if you have just oral words from some NIA officer that might be not sufficient because the APRC issue decision will be taken by another person.
So…in other words my entire time here in Taiwan has been a complete and total waste of five years of my life? Lost marriage, lost Ph.D program, lost my job, lost my home, lost my shot at fatherhood and lost my chance at permanent residency? Might as well jump off of a fucking building at this point.
Please do not despair at this point. Go to an NIA service center, ask for the person in charge of APRC application and then ask when you will qualify for permanent residence.
Best to get on paper as Hsinhai says, but fyi some government offices do 公文’s by email these days, either as PDF’s (scanned, including stamps) or as email bodies (no stamps obviously, but with the same formatting and document numbers).