Hello,
I’ve been to Taiwan about 5 times now and I really like Taipei, apart from the traffic of course (they don’t know how to follow road rules here).
I’m about to enter my 3rd year of Biotechnology and when i’ve finished I plan to move to Taiwan. It’s my kind of city (Taipei).
Though as the title says I was wondering what other jobs foreign people can do here apart from teaching english?
FOr the first few years I imagine I will need to be an english teacher until I can pass the CHinese reading, writing and speaking exam.
But I don’t think I would want to be teaching english for the rest of my life in Taiwan, but then again maybe I will love it.
I just want to know can I have any career in taiwan with Biotechnology or BioCHemistry (might change to that)?
Or should I have been doing another degree (it’s not too late to change)? I want to know something that can give me a good future in Taiwan as I hope I can live there for a long time to come.
BTW I have notice the ageist problems in this forum, I started uni late and by the time I get to Taiwan I will be 28-29 how much of a problem will this be?
Also if I did end up going the route of English teacher how many hours can I get a week? Because I read a bit that they don’t like to give too many hours to one teacher. I would like to be doing at least 38 hours a week. I know at first with no experience I won’t get to much but how many years experience until you can start getting the hours? Or do you need to do illegal work aswell to get more hours?
THanks in advance for your advice.
NLY
p.s I’m come from Australia if that makes any difference.
Please search on “other jobs” or strings like that – this is a common question.
That being said, it doesn’t matter what your qualifications are or if you can read/speak/write Chinese. It matters what your work rights are. If you have an open work permit (usually through marriage, or through gaining ROC nationality) you could conceivably get a job in your chosen field. Otherwise, you are essentially limited by law to jobs that “ROC nationals cannot do.” I fear the government will feel that ROC nationals can do biotech jobs quite well already. The exception might be editing, but it’s still not really biotech work.
[quote=“ironlady”]Please search on “other jobs” or strings like that – this is a common question.
That being said, it doesn’t matter what your qualifications are or if you can read/speak/write Chinese. It matters what your work rights are. If you have an open work permit (usually through marriage, or through gaining ROC nationality) you could conceivably get a job in your chosen field. Otherwise, you are essentially limited by law to jobs that “ROC nationals cannot do.” I fear the government will feel that ROC nationals can do biotech jobs quite well already. The exception might be editing, but it’s still not really biotech work.
HTH
Terry[/quote]
Hi Ironlady,
THanks for your reply.
Ok and apart from getting married how else can I obtain an ‘open work permit’ ? Post-Graduate study?
If you get 12 month contract for english every year, after so many years will you be eligiable for Citizenship? Even if you’ve had to do Visa runs after every 12 months?
And i’m considering changing my degree to commerce as once I have graduated I will go to taiwan though if I return to asutralia one day it would probably be harder for me to get a job in the science field then it would in commerce.
Are you allowed to volunteer (unpaid) work in companies for the purpose of gaining experience in your degree while working as an english teacher in Taiwan?
And with gaining Citizenship in Taiwan, does it mean i’d have to give up my AUstralian Citizenship? Or could someone point me in the right direction to find these answers.
I probably have more questions but I can’t think cleary right now… other things on my mind.
Postgraduate study sounds like a good option for you. Maybe ratbrain or ratlung might be able to add some specific information about your field. Or you could maybe PM them for more information.
Does ratbrain and ratlung have careers in the commerce sector in taiwan (I guess it's the case)?
If I can find them I will PM them, thanks.[/quote]
Ermm… not EXACTLY sure what they do, but I think they’re probably closest to what you might do. Their user names are exactly that… “ratlung” and “ratbrain”. You can PM them straight from your inbox.
I am wonder what is your first (that is mother) language. You grammar and logic appear Chinese but that should not matter in carreer with biotechnology, but I not sure (is anybody else?).
I am wonder what is your first (that is mother) language. You grammar and logic appear Chinese but that should not matter in carreer with biotechnology, but I not sure (is anybody else?).[/quote]
Hi Bob,
Haha are you saying my english is poor? My native language is english and i'm anglo-saxan in case you wanted to know. :slight_smile: CHinese will be my second language. I need to study it very hard so I can learn to read, write and speak better sooner.
Does ratbrain and ratlung have careers in the commerce sector in taiwan (I guess it's the case)?
If I can find them I will PM them, thanks.[/quote]
Ermm… not EXACTLY sure what they do, but I think they’re probably closest to what you might do. Their user names are exactly that… “ratlung” and “ratbrain”. You can PM them straight from your inbox.[/quote]
Haha are you saying my English is poor? My native language is English and I'm anglo-saxan in case you wanted to know. :slight_smile: Chinese will be my second language. I need to study it very hard so I can learn to read, write and speak better sooner.[/quote]
Haha are you saying my English is poor? My native language is English and I'm anglo-saxan in case you wanted to know. :slight_smile: Chinese will be my second language. I need to study it very hard so I can learn to read, write and speak better sooner.[/quote]
Better and sooner than what?[/quote]
I just mean to improve (hopefully) my chinese ability quicker.
I think you mean that you want to “learn it quickly”.
Earlier you mentioned that I thought your English was poor. Not at all. I think your English is excellent for someone who is using it as a second or third language. What I don’t like though is someone coming to a forum very much populated with English teachers and pretending to be a native speaker of English. It insults us. I don’t know why the other posters didn’t say anything about it but I can guarantee you they saw through you in, oh, about thirty seconds or so I’d guess.
FWIW the English doesn’t read as terribly non-native to me, it reads as a 20-something native speaker. “Those young people,” you know.
To answer the poster’s question: post-graduate study will not get you work rights.
You can’t get work rights if you are in a situation where you have to do “visa runs”. You should search for “permanent residency” because that is the only situation – other than the elusive Article 51 work permits, another fruitful search string – which will get you real work rights.
For an Article 51, last I knew you needed minimum 5 years on a valid ARC. Time on a visitor’s visa doesn’t count, and mind you don’t interrupt your 5 years on ARC.
For residence, I think it’s 7 years if you’re not married to a Taiwanese national.
I might ask, though – why are you so convinced that you want to live in Taiwan long-term and work? If you don’t speak Chinese and presumably haven’t been to Taiwan yet, what’s the attraction? Tough getting jobs at home, or is there something more?
[quote=“bob”]I think you mean that you want to “learn it quickly”.
Earlier you mentioned that I thought your English was poor. Not at all. I think your English is excellent for someone who is using it as a second or third language. What I don’t like though is someone coming to a forum very much populated with English teachers and pretending to be a native speaker of English. It insults us. I don’t know why the other posters didn’t say anything about it but I can guarantee you they saw through you in, oh, about thirty seconds or so I’d guess.[/quote]
Fact is I was born and grew up in Australia, Mount Isa to be exact (small mining town of about 16 000) and moved to Brisbane to study at uni. So I really don’t know how you see through me, you think english isn’t my first language when it is.
Whether you want to believe me or not is up to you, I didn’t come on here to pose as native english speaker, I can’t see the benefit in that.
I was a poor english student and I guess it’s showing now. It’s something I will need to brush up on before I come.
All I wanted was some info on alternative careers in Taiwan. I would like to hear what some people do for a living in Taiwan besides teaching english.
Things that bother me about being an english teacher in Taiwan is the low and high seasons and the lack of hours. Can you legally get an english job paying 90k per month in Taiwan working around 38-40 hrs (do you need years of experience for this?How Many?)? I’ve only seen advertisements for around 25 hours a week. WHich is fine to start off with but I don’t want to be working 25 hrs for years to come, I would like to be working around the 40hr+ mark per week. Is that wishful thinking?
ANd the last thing is, although it might suffice in Taiwan to be an english teacher without an education degree (any recognised Bachelors degree is good enough) I don’t think it would get me far if I wanted to move back to Australia one day. If I end up majoring in commerce I would like to eventually get a job in this sector in Taiwan then if I return to Australia later in life at least I will have experience as opposed to just being an english teacher and then deciding to return and have no experience in my major that I did x amount of years ago.
THere’s many things to think about before moving to another country. ANd the more info and advice I get from people the better my decision will be, I hope. :help:
THat is all.
p.s not all of that post was directed at you Bob, just the first part regarding me being a native english speaker.
