APRC Application Checklist (part 2)

Complete your divorce process before changing your residence address. You and your wife may agree on terms now and she may seem reasonable now.

However, spousal abandonment is one of the few reasons for filing for divorce under ROC law. Which means that in case she wants that shiny car or your apartment or cash, she can file for divorce in court (“sentenced divorce”). You can do some research on this forum how that has played out for quite a number of foreigners…

The 2017 Minimum Monthly Wage is 21009 so the latest requirement should be 504216, right?
My company did some deduction (food expenses) so the total income in my tax filling receipt (kou jiao ping dan) is only 486.000. It means I’m not eligible to apply APRC or Taiwan citizenship?
Can I use the next year labor contract with the salary over 43000 as alternative?

And of course no employer files the correct amount. I tried to do an amended return this year, and I was told by the tax bureau that that is not necessary, and I was told by someone else my employer might come under scrutiny. I have asked my employer to take out the full amount, and they said no. Labor bureau said there was nothing they could do and the tax people said it is not legally required. Not even required to deduct labor insurance.

A coworker of mine got his, and he said they just looked at his taxes paid.

Sweet jesus! What is this place?

Which labor office was that, and what kind of employer is it (industry and type of business)?

The municipal labor department has no authority to handle tax or insurance, though at the very least they should have told you they can forward your communication to the local branch of the Bureau of Labor Insurance.

You can report the irregularities to the tax office (NTB) and the BLI, and they’ll probably ask you for more information/evidence in Chinese rather than take the initiative to investigate.

What the labor department definitely can do is conduct mediation between you and your employer (expect it to take a few weeks to arrange), but that’s usually the last step before going to court.

The labor inspection office (or whatever they’re calling it these days – it belongs to the labor department btw) can also investigate the employer for labor standards (overtime, safety, etc.). In Taipei they have a new office in Wanhua, apparently; I’m not sure if the one in Jingmei is still there.

Requests for inspection can be made anonymously (i.e. the inspector won’t be allowed to reveal your identity), but they always say that limits their ability to take action and suggest you check the box giving them permission to say it’s you.

@ub4me

My understanding is you need to show the tax evidence, not just a labor contract.

It’s perfectly normal to call part of the wage (or salary, same thing) a food allowance, and the tax and labor authorities normally do recognize this as part of the wage, as long as it’s accurately reported. (See Art. 2 of the Labor Standards Act.) If you don’t get anywhere with requests for inspection, but you have proof that you’re paid the allowance every month, talk to a lawyer.

I went to the county branch of both Labor and Taxation.

Its a buxiban, private cram school, anjingban, whatever they call them.

At the labor bureau they said just go get another job, and reiterated there was nothing they could, or would, do about it. When I pushed him on the issue he said about the only thing they would do is help to void the contract so I could leave the country.

The tax bureau said they were not going to look into it.

It may be different in Taipei, but from my understanding what gets said or done outside the capital is up to the person you are talking to. That includes NIA.

There’s also some of that in Taipei. Sometimes you just need to come back the next day and talk to a different person.

When administrative channels are blocked, you can turn to the judiciary, and when that fails, there’s always the CY (and of course the media).

If you just need to prove your income, it’s probably faster and easier to get a new job than to wait x years for all the appeals to be exhausted. :roll:

Dredging up an old post with a question if someone knows

One requirement of the aprc is
8. Approval letter from authorized government agency (copy work permit) and original employment certificate within one .Month.

So if I renew my work permit in July but eligible for aprc in November, they will accept a copy of the July work permit? Since the original goes to the immigration office for work permit.

Also what is an employment certificate in need an original of?

Thanks

I think what should be issued within one month is an employment certificate by your employer, and it should not be a copy, but an original.

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So they write out a letter essentially?
Or is it that second paper in Chinese that I always hand to immigration along with the work permit that I never read ? :slight_smile:

One was blue colour and the other i forget

Thanks tando for clarifying

What is “employment certificate” in the Chinese version of the criteria? It sounds like a 在職證明書.

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Close, it says 職證明正本
guess it’s the same thing

Employment certificate is written and sealed by your company HR.

Work permit is issued by Taiwan government (Council of Labor Affairs).

Different potatoes.

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The Work Permit issued by the WDA (Workforce Development Agency) & the Employment certificate are 2 different things…one is issued by the Govt. & the other is issued by your company…the latter cannot be more than a mth old.

You can download the Employment certificate (在職證明書) format here (The 4th one from the bottom)

Ask your HR/Boss to fill it out and stamp the company’s chop on it.

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@tando @arcticsquid @yyy @springonion
Thanks for replying and clarifying

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Correct. The WDA is a unit of the Ministry of Labor, formerly known as the CLA. :slight_smile:

Does anyone who has gone through the hoops lately know how long it takes from the time you pay to the time you get the card? Hopefully someone not in Taipei.

Asking for a friend whose NIA office told her 2 months. Website says 2 weeks tops.

I know two people in Taoyuan who went through the process in the past few weeks. Both of them received their cards a month after paying. By the way, it also took exactly 30 days for mine, in 2013 in Taoyuan.

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Mine was a 1.5 months wait in January 2019.

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Thank you for the reply. The NIA has been quite hostile to my pal. Seems they have a policy against allowing foreign spouses any access to better options. To give her mixed/unclear instructions is one more straw on top of a straw…

And yes, it is South beyond New Taipei city…

New Taipei City, typical ARC/ApRC changes 15 days. (As of last year)
APRC application must be with phone appointment 30 days. (As of 2015)