APRC dependents

Obviously, they don’t. To do those kinds of jobs, spouses need to get their own employment based ARC.

The point is spouses of foreign professionals with qualifications to those allowed jobs can do part time work without a minimum monthly salary.

Does anyone have any further details about what is mentioned in this article?

It (Article 17 of Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals) is paired with Article 8 of Regulations Governing Visiting, Residency, and Permanent Residency of Aliens.

Adult children of foreign professionals with APRC, who are on student ARC, may be the main subject. They now can get an 3 year extension of ARC and open work permit after graduation.

I think if they have got APRC based on Article 16 of Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, they don’t need Article 17, unless they want to get own independent APRC. Is this right?


Article 8
Aliens applying for an extension of residency pursuant to paragraph 1, Article 31 of the Act, shall submit the following document and a photograph to the National Immigration Agency within thirty(30) days before the expiration of residency:

  1. An application form;
  2. The passport and the Alien Resident Certificate;
  3. Other supporting documents.

Aliens who are permitted to reside in the Taiwan Area, having reached the age of 20 years old (or more), having a parent holding an ARC or APRC, and having met one of the following conditions may apply for the extension of the residency:

  1. Having stayed in Taiwan for an accumulated 10 years in total and residing for over 270 days each year.
  2. Having entered Taiwan under the age of 16 and stayed over 270 days each year.
  3. Born in Taiwan, having resided in Taiwan for a minimum accumulated period of at least 10 years in total and having stayed over 183 days each year.

The alien mentioned in the preceding paragraph should bring the following documents with one photograph to apply to the National Immigration Agency for extension within 30 days before the expiration of his/her residency.

  1. An Application Form.
  2. Passport and the Alien Resident Certificate;
  3. Documents to prove kinship;
  4. Other supporting documents.

I am sure this is here somewhere on Forumosa, but here is the link for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals act : https://www.contacttaiwan.tw/upload/cont_att/63f65f77-452c-411a-be0f-85a166dffe40.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwifturd5YbhAhWYoJ4KHaN4D6UQFjAFegQIBRAB&usg=AOvVaw3Pp1-V4CZytmXc2cyy3qCK

Though for some reason the PDF link did not come through …

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I think I am muddling through here.

Article 16 says that when a Foreign Professional gets his APRC, his spouse and children can also apply as long as they have been in Taiwan over 183 days for the last 5 years.

Article 17 says that the adult children can apply for a work permit that is independent of an employer as long as: 1) they have lived in Taiwan for 10 years (staying in the country for over 270 days a year), OR 2) staying in Taiwan since they were 16 years old (staying in Taiwan more than 270 days a year), OR 3) born in Taiwan, lived here for 10 years, and stayed more than 183 days a year.

I am not sure if this is an “open work permit” the same as a Foreign Professional gets with the APRC, but all of the exemptions from the Employment Service Act are the same as what the Foreign Professional gets with his/her open work permit. Does anyone know if they are the same?

Does anyone know what section of which act governs employment of spouses of Foreign Professionals with APRCs ? Much of the previous information in this thread is out of date, so any help would be much appreciated.

The act is here.
Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals
https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=A0030295

Article 37-1 of Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act
https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=N0090031

The interesting thing about this section, is that it doesn’t specifically refer to spouses of APRC holders, but spouses of ARC holders in general ( which that part is good actually).

It would be good to get confirmation as to what work rights spouses of APRC holders have … Especially now that the children of APRC holders seem to have Open work rights ! ( So adult children can work without restrictions, but spouses can only work in specific fields and have to apply for a work permit based on each job? This is incredibly unfair)

If the spouse gets APRC, I believe the person can get an open work permit.

spouse can be a dependent as long as the marriage continues, but adult children cannot. So, it might not be so unfair.

Here is a chinese info on the work permit of adult children.

外國專業人才成年子女工作
https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/cp.aspx?n=002F646AFF7F5492

This does not seem to be true. That goes against what was said in the above paragraphs in relation to the adult child APRC the goal of which is to keep families together when adult children reach adulthood. I don’t think the adult child loses their APRC unless the foreign Professional loses their APRC

If this is true, it is great.

If they get APRC, both of spouses and adult children can get open work permit.

The work permit of adult children is for those who are on ARC. I think.

otherwise, it is not much different from ARC. If the APRC doesn’t come with open work permit, the only benefis I can think of are no need to renew and free admission of the museum.

Excellent news! Do you have a specific section of an act that indicates that? I couldn’t find one.

That, or has anyone successfully applied for an open work permit for their spouse or adult child?

That is Article 51 of Employment Service Act saying foreigners with APRC can get open work permit by themselves.

Thanks for that. If you look more closely, it says that foreigners with APRC from working can get an open work permit. It doesn’t say anything about spouses APRC working rights. Clarity on this would be appreciated - especially considering it definitely impacts our moving plans 5 years from now (but I am sure things can change in that time).

I researched this awhile ago and that fits what I learned. As far as I could tell, they (spouses) could receive an APRC and also open work permit, and so long as residency and other qualifications are met. At the basic “Foreign professional” level, they can only apply after the foreign worker is granted an APRC. At the 2 higher levels, the spouse can apply for an APRC at the same time as the worker. Not a big difference as the application process only takes a few months. I may have some of that wrong, but the government sites have the full laws.

which part says this?

Iiuc, a foreign worker in ESA doesn’t mean a foreigner who gets ARC or APRC through employment.

Iiuc,

Spouses of foreign professionals can get work permit for part time specialized and technical work.

Article 37-1 of Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act

Adult children of foreign professionals can get 3 year extension of ARC.

Article 8 of Regulations Governing Visiting, Residency, and Permanent Residency of Aliens

Dependents of foreign professionals on APRC can get APRC.

Article 16 of Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals

Adult children of foreign professionals on APRC can get open work permit.

Article 17 of Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals

The above are if they meet certain criteria.

Dependents of foreign senior professionals can get APRC with their sponsors at the same time.

Article 15 of Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals

Foreigners with APRC can get open work permit.

Article 51 of ESA
4. One permitted to stay permanently in the territory of the Republic of China.


what happens when the foreign senior professional gets a dual nationality? Dependant(s) should get new ARC, and then new APRC?


dependents of foreigners who get APRC through investment can get APRC too.

Article 15 of Regulations Governing Visiting, Residency, and Permanent Residency of Aliens

My current problem involves my daughter’s right to work. She is now 21 years old and a full-time university student, but so far, the officials in Taiwan have refused her a work permit. She is currently applying again. Previously, I was a “foreign professional.” I and my foreign wife and my son, less than one year old, arrived in Taiwan in 1996. My daughter was born in Taiwan in 1998. I was an American citizen and highly educated (7 years university credits). However, my wife, although extremely proficient in English, is not a native speaker and not a university graduate. Therefore, she was not allowed to work. My entire adult life, I have dealt with serious health issues that did not prevent me from working but compromised my quality of life and made working more difficult than usual.

After 8 years working in Taiwan, I applied for and received an APRC. When I was in my fifties, I realized that I was not going to be able to continue working until retirement age. Besides, my US Social Security benefits were going to be too small to live on, and, as the sole worker in a family of four, I knew I had to take steps to allow my children to stay and my wife to work. Furthermore, Taiwan law at that time made it impossible for my children to stay in Taiwan past age 20 unless they acquired their own visas independently of their father. So, I went through that entire process that I had gone through before when getting an APRC (and more besides) to acquire citizenship. My son opted to become a citizen at the same time. (This process took about 3 ½ years plus about NT$110,000 for the two of us. And that was before the U.S. Department of State raised the fee for renunciation from $450 to $2,350.) My daughter, for her own reasons, decided to keep her US citizenship. However, not much later, the government passed laws allowing adult children of foreign professionals to stay in Taiwan past age 20 (for six more years) and to work during those years.

The Chinese language webpage at https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/News_Content.aspx?n=77054B15FD1F5128&sms=2E02279676D3E77B&s=687C858CF1314C61 asks the question, “What are the regulations for adult children of permanent resident foreign professionals to work in Taiwan?” The answer in Chinese states, “取得永久居留外國專業人才之成年子女,經內政部移民署認定符合下列要件之一:,” and then it lists the residency requirements in detail for the adult child. Obviously, my daughter meets the residency requirements. Since 1996, we have not lived in any other country.

The above Chinese language statement is rather vague concerning the parent. 取得 永久居留 外國 專業人才 It translates literally as “Get—permanent residence—foreign professionals.” What if the foreign professional is now retired, does that disqualify the adult children? However, the official English language version of this webpage is much clearer, and it in no way contradicts the Chinese. It states, “An employed foreign professional engaged in professional work at present or in the past who has obtained [my emphasis] permanent resident permission from the Immigration Agency of the Ministry of Interior. Moreover, adult children of foreign professional who have obtained confirmation from the Immigration Agency of the Ministry of the Interior, and qualify with the prescribed days of residence and eligibility criteria, may apply direct to the Ministry of Labor for permission to work in Taiwan, and need not apply through an employer.”

The English version makes it evident that, although I am now retired, my status at the time I acquired an APRC permitted my children to work once they reached adulthood and satisfied the residency requirements (which my daughter had already done by age 10). If that is true about my working condition, logic would dictate that once I acquired permanent residence, that part of the requirement for my children would be fulfilled regardless of the kind of ID card I carried. The argument we are facing from the bureaucrats is that my daughter does not qualify because I no longer have an APRC since now I am a citizen !

Fortunately, I had a notarized copy of my APRC. Nevertheless, the clerk at the Labor Department warned my daughter that the Immigration officials might charge her with fraud since she was submitting a copy of a document that was no longer valid!

What happened to common sense? What was the purpose of the legislators in passing this law allowing these adult children of foreign professionals to work? Does the fact that I am now a Taiwanese citizen mean that my residency in Taiwan is any less permanent? I renounced my US citizenship and became a Taiwanese citizen to give my family more rights in Taiwan, not so that the government would strip away their existing rights.

We are waiting for the official reply for my daughter’s application for an Open Work Permit. Although conditions for foreigners in Taiwan have continued to improve, it has been a process of wading through bureaucratic muck every step of the way.

I hope that the legislators will clarify this matter by stating that ‘Foreigners who acquire an APRC do not relinquish the rights obtained for their dependents and adult children if they become citizens of Taiwan.’

We have already faced this issue in another matter. My daughter’s visa is dependent upon her mother who is considered to be ‘a foreign bride.’ Since I am a citizen and my daughter was born and raised here, she should be able to acquire her rights in Taiwan as my daughter. Really, she should automatically be entitled to an APRC.

By the way, ordinarily full-time foreign students can receive a part-time work permit. The officials at the university have told my daughter that she does not qualify for that either because she attends evening classes (as a full-time student) instead of day classes. Go figure!

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does she attend to 進修學士班, where she cannot get an independent resident visa as a foreign student? If so, could she be transfered to day-time course, where she can get the student visa and student work permit? If she would graduate as a foreign student, she can be employed as a foreign grad with easier criteria. Otherwise, she might need to get special exemption from the requirement of a two-year work experience.

https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=ACB934E235E89133

Added: if most probably she would get the exemption and be employed as a foreign professional after her graduation, it might be better she continues to be on the current dependant ARC. I think she may be able to apply for APRC after a year on her work ARC. (You may need to confirm if this is the case at NIA, though.)

the above is if her plan is to stay in Taiwan after the graduation, and she couldn’t get an open work oermit.


or, they could give the same rights to foreign adult children of nationals with those children of APRC holders.


Cannot she apply for APRC right now, if your income or your assets can meet the financial requirement?

Thanks, Tando, for your suggestions. We are still waiting to hear from the government concerning her recently submitted application. Up until recently, a foreigner could get citizenship only by getting an APRC first, and then applying for citizenship. When she first applied, she showed them a copy of my old (cancelled) US passport and my Taiwanese (citizenship) ID. Therefore, inherent in the evidence from these documents is that I had an APRC. They rejected her application. Her mother might be able to get an APRC, which would probably solve the problem. However, she has a problem with her own legal documents from her home country. So, this is likely to take a while, and my daughter will probably graduate in the spring of next year. As you suggest, she could possibly change to daytime classes so that she could qualify for a student part-time work permit. She might also be able to get a work permit through an employer. As to assets, I do not have much materially. Since I was a teacher in Taiwan for many years, my income was adequate, but my wife was not permitted to work. Consequently, my savings are quite limited. I plan to eventually publish some of my research and discoveries related to both ancient history and scientific theories. There is, therefore, a strong possibility my financial situation will improve. However, that remains to be seen. If it does, as a citizen, I may be able to start a business and meet the criteria for her to remain in as either a foreign investor or as the business manager. Since she was born and raised here and went through the local educational system since kindergarten through university, she is far more proficient in Chinese than I am, and she understands business requirements better than I do. However, even if that does not work out, she can likely qualify as a ‘foriegn graduate of a Taiwanese university’ to work in Taiwan until she fulfills the requirements for an APRC. So, there is hope one way or another. However, she graduated from secondary school when she was 17 and a half years old. That was nearly four years ago, and she still cannot legally work, although Taiwan law says she can, depending, I suppose, on who is interpretting the law.