Long story short, my girlfriend’s moving to Taipei from Puerto Rico at the end of July, following her graduation from uni.
Today, she found out that UPR will take at least a year to process her diploma.
Naturally, she can’t afford to wait a year in order to work, as a diploma is needed to qualify for an ARC.
I read online that if she has a transcript and graduation certification letter from her university, then she could get a temporary work permit until her diploma becomes available.
Does anyone know if this is true? If so, would many schools be willing to engage in that process, given the extenuating circumstances?
I would really appreciate any advice on the matter, as she’d much rather work legally with an ARC, rather than deal with visa runs, etc.
For specialized or technical jobs, she basically needs 2 yr experiences in addition to bachelor’s degree, so does she plan to work as an English teacher at a cram school?
If she has a graduate certificate and a transcript, but cannot provide a degree (diploma), she might need to have a qualification certificate for language teaching, to get a work permit. As far as I know, there is no temporary work permit thing.
I had my transcript handy when I applied for my work permit. I feel like as long as the transcript signifies you’ve completed the total necessary credits and are applying for graduation you should be ok, but I wouldn’t count on my assumption. Best find the right people in the right government offices to ask these kinds of specific questions.
Thanks! That’s an encouraging thought. I was thinking of checking with the National Immigration Agency, as well as with the HR departments from a school or two
Update: I spent the morning going between the National Immigration Agency, the Foreign Employment Service Center, and the cross-border workforce affairs center. As I was directed from one to another, the tone became more hopeful.
At the cross-border workforce affairs center, I was directed to their online SOP manual, which clearly states that a certified transcript is enough when a diploma is not available. To be clear, this is different than if the applicant didn’t graduate at all.
I should have replied sooner, but this is what I did. It was decades ago so I wasn’t sure it would be relevant. Plus I went back and forth with them a few times (it was a real pain in the ass).