Breakfast

While I was eaating breakfast yesterday an ARC fell out of the sky into my bowl. How did this happen?

Is there any way I can ascetrain the identity of the person who applied for the ARC?

What the hell is THAT all about? Take a deep breath. In … out … and … in … out …

As for [quote]Is there any way I can ascertain the identity of the person who applied for the ARC?[/quote]
Look at your ARC. It bears the name of your sponsor. Whichever name is on there, that’s who got you your ARC.

Thanks Sandman. You always believe me no matter how unbelievable the story is.

Not entirely. I can tell that you don’t wish to be associated with a certain agent, but if the school is applying for your ARC, what possible difference could it make who fills out the form?

I fear that I am going to be moving away from the crux of the matter but here goes anyway.

What the hell are you on about? You have been making suggestions about this agent for months and months now, but you are yet to actually explain what the problem is.

If you were dealing with the school directly then I don’t see how there could be an agent involved. I am assuming that you called or walked into a school. How exactly does an agent become involved in this process, as I am sure that neither of you would choose to pay an agent if you didn’t have to.

You seem to have a deep seated distrust of everyone. I think that you might be best heading back to your egg carton back home, as it seems to me that life in Taiwan is too stressful for you.

Your use of the definite artcle ‘the’ leads me to believe that you are talking about one particular agent.

So who the hell is ‘them’, and what the hell does this mean.

How exactly do you know this? Are you an agent? Do you socialize with agents? If so, then why do you curse agents so much. If not, then what the hell are you talking about.

Ok, so were you ripped off? If so then please explain how. This is the sort of information that can help other users of this board. Your specific experiences only, not references to ‘others’. Let them tell their own stories.

In my opinion there is a wealth of information out there warning people against dealing with agents who collect wages from the school on the teachers behalf. Of course they are going to skim off the top.

There is a wealth of information out there about NOT paying deposits. Anyone who pays a deposit either hasn’t done their research, or has chosen to ignore the advice given by others. Either way they really don’t have anyone to blame but themselves.

If there was no service then why did you choose to go through the agency?

Why the hell would anyone agree to pay a monthly service fee of NTD10,000 per month to an agent. Geez, there really are some idiots out there. No wonder there are so many agents.

I don’t really understand the 60% deal. It is my understanding that an agent who collects your wages for you and skims off the top actually comes to an arrangement with the school and the teacher seperately. All parties willing enter into and agree with this arrangement. This is a business and this how the agents make money. They are not volunteers. Of course they will charge the school something like NTD70,000 per month for your teaching and then only pass on NTD50-60,000 per month to you. There are no surprises there. You agreed to work for NTD50-60,000 so what relevance does the fact that the school actually pays NTD70,000 for your services have to you. None.

It seems like a case of sour grapes to me. You were happy to partake of their services when it was of benefit to you. No doubt the agent arranged everything, picked you up from the airport, took you to your accomodation, gave you a soft landing, and lined up a job for you. Now that you don’t need them so much, or have broken your contract with them and been penalized you turn around and complain about them.

Before I get accused of being one, no I am not an agent, and no I have never used one. Nor would I. You just don’t need them. Come here and find a job yourself. If you deal through an agent then you have to accept that you are paying for this decision somehow.

No. And what difference would it make anyway? What exactly would this information do for you?

:rainbow: I apologize to those of you who may not have read the previous posts made by this person and hence not understand why I am so uptight about this post!!!

your boss pays you directly, right? no “third party” drops by with the pay envelope. right? OK then.

applying for an ARC is not simple. my first one was also the first one for my boss who did it herself. 5 submissions. 5 rejections. took 3 months. 3 months of visa runs. i wish my boss had someone to turn to for advice in the ARC application process.

yeah, there is alot of “sketchy” stuff going on in taiwan. save your ire for something worthy. if you think today is nutted up, just wait until tomorrow.

Wow, so many supporters.

I’m the only moderator to reply to your post. In what way have I “hijacked” it? I gave two perfectly lucid replies to your post – 1) check the name on your your ARC to see who is your sponsor and 2) It doesn’t make a blind bit of difference who fills in the application form. If your school is sponsoring your ARC, then your school is sponsoring your ARC.
You on the other hand are practically incoherent. I’d say you’re hijacking yourself. Take a pill.
As for your question “is there any way I can ascertain who helped the school with my ARC application,” if the school refuses to tell you, then I’d say that no, there’s no way, short of breaking into their offices or something. If you’re so worried about who is ticking the boxes, why don’t you just walk?

Then a three-eyed sloth flew into my bedroom.

OK. Am I straight with the following?

You are being employed directly by the school without the involvement of an agent, but you suspect that your school is using the services of an agent in some other capacity. You do not wish to work for this school if they are associating with said agent in any way. You suspect they are employing this agent to complete and submit work permit applications for them. If you can ascertain that this is indeed the case, you will leave the school.
You want to know if there are any channels through which you can find out who submitted your work permit application, given that the school won’t tell you.

If I understand correctly, you are working for a school that makes the teacher pay agent fees. This is very unusual; usually the school is responsible for any agent/placement fees and it is a one time comission. The school will usually ask the teacher for a deposit that is refunded upon successful completion of the teacher’s contract (generally 1 year) to protect the investment they made and the money laid out to acquire you from the agent. Simple as that.

If you are being charged a “monthly agent fee”, I would start to question the school you are working for. It’s not unheard of for schools and agents to work in collusion, or even for schools to say the money is going one place, when it’s really only going in their own pockets; we’ve all heard stories about schools taking phantom income tax. But a monthly agent fee? Someone’s ripping you off. Sounds like you need to do a little more investigating to find out what the deal is.

As far as an agent applying for your ARC, it’s not completely unheard of for schools to make their teachers pay for their own ARC’s, wrong as it may be. Some use an agent (someone who has a decent amount of experience with handly MOE/MOF procedures) to handle the processing of the ARC for them, but if anything other than the name of your school appears in the sponsorship of your ARC, something funny is going on.

Hope this helps. I’m not a moderator, but I did have a little trouble deciphering exactly what your problem is.

Good luck,
CK

Lack of logic joins lack of coherence - a work permit agent for illegal work, WTF??

Some of the other posters are misquoting me.

I think maybe you are all getting an idea why my earlier post to this guy was made in the tone that it was made. He has been chasing his tail for months now.

Keiththehessite - I suggest that if you really want help that you go back to the start and clearly outline in chronological order what exactly happened to you. If anyone asks a specific question then I would suggest that you give a specific, succinct answer. Stop getting your knickers in a knot as you just appear as being incoherent. If you don’t want help but just want to have a rant then I am afraid that you will have to accept criticism from me in return.

It appears from your most recent post above that you are aware that there is an agent involved and as you refer to her gender and express a familiarity with her ‘tactics’ it would appear that you even know who she is.

My questions are as follows:

  1. Do you know the agent that you suggest is involved?
  2. How do you know her ‘modus operandi’? Have you dealt with her before?
  3. You indicate that she has done this before. Is there anyone who can verify these claims?

My earlier question remains unanswered:
4. If you were dealing directly with the school, then how did an agent become involved while you were working for the school?

From your post it appears that you are suggesting that you were working for a school. The agent then came along and encouraged the school to start paying your wages to the agent who then passed them onto you (less her cut). This doesn’t seem very logical but seems to be the gist of what you are suggesting. If I am wrong then please correct me as this may add some clarity to what is a very murky post.

5.If I am correct however - Shouldn’t your problem be with the school rather than the agent? I mean what right would they have to pay your wages to any third party.

PS: You think I am tough with this guy. Let’s just hope for his sake that Bassman doesn’t notice that he has crept back onto this board, or he’ll most likely receive a right royal roasting!

I think maybe you are all getting an idea why my earlier post to this guy was made in the tone that it was made. He has been chasing his tail for months now.

Keiththehessite - I suggest that if you really want help that you go back to the start and clearly outline in chronological order what exactly happened to you. If anyone asks a specific question then I would suggest that you give a specific, succinct answer. Stop getting your knickers in a knot as you just appear as being incoherent. If you don’t want help but just want to have a rant then I am afraid that you will have to accept criticism from me in return.

It appears from your most recent post above that you are aware that there is an agent involved and as you refer to her gender and express a familiarity with her ‘tactics’ it would appear that you even know who she is.

My questions are as follows:

  1. Do you know the agent that you suggest is involved?
  2. How do you know her ‘modus operandi’? Have you dealt with her before?
  3. You indicate that she has done this before. Is there anyone who can verify these claims?

My earlier question remains unanswered:
4. If you were dealing directly with the school, then how did an agent become involved while you were working for the school?

From your post it appears that you are suggesting that you were working for a school. The agent then came along and encouraged the school to start paying your wages to the agent who then passed them onto you (less her cut). This doesn’t seem very logical but seems to be the gist of what you are suggesting. If I am wrong then please correct me as this may add some clarity to what is a very murky post.

5.If I am correct however - Shouldn’t your problem be with the school rather than the agent? I mean what right would they have to pay your wages to any third party.

PS: You think I am tough with this guy. Let’s just hope for his sake that Bassman doesn’t notice that he has crept back onto this board, or he’ll most likely receive a right royal roasting!

Keith,

No comprendo…your situation sounds pretty complicated to me. You may consider looking for a normal job where there is no one handling money matters between you and your employer. Anything else sounds fishy to me.

And play nice, we’re just trying to help you.

Good luck,
CK

Who gives you your salary? The school or an agent? If the school pays you the agreed upon amount evey month, then what the hell are you complaining about. If they pay an agent that introduced to you a monthly or one-off fee as well, then that’s their business. If they pay someone to help them file ARC applications, do the accounts or whatever, that’s certainly none of your business. I don’t see what your moaning about.

Brian

Two bats came swimming through my front door.

So you don’t pay an agent anything, but you’re upset that the school does. That’s a laugh. Who they give money to is their business. I really can’t see what your complaint is.

Brian

Well, congratulations. Your most recent post is just as confusing as every other post I have ever seen you make on these public forums.

Well don’t post on a public message board if it is something that you feel is no one’s business. What’s wrong with you?!!!

How does an agent inflict herself upon you? She offers a service which you either accept or decline. If you decline, then how is it that she once again becomes involved again? You stated something along these lines before and never clarified it.

You suggest that once you accept the ‘illegal work’ that she offers, then she cheats you. So is this what you did - accept work through an agent? Considering all of the advice on messageboards such as these about NOT dealing with agents, you only have yourself to blame if you ignored this advice and went with an agent. My guess is that you did it for a reason (i.e. convenience, safety as a newcomer, good job or good pay etc.) and now for some reason you are pissed with her. If so then grow up! You accepted the deal, ride it out, and leave at the end of the contract and get another job on your own steam.

How do you know that the bonus isn’t paid at the end of the year contract? You are writing in the present tense so I assume that you are still actively dealing with this agent. If so, you must have passed the end of your previous year and resigned with her again. If so, what were you thinking, and how can you then come to this board and complain about her. You re-signed for goodness sakes!

If you haven’t yet reached the end of the first year but are still with her then how do you know that the bonus doesn’t get paid?

If you broke your contract and left early then you are not entitled to the bonus, so stop griping about it!

Once again, considering the amount of information regarding the paying of deposits, what the hell were you thinking to accept a job where a deposit was payable?

Keiththehessite - You seem like your own worst enemy. I assume that you come to this board seeking advice so here it is - go home before this country breaks you! You are not cut out for life in Asia!