I will be arriving in Taipei next week for a two-week visit. I carry a US passport and a return ticket and expect to get in on a 30-visaless entry.
My plan is to look around, maybe visit a few schools. I already have a couple of visits lined up (I have serious teaching credentials and degrees, though all my experience is with native speakers at university level). But mostly I just want to get a first-hand look – as helpful as (especially) this website has been, I just want to see the place for myself, maybe meet a few people, and find out what I’m really getting into.
If I like what I see I’ll go back to the US, liquidate my life, and take the big leap around the time of Spring Festival in 2007. But if I really like Taiwan and get a good job offer, I want to be prepared to close the deal.
So here’s my question: Should I bring the originals or copies of my diplomas and a stack of CVs? Is one allowed to look for work on a 30-day visaless entry? I might not be clever enough to think up a story that could convince an immigration official that I normally go on vacation with a stack of CVs, a wad of diplomas, and a bunch of neckties. Would I be better off scanning them onto my hard drive or onto a CD or emailing them to myself (the CVs and diplomas, not the neckties)?
I have looked carefully through the previous postings, and couldn’t find anything on the subject. The impression I get is that people show up looking for work on the 30-day entry all the time and that it’s standard advice to bring the original degrees. But I seem to recall reading some horror story on some website or another where somebody got turned around at the border for exactly this reason, and also seem to recall reading that Taiwanese officials are much less inclined to just wave people through than are Chinese. I don’t know much about these websites, but I know that if you read something on the internet, it must be true.
Hope this is not too stupid a question. Of course, some say there are no stupid questions, only questions that only stupid people ask. Then again, it’s been said that “There’s a fine line between being very clever and being very stupid.”
Thanks for any help – hope to meet some of you soon.
I think it would make more sense to scan your degrees and put your CV and scanned documents onto a flash drive (or simply e-mail them to yourself). You can always e-mail these documents to a potential employer. There are loads of places to print things off too, if need be. If you decide to come back for sure, then you could bring your originals with you. But, when job hunting, scanned documents should be all you need. Best of luck!
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. One of the potential employers has just asked me to bring quite a few extra documents (thesis, etc.). If I do bring printed versions, do you think I am likely to have problems entering the country, or is your suggestion about scanning and emailing more directed toward safekeeping of the orginal documents? Can one look, however provisionally, for employment while on a 30-day entry?
On visa free entry you are unlikely to be asked more than how long you plan to stay. You might be asked to show your return ticket. It’s not a problem to look for work or interview for a job on visa-free entry, but do not do anything that looks like work. I.e. for teaching jobs, no demos, trials, etc. In fact you shouldn’t go anywhere near a classroom if at all possible, and by no means should you be alone in a classroom with students. You’ll get tossed out of the country quickly if the cops decide to show up when you are there and find you in any situation where it even remotely looks like you are working.
If you feel comfortable bringing your originals, I can’t see a problem with that either. If anyone were to ask, you could simply say you came for an interview (which is what you said you were doing anyhow). I don’t logically see how that could be a problem. Taiwanese can often be unreasonable and averse to common sense, but I still can’t envision them going through your bags and deporting you because you have your personal documents with you with the intention of interviewing for potential positions in the future.
the next raid can and will happen anywhere, anytime, at any school. Just remember that.
Do NOT to a demo.
Do NOT be alone in a classroom or anyother room with kids in it.
Do NOT put yourself in a situation that will regret later.
Do ask if you can have an interview outside the school at a coffee shop. I know people who have done this and it works. Why put yourself at risk?
You are officially in Taiwan visa free, which means you cant be working. Period. This also means you cant look like you are working either.
I see no reason or need to bring any of your originals. The only reason those are needed is to process a work visa. This is something that can be done later.
You are worried to much though to think that they are going to search you at CKS or whatever it is called now. Just use common sense and a bit of caution and you will be fine.
In quickly reading through the above postings it does not appear that anyone has mentioned the obvious fact that any documentation (CCRD, diploma, other official certification, etc.) brought into Taiwan from overseas needs to be stamped/certified at the nearest TECRO Office in the USA in order to be considered valid.
(Your resumes do not fall in this category and do not have to be stamped/certified, nor do your neckties …)
My thanks to everyone for answering my questions in such detail. I’m clear at this point of what I don’t need to be careful about–and about what I very much DO need to avoid.
Must finish packing now–the long journey starts in about eight hours.
Is this just for teaching? I certainly didn’t do any of this when I came here on a marketing job. My employer had no problems getting a 3-year work permit. Come to think of it, I think they never sent off anything more than copies of certificates. (I remember they seemed to think it significant I had a master’s degree…)
A bit too late now for the OP, but I wouldn’t worry about bring originals through CKS. I have probably now made 50 visa-free entries as a UK passport holder over the last 10 years and never been asked to open a bag or even show an onward ticket. A couple of times I was asked if I had a visa (no) and once I was asked if I still worked in Taiwan (no).
None of my entries looked like “visa runs”. Ie Generally I’d been out of Taiwan for several days at least and was coming from a non-visa-run destination (mostly London and Saigon).
My prepared “story” for carrying certificates/CVs through CKS (which I never needed to use) was that from Taiwan I was going to purchase a flight to elsewhere in Asia where I was hoping to work. This was actually true.
Don’t bring your original diplomas. bosses will often want to keep them to make copies or apply for your papers or frame them for students to see that you are a real live college edumicated amurican (?) or whatever. they can get quite tattered through all this. instead, make a color copy at kinko’s on good quality paper. i did that 3 years ago and kinko’s does such a good job that people still think my copies are the originals