Hi, I’m planning on coming in a month to teach English (specifically in Taichung). I’ve read on several websites that it is necessary to bring a copy of the notarized diploma, stamped by my country’s Taiwan trade office/TECO.
Did any of your buxiban employers ask to see this? At most, I was just going to bring my original diploma…and take my diploma to a Notary Public, have them make a photocopy and sign and stamp the copies as proof that they are “official notarized copies". But I’m getting paranoid that this isn’t enough, that once I apply for my ARC, the Taiwan Ministry of Education will require an actual TECO notarized degree…
Please share any of your experiences, it would help so much! I really enjoy how helpful this forum has been for me so far.
Yes, it needs to be sealed by the local TECO in your country. No, it is not avoidable,and anyone who says otherwise is leading you towards illegal work, so it is not worth it. Bit of a hassle, but necessary. This is not for your employer. The CLA or agency in charge of approving your work permit, is the one who needs to see it. As far as a buxiban owner cares, he just wants a white face. But when teh cops come, the one going down is you, not them.
Is this a new rule? For the past eight years I have always given them a photocopy of my degree. Here in the south, MOFA/BOCA/NIA/etc have never asked for it to be notarized. Life really IS easier in the south…
Is this a new rule? For the past eight years I have always given them a photocopy of my degree. Here in the south, MOFA/BOCA/NIA/etc have never asked for it to be notarized. Life really IS easier in the south…[/quote]
Nope, usual SOP, AFAIK. BOCA should be the one in charge. Better have all t’s crossed, anyways. Dunno where OP is going to work yet.
Just a heads up to a new arrival, as he could be tricked into working illegally without his knowleedge -as it happens- and that wouldn’t be nice on his first experience in The Island. I’m a pessimist thinking the worse case scenario here.
Also, notarizing here may/may not imply translation. Costwise, dunno which case would be better: paperwork here, or in the country of origin. Or sending the stuff back once he’s here.
By the way, the OP needs to bring the original, right? If I recall correctly, there was some discussion about that. That is another of those quirky details…
That’s what it was! I showed them my original and they photocopied it and gave me the original back. This happened every time. I have noticed the “rules” in the south seem to be less enforced than in the north…
You’re lucky, if they need papers from Belgium it goes like this … have it translated by an official translator, court approved, then it needs to be stamped by the regional court where the translator works, after that it needs to be notarized (legalizing the regional court stamp) by the Federal court, then the Ministry of foreign affairs needs to notarize the Federal court stamp, than the TECO needs to legalize the Ministry’s stamp and will it be accepted in Taiwan …
But I suppose there were too many fake easy obtainable internet Diplomas out there, some SA’cans were caught … now they want to be sure …
I just brought a notarized copy. The notary public in the US actually thought I was nuts for wanting her to put a stamp on the original diploma and wouldn’t do it. So she stamped some copies, I got those stamped first by the Secretary of State’s office, then by the TECO office, and that’s what I brought. Original is still at my parents house. But then, I’m not an English teacher, and you guys often seem to have different rules for stuff
Another thing - if you’re from the US (I don’t know about other countries), you have do everything in the same state/consular district that your degree came from. Which can be a real pain in the ass if you’re not there anymore.
Definitely get your diploma AND transcripts notarized. The CLA is really cracking down on fake diplomas and checking that teachers are legit or not. One of my teachers recently had a terrible experience. He had been renewing his ARC for the past 4 years as usual, but this year the CLA told him he need to provide his original diploma along with his transcripts, and both needed to be notarized. Reason being that the school he graduated from was one of those College/University places, and wasn’t one of the big name schools on their approved list. It was a lot of trouble because he was in Taiwan, so needed to get things mailed back and forth. In the end it took 3 weeks and hundreds of (CDN) dollars of courier services to get everything done. So if you can all that done before coming to Taiwan its worth the hassle now. BTW, this experience was with the CLA in Taipei City just 2 months ago.
You can get your original diploma authenticated at your local TECO office. If you’re from an English speaking country and the diploma is in English you won’t have to translate it. They actually put the stamp and sticker on the back of your original diploma so if you put it in a frame you can’t even tell that there’s a stamp on the back.
I recently had to get diplomas and transcripts authenticated from actually multiple TECO offices (the TECOs in the States are districted and will only process non-government documents at a “local” district branch depending on where the papers were issued) and every one of them did the exact same thing. Transcripts they put the stamp on the front and the sticker on a separate piece of white paper which was glued to the back of your transcript as a tiny foldout. The stamping they use is not embroidered so you won’t be able to tell on the front.
Instead of getting it done at your local notary public and worrying about having to deal with the possibility that it won’t be accepted in Taipei, you should just go to your local TECO office or mail them in. The turnaround time was surprisingly short for me (since it was in the middle of summer when I did it, thus having avoided the end-of-semester traffic), averaging maybe a day at the most. It’s $15 per document, and for your diploma I would actually authenticate both the original and a color copy (so $30).
And also it might be wise to also authenticate your health certificate at the same time. You can bring all of those papers in to your local TECO when you go to apply for your resident visa and pay at once.
Is this a new rule? For the past eight years I have always given them a photocopy of my degree. Here in the south, MOFA/BOCA/NIA/etc have never asked for it to be notarized. Life really IS easier in the south…
I’m a pessimist thinking the worse case scenario here.