I’m in the annoying position of ending my old job this week, whilst my new job still hasn’t managed to get a work permit for me. They’ll be able to, but not until January.
I had given my old job an entire two months notice, blithely imagining that not even in Taiwan would a business take more than 2 months to get a work permit, but hey this is Taiwan (oops, I forgot).
At the end of this week my contract with my current job finishes. I believe I’ll then get a letter from the FAP or Labour Council or whoever, telling me I have 7 days to leave the country (or something).
I don’t want to actually wait for that. Since my contract ends at the end of this week (actually in three days time), I want to take a trip to Japan on Friday, get a 60 day visa in Japan, come back and wait for my new job to get its act together. Yes, I could wait until I get the letter telling me my ARC and visa has expired and now I have to leave, but that won’t happen until about 2 weeks from now, which is right at the time that I’m booked to move apartments (yes, everything is happening at once, as usual).
If I go to Japan on the Friday, and the visa office looks at my passport and find that I still have my current visa (good until September next year), will they actually be prepared to give me a 60 day visa? I don’t want to go all the way there, find that they won’t give me a visa, have to come back to Taiwan, wait out the rest of the time, and make another trip.
Or can I go to the FAP or whoever and get this visa stamped ‘cancelled’ the day before I leave for Japan, or something?
Can you get any proof that the new employer is applying for a job for you? With that in hand, probably your ARC won’t get cancelled. Go and ask the police…and let us know what happens.
I can certainly get that proof. I can get it because they’ve been in consulation with the Labour Council, who were the ones who told them that they can’t hire me until January, because at present they don’t have sufficient monthly revenue.
It’s a foreign owned company, and you know how suspicious the Taiwan government is of foreign companies hiring foreigners. I would be the only foreigner there, but that’s not the point - the point is that they won’t be able to hire me until January due to the revenue restriction.
But if there’s any leeway in this business, and I could get the company to ask the FAP if my ARC could be extended until they can hire me, that would save a lot of hassles. Thanks for the tip.
Well this is my experience. I stopped working and left Taiwan. Whilst away, my ex-employer got the letter saying I had to leave Taiwan within 2 weeks (I think - I can’t now remember - it might have been 7 days). They scanned this and emailed to me. (They never bothered to send it to my address… only to my ex-employer.)
Some days later I returned to Taiwan on my way back to London. My plan was to be in Taiwan for 9 days. I had an onward ticket and expected to get the usual 30-day landing visa as I had done in my pre-ARC days. But the immigration officer said my permit was still valid and he couldn’t give me a 30-day landing visa. He could only stamp me in in the usual way.
I had a Chinese speaker with me and a long friendly discussion followed. Other officers including a supervisor got involved.
My point was that they should cancel my old visa/permit and let me enter on a landing visa. I was no longer working in Taiwan, no longer had the job and not entitled to enter on my old visa. I had a copy of the letter with me saying I had to leave Taiwan which I had done. Practically my worry was that within a couple of days my old visa would be cancelled and I could be overstaying.
Their response was this. They had no choice. Their system prevented them from issuing a landing visa whilst another visa remained valid. They had no power to cancel anything. They told me not to worry. Even if I technically “overstayed” I’d just have to pay a small fine. This was unnacceptable to me as it might prejudice my ability to come to Taiwan in the future.
Anyway, we reached deadlock. So they stamped me in and the next day we rang the FAP. They said they hadn’t got round to cancelling my ARC/re-entry permit. They said they often take a while to do this - they don’t treat it urgently. So I went in there. The police officer was really sorry for this situation. She cancelled everything on the spot, and was happy to give me a new visa for as along as I thought I needed to leave Taiwan. I took a month, and left Taiwan 8 days later as planned.
So it seems to me that in this kind of situation the police can be quite flexible. (This was Banciao). Although you are given a short time to leave, if you go and see them they can give you extra time. Although in my case I felt “entitled” as I had been out and back in again and should have got a month anyway, I got the impression they would have been flexible anyway.
My advice would be to go into the FAP. See if they can extend - but be sure with them that they won’t then cancel when get hit by the notification from the labour affairs office. (This notification was in an “intray” when I turned up at the FAP so easy for them to bin.) It would be better if you could wait for the “get out of Taiwan” letter to be issued to your employer. Else just get them to cancel anyway so it doesn’t interfere with your application in Japan.
How bizarre, and yet how typical. Thanks very much for that, it looks like there’s some flexibility in the system which could bend favourably in my direction. I’ll have a chat to my new employer, and then get onto the FAP.
Yes you can. You don’t even need to wait until the day before. Though it is not well known, an ARC can be canceled by the ARC holder. You just need to go in and explain that the purpose of your ARC is no longer valid. They will process the cancellation and provide notice to leave the country within 2 weeks. You will then be free to leave and obtain a new visa.
It is also possible that you can extend your current ARC temporarily if your new employer can provide a letter that they expect to be able to apply for a new work permit at a particular time. They don’t have to, but it has been known to happen. In the case that a work permit application has been received by the CLA you are almost certain to get an extension.
In your case, I’m a bit skeptical that your employer can get a work permit in early January. Before the permit can be issued, they will have to get their accountant to finish the books, file the returns, and then get a tax certificate proving they meet the revenue requirements. This will probably take some time.
Worst case in any of this is that you’ll get your ARC canceled, after which you have two weeks to depart. But make sure you get the cancellation processed before applying for a new visa.
[quote=“jlick”]It is also possible that you can extend your current ARC temporarily if your new employer can provide a letter that they expect to be able to apply for a new work permit at a particular time. They don’t have to, but it has been known to happen. In the case that a work permit application has been received by the CLA you are almost certain to get an extension.
In your case, I’m a bit skeptical that your employer can get a work permit in early January. Before the permit can be issued, they will have to get their accountant to finish the books, file the returns, and then get a tax certificate proving they meet the revenue requirements. This will probably take some time.
Worst case in any of this is that you’ll get your ARC canceled, after which you have two weeks to depart. But make sure you get the cancellation processed before applying for a new visa.[/quote]
Thanks for that. I actually have another company willing to hire me and make an application, so I will ask them to get a move on and file with the CLA so that I can then go to the FAP. I don’t want to make a visa run if I can avoid it, life is hectic enough right now moving apartments (and I have a very narrow time slot available for that).
So I should go to the FAP with a letter from my employer saying they expect to be able to apply for a work permit in January, or a copy of a work permit application?
Try both and see what happens. As I said before, it’s not something that they have to do, but have been known to do. The better you can make your story the more likely they’ll help you out.