Changing my Student visa to a working visa

hi ya’ll… I am from Philippines and I’ve been here in Taiwan since 2011 to study a bachelor degree. i am currently 3rd year student now. but due to our financial problem,and because of the course that i really don’t want to finish anymore :frowning: , i wanted to change my student visa to a working visa, so i can work full time here in Taiwan. My question is it possible for me to apply a working visa here in Taiwan without going back to Philippines? can somebody give me some info? THANK YOU

  1. You do not apply for a working visa. The work visa does not belong to you, but rather to the company. Hence, you must find a company that requires your services and be hired. You, by yourself, cannot apply for a work permit/work visa. You need a contract, to be hired, then you apply for an ARC based on that visa.

  2. However, the company cannot legally hire you if you do not comply to specific requirements. In a white collar job, that means a college degree and 2 years experience. If you graduate from a local university, you can take lower salary than others and the 2 year experience requisite is also waived. So I’d recommend to bite the bullet and survive one more year until you have that little piece of paper.

  3. If you think about other areas of manual work that won’t require a degree, the pay is pitiful and the pain increases. Trust me, local office jobs are already painful enough, but pay a bit better.

  4. Most probably you will still have to do a visa run in your own country. It is usually a requisite when changing from one visa status to another, but occasionally it may not be required. I did not have to leave in order to change my visa status. So it varies and must be consulted with proper authorities, that being NIA.

  5. Remember that the visa status is what allows you to be here. Your studies validate your ARC. If you leave your studies, your reason for being here also dies, no matter the expiration date on your ARC card. If you think you can stay until September because the ARC says so, for example, and leave your studies in January, the school has plenty of time to communicate to NIA that you are no longer a student and hence, when you try to leave the country, you will have a large overstay fine to pay. Or worse: you may try to change your visa status and find out that due to your overstay, you are being denied re-entry. So weight your options carefully. Like a monkey, you cannot let go of one branch until you have another one in your hand. Firmly grasped I may say.

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Very detailed answer thank you sir

Please note this story is 7 years old. A few things have changed. For instance, depending on your qualifications, you might qualify for plum or gold cards.

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I currently have a student visa, but I dont plan to continue my studies anymore for some reason… is it possible to convert my student visa to a working visa without leaving taiwan? What are the things i should do because as of now im quite sure of working rather than studying here in taiwan.

Brothet i am a phd student on scholarship and my couse work is complete. Now i have an offer of a full time job in industry on my MS base. The company will change my work permit and student visa to work visa. Does this has any effect on my Ph.D degree? My main aim in Taiwan is my Ph.D but i have 1.5 more years left to be graduated. Please guide me

No effect

Have you fulfilled the time of the scholarship?

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No. My scholarship will finish in February 2024. But my full time job in industry, they are asking me to join in September 2024. And my professor is saying he will graduate me in February 2025. Although my course work is finish and i have all my papers published.