Considering relocation to TW

Taiwan Moving to Taiwan
1

Hi,

I am a French national, currently working in HK in the electronics industry. I have quite a large exposure to Taiwan (been working several months a year in Taiwan managing teams at various electronics factory between 2008 and 2013), so Taiwan is a place I am familiar with.

I speak near-fluent Chinese, (alas my reading/writing sucks, I don’t think I cross the 1000 characters mark yet). My wife is Chinese (mainland), but changed her nationality some 15 years ago, we have one 6 yr. old. kid.

Recently, we have seriously been considering relocating to Taiwan, as our current company would basically allow the process (and take care of the paperwork), that said, I still have some technical concerns on the process, as well as questions for the future.

Cost wise, I think I am pretty clear on what Taiwan’s life looks like, basically living in Taipei means high rental and education cost for our kid (we would have to go for the T.E.S. in Taipei, which is practically the same cost as HK, that is, it costs you an arm and a leg).

Regarding work now: My understanding of Taiwanese economy and how it plays with foreigners (white origin), make me think that finding a job as high management positions (C.T.O. /V.P. /Senior Director) is going to be next to impossible except maybe at some foreign companies… It also seems to me that the electronics/IT industry isn’t doing very well recently. I am not saying that I would want to leave my company at all (package is interesting and the job nice), but, working for startup-like company means you have to be ready for them to fail… so there’s that.

Reading this forum (and others) does not make me more confident in that matter… What do you guys think?

Now for the technicalities (warning: bunch of random questions ahead):

  1. I have an HK driving license with motorcycle riding ticked on it (initially was transferred from a French license), I understand that converting it to an R.O.C. license will be easy, (right?) and would allow me to ride a motorcycle of up to 250 c.c. For more, I would need some training certificate (which I don’t have)… could I just get that training in Taiwan?

  2. I read somewhere that for some professionals, you can apply for the Taiwanese citizenship without surrendering your nationality, but I could not find much information on this… how would that play with your family/dependents?

  3. How hard is it to open a bank account and get the usual commodities in Taiwan (simple credit card allowing you to purchase online, things like that…)?

  4. In general, would you recommend somebody having a good-enough situation in HK to relocate to TW and why? (we already have our views on it, but having others view might enlighten us a bit :slight_smile: )

Thanks,

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Actually, what is difficult is managing all the bank accounts you accumulate over the years of working in Taiwan because each company pays you directly to the one they opened for you. You can certainly open your own account in a bank of your choosing, but if you don’t have an account at the one your company has a relationship with, you/they will likely open it for you.

Now, how much paperwork is it to open a bank account otherwise? That depends again on whether you set up a business (not a difficult thing), and the bank will want to get that business, or if you are simply opening a personal savings or checking account (it has been so long ago since I did that, bank practices have probably changed)

TL;DR - Not difficult to open a bank account

I don’t think it is meaningful to generalize. In terms of career advancement, you need to ask yourself what and WHERE you plan to advance to. If you plan to stay in Asia, Taiwan is not a bad choice. If you imagine you will move to Europe or North America within X years, you need to think carefully.

In terms of lifestyle, this is completely objective. I grew up in the Philippines and considered visits to HK to be exciting and glamorous. Then I got a job there when I was 24 - and it was exciting and glamorous. Then I grew up, lived in Taipei and Shanghai, and today, I can’t imagine ever making the sacrifices that I was happy to when I was 24. I only go to HK because taking the kid to the Disney there is more manageable, although we liked Tokyo Disney… oh well.

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