Employment contract finishes 31 December and I have some questions

My contract finishes 31 December and although I don;t want to remain tn the present place the agent has said they will find another place in February after government permission on new contracts is received. In the meantime they will do the job of extending the ARC for me saving me a personal trip to immigration. This is good but–

  1. Should I leave a lot of money in Taiwan banks while the change is being made? I have my debit card, but any problems and requests to see ARC will leave me in limbo.
  2. Can I go to the health insurance office as soon as I have the extension and new ARC? I am covered until 31 December and apparently that is true even if the ARC is extended. The agent is saying go to the health office a couple of days after 31 December. But why leave it so late and give myself a period that is not covered? Isn’t it better to go BEFORE the current coverage expires but after the extension comes through?
  3. The agent wants to take my passport/ARC and get the extension now.–early December But I believe this can be done any time in the last month of the ARC. Perhaps it is better to do it myself around 15 December rather than be without passport ARC for 10 days/a week at an important time?

Any advice appreciated.

Do you work in a public school or cram school? Or neither? Why do you have an agent?

I would not trust a word coming out of their mouth. This is the land of “don’t worry, I’ll take care of it”. And then a few months later you find out they really fucked up. But, it doesn’t matter because it didn’t cost them. If they screw up and and you end up having a gap in your visa status, this will affect when you can qualify for an APRC if you plan on staying here long term.

If you’re doing the cram school thing, just start looking on your own. Pretty soon the feeding frenzy will start and you’ll have plenty to choose from.

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Don’t hand over your passport to anyone, ever.
Go yourself to ask at the foreign affairs police(or whatever they’re called) and ask them for an extension due to contract ending.
Don’t trust agents. Ever.

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Interesting. That is what I kind of thought. It;s a public school so agents are always operative with a high profile. I did trust them at the beginning because I had to and they did okay. Now the agent who I know quite well has prepared the form asking for a 6 month extension and agreeing she can make the application for me. Think of the biggest public school agent in Taiwan. That’s the one. But I don’t like the idea of being without my passport and ARC at the same time. But it needs to be done because expiry is on 31 December.

But is there any reason I should not do this myself later in the month? She did get an extension on my apartment of 3 months by asking the landlord. At best, she can save me a lot of trouble and at worst give me a lot of trouble (lost passport, sitting on it, etc.).

What about the health insurance? Any reason why I can;t change it before the present coverage runs out at the end of the month? Why wait until January?

because, that is the regulation.

I think there is no reason you shouldn’t do it yourself. The agent maybe offer it in your favor.

Okay so I must wait until it expires before applying for a change? I just wanted to avoid a period where I was not covered if that was poccible.

Actually, this particular agent has kind of made things easy for me. I am not sure I should reject her help for a generic @never trust an agent@ reason. If she can get the extension why not let her do it? It saves me all the burocracy. She is part of the team that comes to my clasroom every month to observe so I know her well. But I am not sure I like giving passport and ARC. Perhaps I should ask her to accompany me to immigration --or do it myself if she refuses for lack of time, distance, etc.?

I would tend to agree with the essential message: ‘Don’t do things through agents’. They have their own agenda and will take you off in directions you never wanted to go in. This went okay, I think–but I was definitely sent down a few curve balls to deal with too.

However, often we have to deal with them.