A New Zealand permanent resident (for 20 years since he was 12) is still using his Dutch passport as he never wanted to trade it in for a New Zealand one.
He applied for a teaching permit with the Kaohsiung City Dep. of Ed. He was refused because he had a passport from a non-English speaking country.
He then applied for one with the Kaohsiung County Dep. of Ed. and he received his teaching permit within one week – no problems at all.
I have read a law somewher which says that the ‘competent authorities’ make their policies for issuing work permits. In this case the Department of Education.
Do you have any idea why one Dep refused and the other accepted? (Beside the fact that Taiwan laws often depend on the offical handling a case).
Does each district’s department have their own policy, or is there one policy for all Departments? If so, where could I source a copy of their policies. I can not read Chinese and am therefore unable to really explore this, English translations of various laws that I have found on the internet do not cover Dep. of Ed. policies.
Do you have any info, or resources on this (English or Chinese)?
I cannot answer as to why this has happened. My first impression is that the authorities in Kaohsiung County have made a mistake.
Hence, if they discover the mistake, and give you another letter revoking the original “permission”, I would note that you have 30 days in which to file an appeal with their superior agency.
It is in Chinese, but I asked one of my co-teachers to do a quick translation, and to see if there is anything about nationality or passport etc.
According to her this is not mentioned at all. The two main points mentioned for refusal of a teaching permit are 1: no degree or diploma, and 2: Being HIV+.
So I am still wondering why one Dep of Ed refused giving a teaching permit to a holder of a Dutch passport, and why the other Dep of Ed had no problems issuing it once, and renewing it for a second time?
Are there any other laws about this issue? Does it simply depend on the official’s mood at the time? Or could it be that there is a ‘special relationship’ between the employer (school) and the official in charge?
I would really appreciate your feedback on this. If this goes beyond what you are prepared to do in this forum would you please send me a private email as I would then be happy to engage your services as a consultant.
I think this is another one of those human rights issues that would benefit a lot of people (all those ‘non-native speakers’ who would like a crack at doing the Taiwan Teaching thing).