It is likely that part of the motivation behind the police raids is to enforce the law on immigration as it is written. Is is very likely that much of the effort is directed towards improving the image of area politicians and preventing scandal. Parents don’t like finding out such and such a school was unlicensed after, say, a kid has an accident at the school, or some other such thing likely to lose the area Politico the election. Thus, raids must be conducted against a school likely to yield up to police teachers who are working illegally.
They don’t raid the big chain schools with such regularity, as great effort is expended to make sure the teachers are legit, and they tend to have their papers in order. Raids conducted against smaller schools, or schools inexperienced in hiring foreigners, schools with weaker guanxi, or clearly unlicensed schools are more likely to yield illegal teachers.
Raiding schools is effective for several reasons. It results in the foreigner getting screwed, and a fine for the school. The fine for the school can be dealt with in whatever fashion is agreed between the police and the school. The foreigner can be disposed of without too much worry, as no-one important will go out of their way to help, nor be angered if the person is deported (except perhaps some short-term frustration on the part of some parents: “Grrr. Why was my kid’s teacher illegal?” Rare.). In any case, the law is being seen to be enforced, and very few politicians get criticised for that. Raids may also have the effect of increasing compliance with the law (more taxes) or alternatively, bigger hong baos to the local cops and fire dept, although I see no evidence of that.
The upshot, is that no-one particularly likes raids and deportations. They come in waves (the first I remember being in September 1992 when the FAP finally worked out the Employment Services Act 1989) depending on bonuses, and political campaigns. The mayorships of Taipei City and Taipei County are up for grabs at the moment. Immigration enforcement is a huge issue in Taipei County, and nationally. The teaching of English, and the whole concept of foreign languages and what the fuck language should we speak in Taiwan anyway, is a huge political hot potato.
The point for the teacher is to remember you are just a pawn in all of this. You need to be quick to assess whether you can make yourself a big enough pain in the arse for the fuzz to drop this. Quoting the law is one way. I have quoted the law to various senior members of government over immigration issues and for every law I quote, they produce an internal guidance instruction that contradicts it. On the other hand, I have found using guanxi (including with other foreigners) can result in having things turn out the way I wanted despite a seemingly hopeless legal situation.
Will the school go to bat for you? If they have made a mistake, rather than, say, putting you through another school for tax or work permit headcount reasons, they have a good argument to make along the lines of “Oh so many regulations, look we have our certificate from the fire department, and local police, and our business licence, we pay tax, we are so sorry, the work permit rules are so complicated, we tried…” I have seen this argument work three times at two different large national chains in cases of foreign teachers with erroneous ARCs. Each time the key was the otherwise flawless legality of the school, and the meticulous (but erroneous) application for the work permit, as well as the correct and timely payment of business taxes, and the personal icome tax registration of the teacher. In a case where the school will get into a long discussion with the FAP and you believe they are trying to help you, all hop is not lost. I would advise not talking to the FAP without someone from the shool with you in a case like that. If the school plays its cards right, the FAP will move on to the next target school on their list. Perhaps they have nothing more on the school than some agent of a rival school made a suggestion that there were illegal workers at the school and they have nothing on any one teacher in particular. Could turn out that your school’s guanxi are better than the complaining school’s.
If the school seems happy to pay the NT$150k or whatever it is nowadays, and cut you loose, then you are of course on your own. As has been advised before, the best route is to sign nothing, and certainly don’t give up your passport. If that’s all you’ve got, (no ARC) then you really are screwed and I don’t know what you could say other than I wasn’t teaching, but I don’t feel comfortable advising on how to hoodwink the police. If you really were just there for an interview, say, then all you can do is tell the truth. I would imagine there is no provision for interviews being acceptable due to the difficulty of proof, but written records of appointments may help. If you have an ARC but there is a problem with it, then the only possible argument is that you have done everything you could to try and be legal. You have to pose the question how you are supposed to verify and compare documents written in a language you don’t understand, and isn’t it the school’s responsibility to make sure your documentation is correct? This is one reason I dislike schools which charge the applicants visa processing fees because that could be used as an argument to distance the school from its responsibility to properly process the application. It would be a weak argument, but when it looks like you are going down for teaching illegally you are in the realm of weak arguments.
Remember also that even if the FAP want to do you, the sanctions can vary depending on their mood and the phases of the moon. Try and simply get your ARC cancelled. You are supposed to leave within 14 days, but the FAP might want you to leave right away. On a technical note, very few people actually get deported, as such. Deportation involves being taken to the airport by the police in a police car, and escorted onto the plane where your passport is returned to you. In the few cases I know of (all involving non-English-teachers) the prisoners were locked up in a detention centre first and the employer was made to pay the air fare to the country of nationality. That is actual deportation (chu zhu chu jing). So negotiate and say nothing. I am not sure how much use getting a lawyer is unless you can find one that actually deals with administrative measures on a daily basis.
The Appeal: Should we assume that that was an appeal against the action taken against her, or did it include an appeal on your behalf in respect of the measures taken (or to be taken) against you? I know the ramifications of the appeal would affect you, but were you an actual party to the appeal? I ask because I have been repeatedly told there is no immigration appeals process in Taiwan (and indeed no initial judicial hearing which could give rise to an appeal) which by your post appears to be untrue.
Were you at the hearing where the deportation judgement was given? Or was it simply a written procudure (letter in the post)?
Were you present at the appeal?
I’d like to hear more of the exact format of the appeal. Any chance you could post a copy of the deportation order? (With personal details removed, of course)
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