Help with Visa Fiasco, Huge Fee, etc!

Legal Visa & Residency
1

Back in November, 2011, I signed a contract to work at a private high school in rural Taiwan while on a 60-day visitor’s visa. I was hired on the credentials I presented–which didn’t include a teaching certificate. The school soon discovered that they couldn’t hire me legally, so they began a search for a bushiban in which to hide me–a common practice in Taiwan.

The search went on until January, when they finally found a school to do this. But by the time I was ready to fly out for winter break, my 60-day visa was about to expire. I returned with 30-day visa-exempt status. The owner of the bushiban told me that I wouldn’t have to fly out again, that I could move to another 60-day visitor’s visa without leaving Taiwan. Believe it or not, this happened, but I am now being charged a whooping NT$18,700! :fume: I can only guess that some palms were greased, but I can’t get any itemization on this, with both the high school and the bushiban owner repeatedly putting me off. This amount was simply labeled, “fees and visa costs.”

Today, I left a letter with the principal of my school, stating that, since I was hired on the credentials I had, it was a failure of school to hold up it’s end of the bargain. I shouldn’t have to shoulder this burden alone. The answer I got back was that because it mentions nothing about an ARC in my contract, they cannot be held accountable.

This leaves a few unanswered questions:

  1. This absence of any language about an ARC in the contract is ridiculous. Without APRC or ARC from another source, any full-time employee must be provided one by the employer. I’ve been looking for this language on the new Immigration website, but can’t find it. immigration.gov.tw/mp.asp?mp=2

  2. Basically, I’ve been in limbo here, but have been paying 18% taxes (first 180 days). How could my school been withholding these from my pay legitimately since December?

2

Who or what exactly is charging you NT$18,700?

3

How important is the job to you? If the answer is very pay the fee and be done with it. Otherwise fight it and plan on getting let go as soon as they can do so. I’d suggest CLA. They are pretty good at fighting for your rights and keeping stuff like this from happening.

You can pay a foreigner to work for you but you must deduct 20% of their pay as taxes. This was according to a student I had who was an accountant at a Japanese company. They paid to have a foreigner come to teach them English, but they paid an additional 20% to the tax bureau for the privilege. He would be really screwed if they did that now if he had to renew an ARC.

I think it’s important to know who you are paying. Getting a 30 day landing visa converted into a 60 day visitor is suppose to be impossible, but hey it’s Asia, anything is possible.

If you plan on staying in Taiwan for any length of time longer than a year, than you must keep your tax records straight and work for legal jobs. Otherwise you’ll get held up at the tax office as working illegally stopping you from extending or reapplying for an ARC. supposedly :eh: :wink:

4

Basically as long as you are working without a work permit and are on a visitor visa you’re working illegal and if caught they’ll probably deport you …
And having a work permit gives you the right for an ARC …

5

My primary employer, the one that couldn’t get me the ARC, will begin deducting this from my pay starting next pay day. But that’s it: I don’t know if the buxiban that’s covering me is charging this much, or the high school. Each party blames the other!! I’ve been asking for a receipt for a couple weeks now, but have been put off each time. I’m going to call the immigration tomorrow to ask.

What the contract says is a moot point because it is not legally binding–the government thinks I work for the buxiban, not the high school. I wanted a response to the high school’s claim that they don’t have any obligation to offer an ARC to me–as a full-time employee when they hired me on a visitor’s visa! (This is another aspect of schools excluding all save for those with APRCs. If they hire you on a visitor’s visa, then it seems the burden is on them to provide an ARC. But in this case, I have no legal recourse with the CLA or any other agency: I’m working here illegally.)

Also, what about the taxes I’ve been paying at the high school?

6

You’re working illegally and you’re going to call immigration? Your first concern should be getting a work permit, than you can apply for a resident visa and ARC, yourself. Anything else is irrelevant.

7

Yeah! I’ve been trying to get receipt(s) from the school for about a week now. That really is my only option for seeing what constitutes this $18,700. If my status here were legal, I could go to the CLA, etc. I’ll apply for the work permit next week.

I’d do a runner if I could, but with a family to support overseas, I’m stuck.

Thanks!

8

My primary employer, the one that couldn’t get me the ARC, will begin deducting this from my pay starting next pay day. But that’s it: I don’t know if the buxiban that’s covering me is charging this much, or the high school. Each party blames the other!! I’ve been asking for a receipt for a couple weeks now, but have been put off each time. I’m going to call the immigration tomorrow to ask.

What the contract says is a moot point because it is not legally binding–the government thinks I work for the buxiban, not the high school. I wanted a response to the high school’s claim that they don’t have any obligation to offer an ARC to me–as a full-time employee when they hired me on a visitor’s visa! (This is another aspect of schools excluding all save for those with APRCs. If they hire you on a visitor’s visa, then it seems the burden is on them to provide an ARC. But in this case, I have no legal recourse with the CLA or any other agency: I’m working here illegally.)

Also, what about the taxes I’ve been paying at the high school?[/quote]

Cebu, no amount of palm greasing can alter the fact that you are working illegally because you are working at a different place than the one officially stated in your ARC. Unless you have an ARC that has written both schools’ names on it, YOU are working illegally, and THEY have no obligations, no concerns. The one being deported is you, mistake or not.

The high school is being really obnoxious not to say taking advantage of you. All foreign teachers should be leagl, whether ARC or APRC. If ARC, it should be backed by the school itself, not some shady agent/buxiban. It is ridiculous that they say it is not their business yet use your services. If they do not want to go through the hassle and only hire APRC holders, fine, that is their choice. But if they do so, and yet claim to hire you on a visitor visa -which aside from illegal is impossible- well, they are just being very obnoxious (yes, there is anotehr word for it, but I am trying to be polite here). They probably know that they cannot hire you if you have an ARC from another place.

Please save yourself the aggravation and run, don’t walk, away from this gig. Retaining any money aside from your taxes is illegal. Greasing palms is illegal. Your being at the school premises without pertinent work permit is illegal. You will lose everything you have here, plus a big chunck of paycheck and dignity. Do you really need this aggravation? I don’t think so.

Cut your losses. Take the lost taxes as a lesson fee. It is your responsibility to look out for yourself. You should develop a spidey sense to know when you are being fed a bunch of excuses/lies. No way this will end nicely.

9

I have known several teachers who have been deported under just such arrangements (buxiban/agent hiring for school). Once the teachers were deported the schools didn’t care and hired more newbies in soon after.

The school owes you tax, try your best to weasel it out of them in some form or another. But they hold the aces and have done this many times before.

The withholding tax scam is EXTREMELY common in Taiwan. You are not the first and the last person to be taken advantage of (do not confuse this with the real withholding tax for people with ARCs, but if you do not have an ARC permit to work in the named school, it is impossible for them to withhold tax).

10

[quote]

Please save yourself the aggravation and
run
, don’t walk,
away from this gig
. Retaining any money aside from your taxes is illegal. Greasing palms is illegal. Your being at the school premises without pertinent work permit is illegal. You will lose everything you have here, plus a big chunck of paycheck and dignity. Do you really need this aggravation? I don’t think so.

Cut your losses. Take the lost taxes as a lesson fee. It is your responsibility to look out for yourself. You should develop a spidey sense to know when you are being fed a bunch of excuses/lies. No way this will end nicely.[/quote]

Agreed, seriously. You are getting screwed. Move, live with a friend, find another job…do whatya gotto do. There are plenty of jobs here.

11

My primary employer, the one that couldn’t get me the ARC, will begin deducting this from my pay starting next pay day. But that’s it: I don’t know if the buxiban that’s covering me is charging this much, or the high school. Each party blames the other!! I’ve been asking for a receipt for a couple weeks now, but have been put off each time. I’m going to call the immigration tomorrow to ask.

What the contract says is a moot point because it is not legally binding–the government thinks I work for the buxiban, not the high school. I wanted a response to the high school’s claim that they don’t have any obligation to offer an ARC to me–as a full-time employee when they hired me on a visitor’s visa! (This is another aspect of schools excluding all save for those with APRCs. If they hire you on a visitor’s visa, then it seems the burden is on them to provide an ARC. But in this case, I have no legal recourse with the CLA or any other agency: I’m working here illegally.)

Also, what about the taxes I’ve been paying at the high school?[/quote]

Cebu, no amount of palm greasing can alter the fact that you are working illegally because you are working at a different place than the one officially stated in your ARC. Unless you have an ARC that has written both schools’ names on it, YOU are working illegally, and THEY have no obligations, no concerns. The one being deported is you, mistake or not.

The high school is being really obnoxious not to say taking advantage of you. All foreign teachers should be leagl, whether ARC or APRC. If ARC, it should be backed by the school itself, not some shady agent/buxiban. It is ridiculous that they say it is not their business yet use your services. If they do not want to go through the hassle and only hire APRC holders, fine, that is their choice. But if they do so, and yet claim to hire you on a visitor visa -which aside from illegal is impossible- well, they are just being very obnoxious (yes, there is anotehr word for it, but I am trying to be polite here). They probably know that they cannot hire you if you have an ARC from another place.

Please save yourself the aggravation and run, don’t walk, away from this gig. Retaining any money aside from your taxes is illegal. Greasing palms is illegal. Your being at the school premises without pertinent work permit is illegal. You will lose everything you have here, plus a big chunck of paycheck and dignity. Do you really need this aggravation? I don’t think so.

Cut your losses. Take the lost taxes as a lesson fee. It is your responsibility to look out for yourself. You should develop a spidey sense to know when you are being fed a bunch of excuses/lies. No way this will end nicely.[/quote]

Point is that he has no work permit or ARC … he’s only on a visitor visa, and working … illegally.

12

Advice taken. At first, I thought that I was too close to the edge to make a move; now I realize that I’m too close not to!

If I run, could any claim be placed on me for the $18,700? This amount is either, a) the amount being reimbursed to the high school by me for paying the buxiban for the visa and services, or 2) that amount plus some padding. If the high school has paid out–they are the party that will start deducting this from my pay–then I’m less worried: What can they say? If it’s the buxiban, then they might have a case. For my part, I don’t have any qualms about blowing these people off. :bluemad:

13

Didn’t you say that they had deducted tax money? Even though you were working illegally? You’re even, then.

As to the current buxiban, I would also plan to depart from their company at the earliest convenience. Setting you up likle that is not kosher.

Remember: you cannot send money to your family abroad if you are deported.

14

Still, I would like to go with some of that tax money: three months pay at 18%! I might have work in another city, far less money, but legal, and I can build up other sources. I’m going to have to make a bit of a getaway from here with my stuff in the wee hours as I have a dorm on campus. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

To entice a native speaker to such a place at this–podunk township, droves of apathetic students, a position that’s largely window dressing–this school has to offer good pay. (How could they get a certified teacher in his or her right mind to work here?) But after they’ve got you, then it seems that administration does it’s best to chip away at what they perceive as a bloated salary, and generally shirk their responsibility.

I remember going in to meet the principal a few time back in November. The smiles, the little bows, the offers of tea and cookies: Brush away all that and you find plate steel. I’ll be more wary next time.