I am changing my job from a trading company (where I have a work permit) to being unemployed, and then hopefully to some other job such as teaching.
What paperwork do I need to fill out in transition?
By the way, when I joined this trading company I did not have to fill out any elaborate forms nor undergo a health check.
I don’t understand. What paperwork and processes will I absolutely have to submit/submit to?
Thanks in advance.
In the discussion on “Switching Jobs and Work Permits” at
http://oriented.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=29&t=000269
you have stated that your wife is Taiwanese.
If you want to stay in Taiwan with a “Joining Family Resident Visa,” then you should apply at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for one. The most complicated piece of paperwork you will need there is your “Clean Criminal Record Documentation” from your home country, certified at the Overseas ROC Representative Office, and stamped by the MOFA.
Additionally, you will need the full paperwork on the validity of your marriage, as well a Health Check, a passport with over six months validity, NT$ 1800 in processing fees, two photos, etc.
After you get the JFRV, the application for a Work Permit, based on the status of being a foreign spouse is very easy, and has been discussed in detail in this Forum in many threads.
Thanks for the info. Richard.
However, I still see some differential treatment.
On my current job I did not have to fill out or do jack and yet I have an WORK PERMIT and an ARC.
You have stated elsewhere that you believe it to be preferential for those of us who have Taiwanese spouses to base our ARC on marriage.
Why? It is much more inconvienient. You have to go through all the bullshit paperwork and an extensive health check. From my understanding, some of this has to be updated on a regular basis. It’s just a lot of mafan this way.
Why not just base an ARC on work? There is none of the paperwork hassle.
I look forward to your position on this.
Best Regards.
If the companies/schools at which you have been previously employed do their part in filling out all the required paperwork to apply for your work permit, and you have adequate educational and experience background, then on the surface it does appear that this is any easy way to “get legal.”
However, this is not the case for everyone. For example, some foreigners do not have adequate educational or experience credentials to get the job they want. Additionally, the Employment Services Act only allows foreigners to work in nine categories of employment. What if the job you want falls outside those nine categories?
Or what if you want to work in more than one company/organization? As an “ordinary foreigner” you cannot do that.
Another scenario: what if you get your job and a few months down the road the company folds up? In such an instance, with an ARC based on employment, you lose your residency rights automatically. That is bad news, especially when you have a local spouse and perhaps some little ones to support.
Based on these factors, I recommend getting an ARC based on marriage, and then applying for the Work Permit based on that status. In the long run, you will find that your rights here in Taiwan are better protected, and you have more flexibility in what work you can undertake, if you organize things this way. Most notably, you can get a work permit for any kind of work (as long as the company is formally registered), you don’t have to prove adequate educational or experience background, you can get multiple work permits, etc. If the company closes down, or simply moves to India, you are unaffected, because your residency rights are independent of your work status.
Thanks for the previous post. You raise some interesting points.
quote:
Originally posted by Hartzell: Or what if you want to work in more than one company/organization? As an "ordinary foreigner" you cannot do that.
So unless I have an ARC based on marriage to a Taiwanese spouse my status is that of an “ordinary foreigner”? I can’t base my work permit on my “status” of being married to a Taiwanese?
I have been in Taiwan for many years and have filled out all the paperwork from Criminal Clean Record to HIV test. I have had a resident visa for 10 plus years in a variety of different occupations from student to manager but NOT as the spouse of a Taiwanese.
I have been told that if I apply for the spouse ARC that I will not have to redo all that old paperwork and it would just be a matter of a status name change on my ARC. Is this true or possible?
Best Regards
If you now have a valid work permit that still has some time to run, and you have an ARC based on that, then certainly you can go through the paperwork to get your visa status changed to “Joining Family Resident Visa.” At that point when you go to the Police station (which you should, since you have a new visa type), the officers there will make the proper notation on your ARC.
If you want to reapply for a work permit at that point, under your new status, that is certainly possible. (But in any event, if anyone tells you that you cannot do the procedures exactly as I have outlined above, I say they are misinformed.)
However, based on the information you have given above, I think your best bet would be to apply for permanent residency.
quote:
Originally posted by Hartzell: If you now have a valid work permit that still has some time to run, and you have an ARC based on that, then certainly you can go through the paperwork to get your visa status changed to "Joining Family Resident Visa." At that point when you go to the Police station (which you should, since you have a new visa type), the officers there will make the proper notation on your ARC.If you want to reapply for a work permit at that point, under your new status, that is certainly possible. (But in any event, if anyone tells you that you cannot do the procedures exactly as I have outlined above, I say they are misinformed.)
However, based on the information you have given above, I think your best bet would be to apply for permanent residency.
Thanks for the Response Richard.
So, if I change my status from what it is now to joining family status you indicate I need to still fill out paperwork. What paperwork would that be in total?
How does one apply for permanent residency?
Best Regards.
Hi Martian,
I suggest that you got to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to find out.
I did exactly what you are asking about a couple of months ago - i.e. I had a work-based ARC but wanted to change the status since my wife is Taiwanese (the reason for doing this is of course that I can stay here without having to rely on any [unreliable?] employer. Freedom is everything). I have been here 7 or 8 years altogether and made several health checks and AIDS tests and who knows what, all inadmissible.
The MoFA requirements differ from country to country, I saw the list, and that’s why you should find out directly what they require from you. Being Swedish, I had to provide the health check, the full one with AIDS test, defecation samples and the whole shebang. On top of that I of course had to prove my clean, criminality-free background, and I also had to provide documents from Swedish authorities of my marriage to my Taiwanese wife (having a Taiwanese wedding certificate did not count. I was also told that another Swede who had not visited Sweden after getting married in Taiwan still had to have his marriage registered in Sweden first and then get the necessary document from the Swedish authorites before he got his visa.)
All these documents of course have an expiry date, I think it was six months for all, (wedding certificate, criminal record, health check).
For permanent residency, you have to have lived in Taiwan as married to a Taiwanese for 5 years, staying at least 183 days every year. If you have not been married to a Taiwanese, you have to have been here even longer, with an ARC, but you’ll get this info at the MoFA as well.
So, once again, to be sure that you get everything right, ask at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Jinan Rd. in Taipei, or at one of their branch offices in other cities.
Good luck,
Hi again,
just remembered that I also had to provide the household registration (the hu4ji2 teng2ben3, not the hu4kou3ming2bu4) to prove that I’ve been registered as married to a Taiwanese in Taiwan long enough. This document was only valid for three months.
P