No bridges burned, and my manager has actually asked me to keep in touch and let him know if I change my mind. I may even consider it after a few weeks thought.
My only concern now is the possibility of being rejected for a visitor visa when they look at the fact that I have lived here for over two years now. I have a friend who just got back here after about a 10 month home trip. He was basically turned down but luckily his Taiwanese girlfriend was able to sweet talk them into accepting. I have no Taiwanese girlfriend and since I live about 8 hours away fom my local TECO, my application will be through the mail.
If I am semi honest with them but just tell them I am coming back to pick up the rest of my belongings and the travel around Asia will they also make me show them a return ticket and bank statement? If so, this could also be a problem for me financially. Again any thoughts or facts would be appreciated.
A few years ago I left my job to do some travelling. I had just renewed my resident visa etc. before I left because my school wanted me to work another month before I left(they paid for everything so it wasnt a problem). I was gone for four months or so and then decided to return to Taiwan. When I was ready to return I still had several months on my resident visa. My working permit etc had been cancelled by my school so in theory this resident visa was no longer valid. I was planning on getting a one month landing visa so I stopped at the visa desk at the airport to ask if my resident visa was still valid. They just looked at the date and said “of course it’s valid. just look at the date”(they also looked at me like I was an idiot for asking) I told them that my work visa had been cancelled and they just repeated “Look at the date, it’s still good”
I figured I had done enough explaining and decided to just try and go through customs with my old resident visa. They let me through with no problem. I just showed them the resident visa and my ARC card and I got to stay an extra six months on my old visa. When it came time to renew the visa again no problem. I did wonder if the school really cancelled my work permit but they said that they did. I thought they might try to hang onto it so they could hire illegal workers under my name. I can’t remember if I got a new work permit right away or just waited until everything expired. I ended up working at the same school though and never had any problems.
One other thing
Just read the last bit of your post. It used to be that just a reservation on a plane out of Taiwan was enough and that you didnt need to have a ticket. I was deported once. It was a big confusing mess over my overstaying my visa (by two and a half months) and being caught illegally teaching. I had a work permit on the way but was working at the school before it actually arrived. Anyway, the police ignored the illegal worker stuff but said they had to send me out of the country. They stamped my passport with a stamp saying I had to leave the country but they didnt stamp it with the one that said I couldnt come back. The police told me to just go to Hong Kong get a new visa and then come back. That didnt work out as planned because when I got to Hong Kong they wouldnt give me a visa because I had the deported stamp in my passport. I needed Foreign Affairs approval to reenter the country (they forgot to tell me this). I asked the Hong Kong people what to do and they said just get back on the plane and get a landing visa at the airport. They said I could get one because the Foreign Affairs Police didnt stamp my passport saying I couldnt come back. Once at the airport, trying to get my landing visa, I was asked for a ticket out. I claimed it was in my room in Taipei. The customs guy just called up China Airlines, reserved a ticket for me and got a printout saying I had a reservation (which I didnt have to pay for) and that was good enough.
I had another friend who used to fly in and out every two months for a year with just an airline reservation and no actual ticket. I’ve never been asked for a bank statement.
Sorry this is a pretty long post just to say I have never needed a bank statement or a ticket out, just a reservation on a plane out.
[quote]This is just me, but I would have a hard time hanging on to someone’s ARC for four months. If it were for a month or two then no worries.
What changes over the extra two months? [/quote]
Sorry for my inability to quote properly, but I would really like to know. What changes from 2 months to four? I’m asking DB because you were the one who said two was ok but four were not.
If you had a teacher that was, for the most part, a model teacher and he gave you a legitimate reason for having to go home for four months (max, but possibly less), on what basis would you fire him.
Not a personal attack here, I’m just trying to plead my case. I’m looking for a reason why my employer would be so cold hearted.
Suffering in the States,
Spiral Architect.
[quote=“Spiral Architect”]Sorry for my inability to quote properly, but I would really like to know. What changes from 2 months to four? I’m asking DB because you were the one who said two was ok but four were not.
If you had a teacher that was, for the most part, a model teacher and he gave you a legitimate reason for having to go home for four months (max, but possibly less), on what basis would you fire him.
Not a personal attack here, I’m just trying to plead my case. I’m looking for a reason why my employer would be so cold hearted.
Suffering in the States,
Spiral Architect.[/quote]
SA,
As I understand it, there are a limited number of work permits available. When an employeee leaves, it creates a big hole in the scheduling. Not to put words in DB’s mouth or anything, but even keeping it open for 2 months is a very generous gesture. Business is business and someone must teach those classes. Sorry to be harsh on ya, but as you say, you haven’t burnt any bridges, so if your "suffering is due in part or in whole to this “dilemma” you find yourself in, I would say that it’s more self-percieved hysteria. You will not encounter problems getting a new visa. We have all done it. I 1st worked here in 2000. I too had to take a flyer back home. A year later, when it came time to get a new VV, it was no questions asked. Same thing when I made the switch from kids teacher to adult teacher. My passport was chock-a-block full of MEVs by that time. Again, no problem (except for SARS).
So chill out young man. Do what you gotta do. Tend to your business in the states. That’s where your focus should be right now, no?
WSI did what they had to do. Its what I would have done, what Hess would have done, what any business would have done.
Don’t think so much. 
So, limited # of work permits being the motivating factor in this, I can understand, but this was not the reason given to me by my Employer. If this is their reason and they are reluctant to tell me this for whatever reason, how will they be able to offer me my jop back when I return? Presumably, they are not going to hire someone for a four month contract, so how will there be an available work permit for me?
I just feel that they were not straight with me and the only reason anyone here can give me is this limited # of work permits line. l guess what really irks me is the fact that my girlfriend was granted this leave with no questions asked, which shoots a hole in your “any other employer would have done the same” argument. She actually tried to quit and was refused and told “don’t worry, take as much time as you need”.
Am I now to believe that her employer is the one and only boss in Taiwan that is willing and able to grant a leave of more than two months without cancelling the work permit? If so, is what her boss is doing illegal? And why the F@#% couldn’t WSI just tell me that they needed to free up my work permit to give to the person who will replace me, instead of the pack of uninformed bull that they gave me?
And finally, getting a new V V is not exactly a gimme. What happens if I apply for a VV before they actually get around to cancelling my work permit? Won’t that raise some red flags? And what happens if I re-enter on my current ARC, ala Gigamesh, which is valid until OCT? There’s nothing in my passport that says it’s not valid or cancelled. Can I then just go back to WSI and get them to reapply for my work permit on this visa instead of going through the whole ARC process again?
Still confused and frustrated,
Spiral Architect
Well, your g/f must be a very valued employee. Her boss may not be the only one that would do something like that, but certainly an exception to the rule.
You should cherish her. She sounds wonderful.
re: VV/ current MEV. Get on the bus right away. Get the process going. At this point you can only speculate. Apply for it now. The TECO would tell you if it was cancelled or not, wouldn’t they? It’s their job to issue visas. So go ask them what you should do.
Also, I believe Miltownkid could help you find out if it has indeed been cancelled from this end. I understand he has some connections at the FAP. PM him.
If I was a betting man however, I would lay odds that your employer has their ass so full of their heads and they are probably too lazy or stupid to cancel it. It may be that they just forget about it and you end up waltzing right back in on your MEV.
Just trying to help. I mention this only cuz I think I detected a bit of a snippy tone there. Don’t make me send one of my boyz around. 
Good luck.
If the company is going to bring you back on a resident’s visa while you’re gone then this won’t be much of a hassle for you. Let them cancel your permit once you leave and then have them start processing your resident’s visa as they are planning. You’ll even be legal to work within a day of getting back.
In terms of expense to you it will be about even.
Since your job is hiring you back it sounds like a pretty good setup.
[quote=“Spiral Architect”]Sorry for my inability to quote properly, but I would really like to know. What changes from 2 months to four? I’m asking DB because you were the one who said two was ok but four were not.
If you had a teacher that was, for the most part, a model teacher and he gave you a legitimate reason for having to go home for four months (max, but possibly less), on what basis would you fire him.
Not a personal attack here, I’m just trying to plead my case. I’m looking for a reason why my employer would be so cold hearted.
Suffering in the States,
Spiral Architect.[/quote]
Sorry, I have been away the last couple of days.
Two months is to help someone out. Four months would be imposing on my being a kind, generous, thougthful, reflective, caring, loving, compassionate boss.