My name is Michael and I’m Taiwanese. I was born in Taiwan and moved to US when I was 7 or 8 years old, I don’t remember. I’ve recently decided to move back to Taiwan (Taipei) and I was wondering if anyone has gone through the same situation could please share your experience with me. Like what can I expect from military service, job hunt, how hard was it for you to adjust to the Taiwan lifestyle, ect… Also hoping to make some friends on this site to get a head start on my social life in Taiwan =).
A little about myself to help you guys figure out what kind of situation I would be facing when I move to Taiwan.
I’m 24 years old and have recently graduate from college (UCSD).
I can speak Mandarin/Taiwanese/English fluently and a little bit of Spanish.
I can read Chinese pretty well but I cant write Chinese.
I will be living in Taipei.
I’m pretty social and easy to talk to.
not sure what kind of other information will help you guys help me so just shoot me any questions.
It would be cool if I can chat with someone on Skype with knowledge on what I’m about to go through, just send me a PM.
Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to hearing from you guys.
p.s Im new to this website so if I’m posting on the wrong section, please let me know.
My name is Michael and I’m Taiwanese. I was born in Taiwan and moved to US when I was 7 or 8 years old, I don’t remember. I’ve recently decided to move back to Taiwan (Taipei) and I was wondering if anyone has gone through the same situation could please share your experience with me. Like what can I expect from military service, job hunt, how hard was it for you to adjust to the Taiwan lifestyle, ect… Also hoping to make some friends on this site to get a head start on my social life in Taiwan =).
A little about myself to help you guys figure out what kind of situation I would be facing when I move to Taiwan.
I’m 24 years old and have recently graduate from college (UCSD).
I can speak Mandarin/Taiwanese/English fluently and a little bit of Spanish.
I can read Chinese pretty well but I cant write Chinese.
I will be living in Taipei.
I’m pretty social and easy to talk to.
not sure what kind of other information will help you guys help me so just shoot me any questions.
It would be cool if I can chat with someone on Skype with knowledge on what I’m about to go through, just send me a PM.
Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to hearing from you guys.
p.s Im new to this website so if I’m posting on the wrong section, please let me know.[/quote]
You were born here and so you’re still tied to the conscription until the age of 36. What you can do is become a 僑民 on your Taiwan passport so that you can avoid conscription by leaving Taiwan every 4 months until you reach 36. However, if you really wanna serve this country, just do 1 year and you’re done.
Here’s more info on Taiwan conscription (in Mandarin):
The OP doesn’t imply he wants to try and get out of military service. I suspect doing military service might be worth the experience. Although depending on if you have a university education, your military service might involve nothing more than a boring desk job. (:
@pqkdzrwt lol thank you for the advice. And I do have a BA degree from University of California - San Diego, does that mean I will have a boring desk job while serving in the army?
@PigBloodCake Yeah I’m not trying to avoid it, was just wondering what I can expect from the service.
@California thanks for the heads up, I already do that here in the US. Why is it so important to do this in Taiwan? just curious
From the way you’re phrasing things, it sounds like you’re planning on a permanent move. Have you visited in the last sixteen years, or are you doing it out of nostalgia? Do you have relatives still living in Taiwan? What are your job plans/hopes, and what is your degree in?
@ Impaler I’m not sure that it will be a permanent move, but its definitely going to be long-term. I guess it really depends on how well I adjust. No I have not visited in the last sixteen years, I’m doing it simply to explore my options in Asia and to gain some new experiences in different part of the world. Taiwan just seems like a good place to start for me since I do have relatives there and I speak mandarin. My degree is in Management Science with a minor in Psychology. I guess my plan would be to serve my military service, since its mandatory, then maybe study in a Taiwanese college for higher degree unless I can find a decent job in the field of Finance.
I moved back to Taiwan from South Africa 4 years ago…
I started teaching English during my first year and gradually found my feet. Then started working in all kinds of industries. Now I am a marketing copywriter for a US IT company. The tax is so low so working here is absolutely worth it.
I recommend you to do the service, get it over and done, then u get to enjoy the fruits of being a proper citizen. Dodging the draft is not fun at all (I tried). Also most employers here will hesitate to hire you if you have not done your service.
I did community service (tidaiyi), and taught English in a primary school in an aboriginal village in Hsinchu mountains. Most of the time you sit around and do nothing, but it was a worthy experience living out there.
Depends if you have a Hukou (Household registration), if yes you can go directly to ur district office and pick up ur local ID and Health insurance card, and they will put you on the list. I only got drafted by the military after spending 3 years in Taiwan.
Since living here I got married, and have traveled extensively throughout Asia, while living in a relatively comfortable lifestyle. I highly recommend you giving Taiwan a shot.
my friend who was “infantry” said he thought it was a waste of time; his other buddy, an outdoors guy, managed to do his service in the coastguard and absolutely loved it. if you were in SD (and like the beach life), maybe the coastguard is the ticket for you.
With regards to the military service, I am not familiar with how people manage to end up in one area vs the other, ie infantry, airforce, coastguard, IT, etc…
I would be reasonably confident to assume there are no fixed rules, and that it is a combination of a persons skills, the current demand, test scores, physical disabilities, and a persons guanxi (who they know).
Does anyone know more about this particular aspect?
I wonder how similar things are here to in Singapore. Many of my singapore friends have actually willingly (not forcedly) flown back to Singapore to do their service. Many of them seem to have enjoyed it. (: Im not sure about Taiwan, I don’t yet have a large number of Taiwanese friends.
You draw straws to see where you end up being assigned for your service. Lucky people get into the air force, whereas unlucky people become grunts. At least that’s what I heard. From my experience, very few Taiwanese want to serve for their country. I have also known lots of S’poreans who happily served for their country, but it seems most Taiwanese I have known lacked such enthusiasm.
Again thanks for all the responses, but there seems to be a misunderstanding. I’m not trying to avoid the military service, it’s actually the first thing that I want to do in order to get it “over and done” like Hosh suggested. I guess what interest me about the whole military service is who qualifies for tidaiyi ( alternative service )? I heard from my cousins that option will give me more freedom.
@Host thanks for sharing your experience, how did you like South Afirca? It must be nice getting paid US salary in Taiwan =). Thanks for the recommendation and It’s definitely one of the first thing I’m going to take care of. I have no idea what Hukou is so I guess I’ll have to look into that. I would actually like to know more about Tidayi so if you can shoot me a PM.
@Jack Burton Thanks for the info! I’m an outdoor guy so hopefully I will enjoy the service as much as your buddy. And I do like the beach life
@pqkdzrwt I have to take a fucking test O_o? and here I thought I was done with all the testing lol. I better start working on my guanxi, hopefully I have a cousin somewhere high up in the military eh?
( are we allow to cuss on this website? I dont wanna get banned )
@creztor I hope I’m unlucky then, I have fear of heights!! I will shit myself if they make me become a paratrooper…
I appreciate all the responses about military service, but lets move on to other topics guys!! I would like to hear more about your personal experience on other aspect of the Move to Taiwan. like Hosh =)
Of course very few Taiwanese want to serve in that piddly, joke of a military. That’s why they force people to do it instead of letting them volunteer. LOL
I was born in Taiwan but left when I was around 5/6 years old and am now 32. I have visited a few times in the past couple of years on my US passport with no issues but I stayed at no more than 3-6 weeks at a clip. However I recently got my Taiwanese passport back since my last one expired almost a decade ago and the edge clipped. The guys at the NYC TECO were iffy about my questions regarding the military service and told me that I could possibly get drafted if I returned again. I plan on visiting Taipei in the near future for about 3 weeks to visit family and friends and since I run a company here now, i can’t really afford to get drafted into the TW military for 9 months. I have also been a US citizen for 15 years and have lived in the US continuously since I left Taiwan, only returning for short trips as mentioned above. Not to mention I already served in the United States Marine Corps for nearly 8 years as a combat engineer. I have no desire to get back into cammies again. If anyone here has SOLID and RELIABLE information, please let me know what the situation is. Thank you for your help.