Moving from Australia to Taiwan. Major Anxiety. Need opinions/advice

I’m looking to move to Taipei for the foreseeable future (at least a year very likely longer/a lot longer) with my partner who has just landed a full time offer for a good job she is considering accepting. We’re both Currently in Australia, unmarried, both in our mid 20s but definitely will be looking into getting married later down the line which is why I’m determined to move with her.

I have a bachelors degree in actuarial science and have held a couple of desk jobs in that field for the past few years but have quit about a year ago because I honestly couldn’t stand working in an office. Currently, I have absolutely no clue what I want to do in life but I see moving to Taiwan as an opportunity to explore more options? My ideal future is working for myself maybe in the youtube/content creation space.

I was born in China (Chinese ethnicity) but have lived the past 15 years in Australia so my English is at a native level. I can speak/read/type Mandarin fluently enough but can only write very basic Chinese pen to paper wise.

My questions are:

Should I move to Taiwan first with no job lined up on a 1 year working holiday visa or 3 month Visa exempt and transfer to a work visa after getting a job? or should I secure something first and come on a work visa?

What jobs are there in Taipei for someone like me? I am not opposed to an office job for the time being, but I only have a few years experience in the actuarial/financial industry.

Is teaching English a good option for someone like me? (native English speaker but with a Chinese face) and should I be completing any English teaching certifications before I arrive?

The best way to move my belongings? (desktop computer, monitor, clothes, shoes, bunch of small miscellaneous things I want to keep)

What are the major sites for things like finding accommodation/job search sites etc. that would be useful?

Much thanks in advance.

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for clarification, you became Australian long ago, right?

Assuming the current pandemic situation were over,

if you come on a working holiday visa, you cannot convert it to other status without leaving Taiwan.

fyi job-market

it may still be an easiest option, if you have an Australian passport.

591 for housing
104, 1111 for non English teaching jobs

Yes I’m an Australian.

What about the 3 months visa exempt? Could that be converted to a work visa without leaving the country?

Thank you

yes.

How is your Mandarin? If you can’t speak it or write it, then it’ll be difficult to get a job relevant to your degree. You’re probably looking at a buxiban or ESL cram-school job. Usually you need to be in the country first before a company will offer you a job, as they’re worried you’ll accept a position and then never come.

I can speak/read/type (pinyin) Mandarin but can’t physically write.

Do buxiban/cram schools require you to have teaching certifications?

No. A BA will do it in most cases.

Right. So the teaching pathway would be:

Arrive visa exempt > Find a teaching at a cram school > Convert to work visa?

Right.

It may be better you prepare most of documents, or at least to know what you need, before your arrival.

In addition to usually required things, you may be requested to provide 退出中华人民共和国国籍证书

That’s the most important thing to do as it’s happening in Hk now. According to the Hk government’s website if you’re born in Hk with/out foreign passport(s) you are still a Chinese citizen effective late January 2021 thus foreign consular protection and services would be questionable. I don’t know if it’s the same as the rest of mainland China and Macao though. Also I guess party membership would be another consideration and concern.

What’s the timeline you are looking at? Visa exemption has been suspended since last March, and is unlikely to be resumed this year.

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fyi

As mentioned above, foreign nationals without an ARC or APRC are not permitted to enter Taiwan visa exempt now.

Another possibility to consider is the Gold Card route, especially if the OP’s uni in Australia is top 200 globally.

There’s a lot of discussion of the Gold Card process on forumosa, but some quick overviews can be found here:

Cheers,
Guy

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OP…are you sure you can even leave Australia? I can’t see any compelling reason that would get you an exemption from the travel ban…

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You’ll be fine here, as long as you don’t claim Taiwan to be a part of China.

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In Traditional Chinese characters?

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You might want to double check on the visa exempt thing, cause I thought that’s not an available option at the moment. I’m in a similar situation, so I’ve done a little bit of research on this.

If your spouse has an ARC, my understanding is that you can apply for a visa which would allow you enter Taiwan. So, OP can apply for a dependent visa, maybe?

I’ve spoken to a few people about this and they said it’s a bit easier now than it was last year. They just want evidence that you’re not going to return in the foreseeable future. So, I suspect, perhaps evidence of residency (or spouse’s residency) in a foreign country along with a permanent-job offer would be sufficient.

Getting a quick TESOL/TEFL certificate is easy and you can do it online for $100. I’m not sure how much of an advantage they’d give you, though. A more substantial certificate would be CELTA - but this requires a lot of money, time and effort on your part. So, if you’re not absolutely serious about teaching English, it might not be worth it.

How do you feel about teaching both English and maths? If I were a parent, I’d love to have an actuary teaching maths to my kids.

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OP, if you and the gf are planning to get married in the future, I would consider doing it now. Holding a spouse alien residency card is much less of a gamble than the 3 month exempt. Especially when that 3 month exempt is now, 90 days - 21 days quarantine = 69 days to find a job.

As a spouse of an ARC holder you will not have a time constraint on your visa and if you do find a job, you can always convert the alien residency card. You could always go the teaching English route, but are you sure that’s something you want to do or something you think you can do, so you do it.

I know getting married is a big step in everyone’s life, but this is something to consider.

I would leave the desktop at home and buy a laptop! Everything else, try to stuff into how ever many suitcases your international flight allows.

Yes but they’re not married. So that’s a red flag. I wouldn’t give an exemption to a guy who’s tagging along with his GF and has no job.

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Hey guys thanks so much for the responses, I think I have a much clearer picture now. I’m not sure how to quote each of you individually (if someone could teach me how) so I’m just going to answer…

I’m an Australian citizen with Aus passport only. So I don’t think 退出中华人民共和国国籍证书 applies to me even though I was born in China?

Timeline-wise, goal is to move to Taiwan in the next couple of months as my GF can work remotely from Australia until we sort things out here but will eventually need to move.

The Employment Gold Card looks fantastic, although I my salary was just shy of the $67000 USD requirement at any point in the past 3 years.

I can read/type Simplified Chinese fluently. I haven’t been exposed to Traditional in the past but most of the time I can read Traditional just from educated guessing as they look somewhat similar.

I wouldn’t be opposed to teaching both English and/or Maths or working at a desk job. From what I understand now, the best approach for me is to line up some sort of job that’ll grant me a work visa/work permit before moving. Although my end goal is to still break free from the “9-5”.

If I leave my desktop computer I’d need to buy a $3000+ laptop to match the specs which I need for content creation (video editing/rendering) and that’s too much for me. Although I guess I can take my computer apart and only bring the components and buy a new case/monitors in Taiwan.

I don’t think me and my partner have reached the point of marrying yet so that’s out of the question.

Thanks all