Moving to Taiwan soon. Some advice please?

Hey guys!
I just became a member of this interesting looking community. And would appreciate some advice on few subjects. ( if You don’t mind that is ) :slight_smile:

So well then a little bit about myself. ( and excuse my English as its not my native language )
I’m from Poland, yet I don’t belong there as my last 10 years abroad showed me. In about 2 weeks I will be moving to Tainan where my fiancee lives. Given 90 days, thanks to visa free policy I need to figure out what to do next. I do intend to settle down in Tainan, can’t say for sure in Tainan but I have it together with Kaohsiung in mind. ( not a fan of capital cities due to expensive way of living )
My GF is doing her best to find me job, or at least visa ( without getting married tho I really think would be easiest and best option ) due to lets say “family” reasons. So far ( obviously ) I didn’t get a single reply to all the job ads I have replied to. But I’m not disappointed yet and rather optimistic of what future will bring.

As for my education I do have B.A in Administration from Poland, I hold a Diploma of Children Services from Sydney, Australia.

As for jobs I have plenty of different work experiences from :
Poland ( General Services Administrator at Bank of New York Mellon)
Ireland ( various jobs over 3 years )
Australia ( kindergarten and martial arts teaching over 3 years )
and Japan ( kindy again and over a year in ramen shop when I was studying Japanese )

I met my future wife in Japan over 3 years ago. And with lots of thinking about life and such ( i’m getting old 33 in November ) we kinda decided to give a shot in Taiwan.

I must add here I do not speak the language yet, but I do speak polish, fluent English, and descent Japanese.

So here I type to You kind people with lots of interesting stories to tell, what a poor soul like mine should ( can ) do?

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A post was split to a new topic: Unhelpful advice dump

Hey, that was very interesting piece of advice, care to talk about it?

You will probably know already that the most common entry-level job for foreigners in Taiwan is English teaching. That isn’t going to work in your case because you don’t hold the right passport in the opinion of the ROC Government. (How good or bad your English might be has nothing to do with it).

There are some options to get a visa/work rights through investment. I’m not entirely clear on the details but there is information on this forum; try a search and ask again if you can’t come up with anything.

Getting married would certainly pave the way to work rights, but there are a lot of other factors to consider as well, especially if there are “family” issues. It’s really easy to get married, have a child or two, and then become embroiled in a custody battle you almost can’t win. You don’t say if your SO is Taiwanese or not; I’m assuming “yes”. That’s…not going to be a relationship of equals, especially if your work prospects are limited.

Hopefully others can suggest some good job options for you. I’m sure there are ways; I’m just not really up on them.

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I’m intrigued by the ramen option, though this will be hard-ass work and you probably would need to be on a JVRC (not the case, right?) to get started.

Good luck figuring things out!

Guy

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For marriage #life:dating-relationships

For visa #legal:visa-residency-issues

For job #work:working-in-taiwan

For living place #taiwan:moving-to-taiwan

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Hey, thanks for quick replies.

I just noticed I have failed to mention that my GF is Taiwanese, as You correctly assumed.
Ramen making was a very fun experience ^^ I still keep in touch with people working there :slight_smile:

JFRV is far the best option for me as far as I know, as Ironlady mentioned I am not from English speaking country. I am thinking about starting my own little business, haven’t decided what exactly yet, as at the very moment 1) I need visa 2) I simply need some stable job first. ( and here I’m really not afraid of working hard ) I think I am registered on all English friendly websites and applied for all positions I do qualify, I am simply not aware private ads, maybe local ones, so yeah IF anyone can point me in the right direction I will much appreciate or even treat to snack/drink when You visit me ^^

And thanks Tando I already have checked those threads and I’m aware of most cases. Yet maybe just in my case someone will have a bulls-eye solution to my problem :slight_smile:

One of my Taiwanese Uni students has a Polish boyfriend and she just went to stay with him for a few months, with a plan to bring him back here… now I’m wondering if you’re him. :thinking:

For the Ramen idea, there’s a good Ramen shop near Shilin night market. It’s not in the night market, but on the road the goes to the bnq hola store. Not too far from where those games are but on the opposite side of the street.

Check it out and see if you can beat them.

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Hey there, if You tell me the name of Your student I will tell You :slight_smile:

Haha, I will pay the a visit then ! To see how good they doing :slight_smile:
As for making ramen for life, I have to think about it :smiley:

I don’t want to give too much detail. Her family name is Hsu.

How long did you live in Australia? What was your visa status when you were there?

I know a few people who weren’t native to an English speaking country, but went abroad and got citizenship in that country… and then could teach English in Taiwan legally.

I’m not sure if that’s an option for you… but just wanted to put this out there.

Oh, another option.

You if you enroll as a master’s student in a University, you can get a Visa to work legally. The Visa extends for a few months after you graduate. I forget how long.

If you learn Chinese for a year, you can get a visa. After that, you would have more job opportunities.

Learning Chinese just gets you a visa for language study. Your employer will still have to sponsor you.

If you’re a master’s student, I think you can work for several months without needing to be sponsored for a Visa… but if your employer ends up liking wanting to keep you on full time, he’ll need to sponsor you eventually. It’s just a way to get your foot in the door.