I don’t think the ROC government recognizes distance-learning degrees though. Well, there’s always Hong Kong.
Maybe you could set up as a rep office or local company (probably need some funds to do this)? Have a look at the stickies in the Business and Money forum.
[quote=“Bao_Lisha”]Hi Dan! Nice to e-meet you! 
I’m also a Brit and I think I can give you some useful info on a few things.
Firstly your GF’s Masters. If she failed and plans to re-sit, she can get a new student visa. Besides that, I’ve had contact with many, many Chinese MA grads back home and their student visa allows them to stay in the UK for 2 years after graduation, so that would give you both another 2 years. She can also look for work in that time. To be honest, what you both need to do, is get in touch with her academic department and seek advice on the extension/retake business before you start worrying about moving out here! They are the ones who can tell you what the situation really is as, believe me, she won’t be the first international student to not make it! I knew another and she re-sat and stayed for another year. It can be done! Another option may be to apply for a related course and get creidt transfer or see if she can get a postgrad diploma for the modules she did pass and if that qualifies her to stay for the usual 2 years.
Re Open University. They’re a good deal financially and you can get a degree in 3 years at the least, but you will need the time to do it. Something worth bearing in mind is that, unless you’ve already started with them, you can’t study their courses outside of Europe. If you are outside of Europe unavoidably once you’re a student, you can make some arrangements. (I was helping a Taiwanese girl sort all this stuff out a few years ago, so that’s how I came across this info). Check with them what’s possible and have a good look at their website: open.ac.uk They’re just started doing some stuff in design, which you may find interesting, and the education and English lang stuff may be of use for future work in Taiwan. The quality of their teaching materials is superb (I’ve done one of their German courses) and UK epmployers really respect OU graduates for their time management and commitment to personal development.
To add to what the others have said, unless you’re married to a local, you can’t just set up a business here, I think. Things are really quite strict on foriegners! Another alternative may be to seek work with a UK company that operated in Taiwan, but this is a long shot. The only ones I know are things like The Body Shop and The Pru!!
You should also be aware for the future that the UK does not recognize marriages performed in Taiwan and so, if you got wed here, you would be considered still unwed back home, legally speaking, which may affect the legal rights of your future family. Also, if you want to marry here, you have to stay in the UK for 4 weeks before you can get the relevant documentation to say you’re legally free to marry. A BIG nuisance - my sister is dealing with all that guff now and going to marry in Hong Kong later this year instead!
So, whilst things are not necessarily the best out here, esp for Brits, forewarned is always fore-armed, so you can make any relevant preparation now.
Good hunting![/quote]
thank you so much for spending the time in writing that post I really appreciate it, it’s made me feel much better, but also made me wish I would have listened to my mother ‘DO AN ENGLISH DEGREE, YOU’LL BE ABLE TO TRAVEL THE WORRRRLD’ while I ignored and was more concerned about my artwork (what a dick)
since I made this thread, today we have made positive progress in terms of her visa here in the UK, all we need is a cas certificate (which shouldn’t be a problem at all) and once she has passed her MA, she can apply for the working visa here.
But I will be honest about my concerns about the future, my GF is very intelligent, driven and talented, she is hoping for a job here, in the UK, as a interior designer, this is very possible, but at the same time this business is very competitive, I’m worried that she won’t be able to land a job here in this field (though jesus she deserves it), she is BRILLIANT at what she does, she deserves it more than anything infact!! But at the end of the day I think such people interviewing her would rather a Brit get the job, or am I wrong here? I just hate this country and think everyone is a judgemental scumbag, maybe I’m wrong?
Her English is impeccable, but of course, she has a strong accent, I just worry so much about her, our situation is completely terrible to be honest , we’re both working shitty jobs to pay the rent, every day I love her more than the last, and feel like I can’t lose her, but our situation gets more and more hard by the day, I try to think positively, and I can imagine us being so happy together, but then my negative side is like ‘BUT WHAT IF THIS HAPPENS’ and i just feel like crying my eyes out.
Pretty shitty really. talking about it really helps though
Speaking as a Brit I’d say your concerns about your GF not getting work because of her nationality are pretty groundless. Yes, we can be pretty racist, but the type of people that can afford interior designers and the people that work in that kind of industry are usually upper middle class. A touch of the exotic, a foreign accent, these things will count in her favour with these people. What she needs are networks because most of this work comes by word of mouth. I should think as a Taiwanese person she has networking skills down pat.
Catfish: OU is not a bit like Kongzhong Daxue that they have here in Taiwan and in China. It really IS a fully accredited programme with lots of in person tutorials, summer schools and so on. It will almost certainly be recognised and, let’s face it, most employers will see BA(Hons) and look no further. You can get proper Masters and even PhDs with the OU and, yes, they’re all real and will be seen so anywhere.
OK, Dan. Glad to be of help. I knew you were panicking over nothing with this visa business. That seems to be a habit though, now that’s out of the way, you’re panicking about something else instead. Does ‘chill out’ resonate at all?? 
Just do the best you both can on everything and do NOT create dramas about the future! They’re all in your mind and panicking about what might happen will steal the joy you can have from what is really happening in your real life. The next time the ‘what if’ records starts playing in your head, short circuit the thought and tell yourself, ‘If that happens, we’ll deal with it at the time, we won’t start planning for disaster just now’.
If your GF is as good as you say, she’ll get a job fine and, if you get married, that sorts her residency and means she could apply for any job. If you’re that keen on her, you ought to be considering that anyway. And before you start panciking about funding a wedding, do it the cheap and cheerful way, forget the £10000 ‘putting on a show’ type of do.
So, in short: CHILL OUT! Things will 99.999999% be just fine, even if they don’t go 100% your way all the time - you may have to fall back on other work at times (which artist doesn’t have to do that?), so think about contract and temp work part-time to ensure a decent income level. Your situation isn’t even a bit as hopeless, or even worrying, as many I’ve heard about/help to deal with, so lighten up, huh? 
If I were a Taiwanese doing interior design in the UK, I’d probably go and study some feng shui on the side.
Basically, I think your GF should try to turn her foreign background into an advantage. Being Chinese instantly gives her more credibility as someone that can do the interior design in my place according to feng shui principles. Just like being Caucasian gives you more credibility to teach English in Taiwan.
And as someone who has tried doing freelance design in Taiwan… unless you have a good set of connections, don’t even think about it. You’d be better off taking projects of the Internet in sites like elance.com.
Hi all, new member here… lurked for about a month.
My story goes like this, dont worry I’ll throw some “ADD notes” at the bottom:
Met my wonderful girlfriend and hopefully someday soon my future wife at a barbeque in South Carolina. Shared a life together for 1year and few months of never really being apart. Lots of local travel, etc. We love each other…ALLOT. Her dad gets terribly sick, and since she doesn’t need to be in the USA for the completion of her doctorate… other than oral defense in the future. She had to fly home for good. I went to show my support and also to check out Taipei.
I love Taipei, its basically as if Chinatown in NYC went crazy and took over everything. Laugh! (I’m originally from Northern NJ.) So its a big giant NYC. Cool with me. Her family likes me allot. No issues there. I was in Taipei for a month… and I made the decision that since the USA is basically going to shit, with our loss of freedoms nearly everyday, an inept president, and ton of other issues. It’s time to see if the grass is greener… and Taipei… since it rains so much… I am going to say YES.
We have only been apart for about a week now, at this point… and I am trying to get over to Taipei by September or November. Flights are waaaaay to expensive right now… like $4k!
Just turned 38 years old, I have extensive business experience, although I only have 2 associates degrees, and a bunch of IT certifications: MCP, Fiber Optic Termination, A+, etc.
Employment is my #1 concern next to finding an apartment.
My girl told me that getting a job teaching English should not be an issue. I researched that, and I am not 100% that I agree… since
- I have very little teaching experience except for doing some minor tutoring here in the USA on random subjects.
- I only have associates degrees with no TESL certifications.
- I don’t speak mandarin.
$20 a hour sounds ok… I assume this is really good by Taipei standards? Until I heard its like on average 12 hours a week… and you get paid at the end of the month.
I am hoping to hustle myself into something more lucrative and business oriented like: importing/exporting which I have lots of experience in, acting as a sourcer for US Companies… or basically… I would love a job answering the phones for some company here (in Taipei)… that does business with the US. I am very knowledgeable about importing/exporting products.
Due to the current shitstorm that has basically raped the USA… the economy being in the toilet…etc. I am not going to be coming to Taipei as this wealthy westerner like you see in the movies. Doesn’t really matter, my girl loves me… for me.
But I cant stand the current situation that I am in… hopefully I will be successful in Taipei. My girl has no motivation to live in the USA… and at this point either do I. We will be married some day…and if Taipei is going to be my home… I got allot of studying and learning to do. Wish me good luck… as I wish the same to you… reader of all this dribble from some stranger.
ADD Notes:
[ul]*This guy meets the love of his life at a bbq… she is from Taipei.
*Date for a year and some change.
*she had to move back home… dad’s sick.
*He followed her out there to show support and checkout the landscape… he likes it. Except for the stinky tofu though it was tasty.
*She now lives back home… in Taipei… he is in the states
trying to get over there… find good employment and a decent cheap place to live to start.
*September or November… shit gets real, son! [/ul]
Long term , yes do something other then teaching , but short term, teaching can pay the bills. But you dont have a 4 year degree so you will need a teaching certificate in order to teach legally. And long term, after you marry a TW girl you can do other things in Taiwan a LOT easier.
check travelocity for prices. I just checked today for SFO to TPE and return and yes its rather high like 1200 to 1400 but booking now for October it went down to bout 1000. Thats from SFO to and from TPE.
Research prices and you can get a deal .
welcome to forumosa and good luck to you and your woman on the rock.
Never can tell what can happen at a southern barbeque huh?
Well put by Tommy. I think I’ve heard this story a couple times on the boards. Following GF, moving to Taiwan, don’t want to teach English looking for something bigger not really sure what you want to do.
The answer, get yourself on the ground. Get to know people here. Networking is key. There are plenty of jobs for foreigners, but not many of them will post on monster. Also know exactly what you want to do here.
FYI, if your Chinese is really good you will get a job much faster.
Best of luck.
Run a search on the VISA forum under ‘associate degree’.
I think the rule is a 2 year associates degree plus a TEFL qualification of some sort is enough to allow you to teach legally. However, I think some posters have mentioned in the past that some of the schools don’t really understand how to process it because it’s a little out of the ordinary, and the school owners are easily confused!
In general it sounds like you should be fine. You already have a Taiwanese support network and that is a lot more valuable than language skills at this stage. Oh, if you really love her - marry her. Makes everything a hundred times easier.
She’s 29. Sometime soon Mummy and Daddy will be asking her when is she going to get married and have babies…
I was exactly 23 when I did the final permanent move to Taiwan. And the age difference with your girlfriend is almost the same as my wife. I am also a high school dropout with no formal qualifications to my name.
I would absolutely come to Taiwan, it’s a no-brainer. Our starting points are not so dissimilar and it changed my life for sure.
I would strongly recommend going the student route which will get you in the country for a reasonably amount of money, allow you to learn Chinese and let you make friends and contacts. If you are outgoing and friendly you will literally have people approach you to teach their niece/nephew/aunty English. Sure it’s not going to make you a millionaire but if you have any common sense you’ll get by.
Please don’t get married just for residency, give it at least a year with your gf in her native country because often people change when they go abroad. You can always think about that later. I came as a student first, loved it, then set up a company here and got my residency through that.
If you come here and it’s a giant fuckup, what have you lost anyway? You don’t have a high-powered career in the UK and it seems like the work you do can be done anywhere, so all you have to worry about is the visa.
PS - my company manufactures vinyl records. I can’t offer you a job but we often contract out design work for customers.
Yes, you can.
- There is a good demand for technical writing.
If you have extensive knowledge of computer, you can easily put that at good use.
-One way to start would be to look for opportunities as a technical writer at Cyberlink, Trendmicro and a bunch of other Hi-Tech companies.
www.1111.com.tw are Chinese jobsites.
They are always looking for technical writers.
Even if you don’t speak any Chinese, it should not be too difficult to find something.
Salaries could start at 40.000 NT, but if you look around, you could get much more than that, especially if you would work on a free-lance basis.
- Some executive search companies might be interested in your resume:
MRI, SES Asia, Heydricks, ES 360, and a few others.
You could send it around and see whether any people might get back to you.
[quote=“Dan 
”]First of all, brilliant site, it really is amazingly informative and you have some brilliant photos in the daily photo thread 
Hello my name’s Dan, I would appriciate if you’d take the time to read this and answer some of my questions. (I realise it’s really long, sorry about that :s)
I’m 23 years old and live in the UK with my Taiwanese girlfriend - I met her 2 years ago, she has just finished her Masters Degree in Interior design over here but failed by a few marks 
, It’s thrown a massive spanner in the works as her Student Visa expires at the end of this month - We’re hoping that she can get an extension on her student Visa, re-do her dissertation to submit it again in September, pass, and then she can apply for her working visa…
[/quote]
Stop right there young man…
My name is Daniel, im from london too, i was 23 when i met my taiwanese girlfriend and lived together for 2 years while over there… dont do it.
first off when you come back i can promise you her lovely character will change, mostly due to the fact shes amongst her family, her time spent with you will now be divided in 2 between them and you, plus to make it worse, no matter what she will always side with them.
Plus taiwan sucks compared to the uk, i would do anything to move back (been here 3 years now with my wife… yes the same one who was my girlfriend) my wife even says the same.
Just dont do it, its a long rabbit hole to hell :s
wow can two posts right after the other be more diametrically opposed?
to be or not to be, to go or not to go (you are probably F-ed one way or the other in some fashion).
Yes TW families baby their daughters till they are 30 (and watch over them very carefully) , then suddenly tell them its time to get married and get all desperate for them to find someone the moment they hit 30. Whereas previously they may have made many major efforts to derail any relationships their fine daughter had. They should have started to loosen the apron strings when their daughters reach 22 or something.
Ilary, did you speak Chinese when you first arrived in Taiwan?
[quote=“Andrew72”]Hi all, new member here… lurked for about a month.
My story goes like this, dont worry I’ll throw some “ADD notes” at the bottom:
Met my wonderful girlfriend and hopefully someday soon my future wife at a barbeque in South Carolina. Shared a life together for 1year and few months of never really being apart. Lots of local travel, etc. We love each other…ALLOT. Her dad gets terribly sick, and since she doesn’t need to be in the USA for the completion of her doctorate… other than oral defense in the future. She had to fly home for good. I went to show my support and also to check out Taipei.
I love Taipei, its basically as if Chinatown in NYC went crazy and took over everything. Laugh! (I’m originally from Northern NJ.) So its a big giant NYC. Cool with me. Her family likes me allot. No issues there. I was in Taipei for a month… and I made the decision that since the USA is basically going to shit, with our loss of freedoms nearly everyday, an inept president, and ton of other issues. It’s time to see if the grass is greener… and Taipei… since it rains so much… I am going to say YES.
We have only been apart for about a week now, at this point… and I am trying to get over to Taipei by September or November. Flights are waaaaay to expensive right now… like $4k!
Just turned 38 years old, I have extensive business experience, although I only have 2 associates degrees, and a bunch of IT certifications: MCP, Fiber Optic Termination, A+, etc.
Employment is my #1 concern next to finding an apartment.
My girl told me that getting a job teaching English should not be an issue. I researched that, and I am not 100% that I agree… since
- I have very little teaching experience except for doing some minor tutoring here in the USA on random subjects.
- I only have associates degrees with no TESL certifications.
- I don’t speak mandarin.
$20 a hour sounds ok… I assume this is really good by Taipei standards? Until I heard its like on average 12 hours a week… and you get paid at the end of the month.
I am hoping to hustle myself into something more lucrative and business oriented like: importing/exporting which I have lots of experience in, acting as a sourcer for US Companies… or basically… I would love a job answering the phones for some company here (in Taipei)… that does business with the US. I am very knowledgeable about importing/exporting products.
Due to the current shitstorm that has basically raped the USA… the economy being in the toilet…etc. I am not going to be coming to Taipei as this wealthy westerner like you see in the movies. Doesn’t really matter, my girl loves me… for me.
But I cant stand the current situation that I am in… hopefully I will be successful in Taipei. My girl has no motivation to live in the USA… and at this point either do I. We will be married some day…and if Taipei is going to be my home… I got allot of studying and learning to do. Wish me good luck… as I wish the same to you… reader of all this dribble from some stranger.
ADD Notes:
[ul]*This guy meets the love of his life at a bbq… she is from Taipei.
*Date for a year and some change.
*she had to move back home… dad’s sick.
*He followed her out there to show support and checkout the landscape… he likes it. Except for the stinky tofu though it was tasty.
*She now lives back home… in Taipei… he is in the states
trying to get over there… find good employment and a decent cheap place to live to start.
*September or November… shit gets real, son! [/ul][/quote]
Do more research and ask yourself if you are really committed to moving to Taipei. Checking it out as a tourist is different from living here as a resident. You need to be prepared for a lot of changes but having a supportive significant other is crucial. Once you’ve done your research and moved here, see what it’s like to live on your own for a while at the same time continue to develop the relationship with your girlfriend. If you still like living and working here after 6 months or a year and she’s still the love of your life, marry the girl. Once you get married and have kids, then life gets real. You have a whole different set of considerations. So, give yourself the time to make sure this is what you really want. Having dated her for a year and change is not really that long but I only dated my husband for less than six months before I got married, pregnant and now two kids and 8 years later, we’re building a life together in Taipei and my husband tells me he’s never been happier. So, it could happen. Good luck!
p.s. btw, I’m the Taiwanese girl whom he calls “the love of his life”
It seems that Westerners without four year degrees generally do not find work easily in Taiwan. There are exceptions, of course, but that’s the norm. If you can’t find steady work in the UK, it’s unlikely that you’re going to in Taiwan.
Since you’re asking for advice, here it is. Stay in the UK and get a bachelor’s degree. I think you’ll find it makes your life easier no matter where you end up.