For ARC holders, the company is not bound to pay anything ito a pension plan, if they do it is out of their own good will.
if they decide to be stingy they just say “we pay you what is mandated by the law, no extras”.
Once you get an APRC they have to pay into the pension plan.
Not if you work for a private international school. They have an out.
Really sucks.
I’ve gone in endless circles fighting for it only to be told by the labor board and the school, sorry, international schools have their own special laws. (Which they lobied for). In my opinion, it is discrimination and it is wrong.
Yep. After ten years of not getting a pension I’ve decided to switch schools. I plan to be here long term so the pension is important. It sucks that I had to leave international schools to get one
If you don’t mind me asking, isnt pay better and you get more paid leave compared to public schools?
is it possible to save the equivalent of a pension and invest it privately if you work for an international school?
Not necessarily. Some rural areas pay more for experience. But, in general yes. Also much better holidays
That’s what most people say. You get paid a lot, just save on your own… To me it’s not the same.
I understand Americans have a 401k. Canadians done have access to anything like that. You can’t pay into the pension unless you live there.
I considered investing in mutual funds but the payout isn’t guaranteed.
Of course I have other savings and house that I’m passing into… But at least some minimum guaranteed monthly pension is important to me. Even if it needs to be supplemented.
So short answer yes, you could just save. To me it really bothers me also that they were able to get that special exemption from the labor code
It is a pity we foreigners cannot get into the Post Office retirement savings plan, it is really good.
I got a private one here and all I can say is that it is deducted from my taxes. A nice deductible.
My boss says one should have 16 million NTD as retirement savings. It is expected or one will be destitute on the street. She says.
where can i find information about the private one? i have been looking around for some time now but couldnt find anything good.
if you could share a link or the name of the plan i will be grateful.
thanks
You can ask any local insurance salesperson. I have one with Nanshan, there are plenty to choose from in amount of time/money/return.
Sounds about right. That sum of money can roughly provide you with a 40,000 / month payment for 33 years.
iirc, their law discriminates not by foreigners or citizens, but by regular teachers or non regular teachers, right?
Yeah but my question is, how about what is deducted from our salary?
I can’t get how my parents generation did it, they get 100% of their salary, including every increase the working people get. So I get a lot of grief about what I am doing here and why I need to save for retirement, not hook up a debt on car and house.
If Taiwan is still standing by the time I can retire, apparently laobao might not be there or give me 5000 to 10000 a month…if I have not been fired before then.
the truth is that the system for our parents generation is not viable. in my home country all the old pension plans of “defined benefit” (meaning you get XX% of the last salary) went bankrupt and had to get a government bailout. now all pension plans are “defined contribution” - only what you save during your work years counts.
Chapter Ⅱ Application and Linkage of the Pension System
Article 7
This Act applies to the persons below as designated under the Labor Standards Act, but does not include those whose pensions are appropriated in accordance with the Private School Act:
- Workers holding ROC citizenship;
- Foreigners, people of China, Hong Kong or Macao residents who have married ROC nationals and registered a household in the Republic of China, and who have residency status and are permitted to work in Taiwan;
https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=N0030020
Not necessarily. The law has an exemption for private schools because Taiwanese teachers who hold a teacher’s license are already in the local union. Foreigners who have teacher’s licenses may not join this union… Therefore it’s a loophole.
Qualified foreign teachers are exempt from pension under the labor act but they’re not given one under the private school act like the Taiwanese teachers are.
The only way to collect the pension is if you have any “non teaching duties” ie. Management… Or hold a local passport. The private school act does not allow schools to withhold it from ROC passport holders (this I know for a fact as I’ve asked multiple people and The school management confirmedm
So although the law want designed to be, be in practice it discriminate only against forget passport holders who work in private international schools. These schools know this and tell you right away they don’t need to pay your pension, the law says it’s optional
their law I meant private school pension law. When I checked, non regular teachers without management duties were excluded as well as foreign teachers, iirc. It is good for them if they are already included.
I checked the law, and found it is still just for regular teachers. The wording in the law is paid full-time staff employed within the establishment staffing of a registered private school. It is regardless of nationality and qualifications. You should be within the establishment staffing to be eligible to the mandated pension. I guess most of foreign teachers are not employed within the establishment staffing, even though they are licenced qualified full-time teaches with iWork permit or work right. They may be extra teachers.
Standard for the establishment staffing
https://edu.law.moe.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?id=FL008932
https://edu.law.moe.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?id=GL001257
33 years? I don’t plan on being retired for 33 years. I plan on delivering my last file and dying within the year.
That generation was kicking the debt ball down to the next generation. They assumed the population would keep increasing to tax a larger work force to pay for their generous benefits.
My company tried to pay into my pension plan but they weren’t allowed due to ARC. They decided to directly give me the money instead. When I switched over to APRC they started paying into my pension plan but didn’t take away the salary raise I got from the previous paying scheme
Ok I just got out of a meeting with my HR. I learned the following:
- APRC: You get 6% of your monthly salary deposited in your pension fund that you can get when you turn 60. It doesn’t matter if you change jobs.
- ARC: You get 2-15% of your monthly salary deposited in a special company account that you can get access to if you meet one of the following conditions: 1) you work for the same company for 25 years 2) you work for the same company for 15 years and are over 55 years old 3) you work for the same company for 10 years but are over 60 years old. Companies are legally required to create this special account and the company can keep the money once the employee leaves without meeting one of the three conditions.
You described the new and the old pension system. The old pension system is only used if you got hired many years back. Almost all foreigners can assume to use the new pension system.
No, that is exactly what I told the HR person. The government just explained to our company that ARC people fall under the old pension system and APRC people fall under the new pension system. Even if tomorrow they hire a new foreigner that has ARC, they still have to follow the old pension system.