There is no Philippine trade office in Taiwan. Taiwan doesn’t want one and won’t allow one to avoid listening to just this kind of complaint.
I also resend the implication that I would not help anyone in need if they were being abused. Jeez, I’m a Canadian I guess I might only help them too.
I agree that this forum is to becoming pretty mean again. Let’s presume that I am dumbest moron to walk the planet ever and I’m a self-centered egomaniac.
So, what can we do about improving the police force and the prejudices that definitely exist here. Many of you are English teachers and many have white skin. You don’t realize that you have a passport to safety. Different regulations apply to you; different attitudes apply to you.
Being married to a Filipina has not made me more sympathetic to Filipinos; it has made me realize what a privileged life that I have always led as a white English guy. Customs agents were always smiling and welcoming; immigration stamped my passport with a happy “have a nice time” but as soon as I started traveling with my wife the smiles stopped. We were held and searched. In fact the United States has (even before 9/11) held anyone changing planes in the country on their way to another county under house arrest. The have also always held the passports of any traveler that comes from a country that they don’t like until they reach their destination.
Sorry if all this upsets your sense of natural justice in the universe but it just doesn’t exist. My thoughts.
[quote=“Paulclark”]There is no Philippine trade office in Taiwan. Taiwan doesn’t want one and won’t allow one to avoid listening to just this kind of complaint.
Paul[/quote]
You are starting to sound stranger and stranger. What do you mean there is no Philippine trade office in Taiwan? What do you call MECO?
The last time I went to the Philippines, the Taiwanese person I went with was pretty steamed when the MECO forced her to write ‘China’ as her nationality instead of ‘Taiwan’.
Still can’t get the mental image of Jesus eating Jelly doughnuts out my head.
Regarding white and holding a US passport. I have been to over 40 countries and six continents over the past nine years. At times, I would have loved to have a Canadian passport. Even Filipino.
Does this maid want to leave Taiwan, and they are not allowing her? If this is the case, let’s have her pack her things, drive her to airport, and have her fly out. Still would be questions if she was legal here or not when she went through customs. She could then be detained, and have the opportunity to visit the Southern part of the island.
My wife has a Taiwense passport. I have traveled with her often. Never experienced what you have. Did have an incident going Vancouver to LA and we had not purchased her ticket back to Taiwan. US Customs wouldn’t let her in, so we had to drive to Seattle and catch a flight there. Am no fan of US Customs, I think they get them from the same school as motor vehicle department employees.
Wow, I am going to slam myself before anyone else does. North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia. Haven’t been to Antartica. Will research continents tonight. Please disregard my six continent comment (or slam me).
[quote=“Feiren”][quote=“Paulclark”]There is no Philippine trade office in Taiwan. Taiwan doesn’t want one and won’t allow one to avoid listening to just this kind of complaint.
Paul[/quote]
You are starting to sound stranger and stranger. What do you mean there is no Philippine trade office in Taiwan? What do you call MECO?
[/quote]
Just a further indication of how little Clark seems knows about Taiwan, its relations with the Philippines, or seemingly anything at all other than how to arm yourself with ignorance and charge into a situation like a bull in a China (hardy har har) shop, doing nobody whatsoever any good, especially himself and especially the person he was trying to help.
Hmmm, poor guy, hope that they won’t throw him out of taiwan. He should have asked the trade office or a catholic church for help first. the Catholic Church have branches all over the place, while the Philippine trade office only has that in Taipei, Taizhong, and Gaoxiong.
Interesting, you get kind of weird here, do you think we have been staying in Taiwan a bit too long?
They have maids up on the hill too, they usually wash the cars of their masters around 6:30 in the morning.
Paul, you’re burning up your friends. You’re not just alienating yourself from Taiwanese authorities anymore. Keep in mind that the people on this forum have adopted Taiwan as their home. We’re more aware than you of exactly what foreigners can and can not do here. And while there’s understanding here about the roughness with which the police can treat foreigners and the lack of concern for South Asians, you’re not the only White Guy in Taiwan married to a South Asian. Most of us get into trouble once in while, but we follow local rules.
I can understand your mad, but don’t start hitting out at the people who wanted to help you. Almost everybody on this site was once your supporter; if that’s changed, it’s got nothing to do with Taiwanese culture.
Well, I’ve waded through most of this, seen Omni say my paper ought to make a big deal about it (about 10 pages back) and have to say why we haven’t. Namely because we say the TV footage of Clark in the cop shop the day it happened and the overwhelming impression of everybody who watched it was that he was drunk out of his skull. This was especially true of the copy desk – who know the symptoms of being rat-arsed only too well. Clark says he had had one drink. That is absolutely not the impression we got from the TV footage. Can’t speak for everyone at the paper but at least personally, my sentiments here are pretty much in line with Sandman’s.
Impossible, we teachers down south would never, ever drink.[/quote]
And there’s absolutely no question that any of them are smart enough to know how to operate a videocamera.
Has anyone ever tried to do anything at MECO. I have been trying for a year to get my wife and children (who are all Canadian citizens now) a residency permit but because my marriage certificate comes from the Philippines they told us we had to fly to Manila to the Taiwan Embassy there (because we might have made the marriage certificate ourselves).
So we flew to the Philippines where we learned that Taiwan has special regulations for Filipinos. They have to have their marriage certificate certified by a special section of The National Statistics Office and also a personal letter from the presidential palace confirming their marriage. Then they have to have all documentation translated into Chinese before they will begin the three week procedure of processing the document. All this despite she is already a Canadian citizen with a five year multiple entry visa to the states using our regular marriage certificate.
Does this sound like your trade office? Does this sound equitable to you?
I don’t know but I’m getting tired of telling the same old story to the same old deaf ears so maybe it’s time to stop.
??? Well Paul, I can tell you that there are some odd regulations out there in Taiwan, not just for the Kabayan, but for basically everybody.
Starting:
When I came here in 2000 I had prepared all the documentation before coming, everything was certified by a whole raft of Danish and Taiwanese authorities, except from our marriage certificate, as it was a Taiwanese one.
They therefore refused it as proof that we were married. I needed to get a Danish govt office to issue a piece of paper stating that they recognized us as married, get it stamped in Denmark & Taiwan, before I could get my residence visa and ARC.
Therefore your story about the marriage license fails to impress me. When I could get things sorted, so can you.
Moreover, I can’t see the relationship between that and you walking into a cop shop with a video camera looking for trouble.
Go ahead and flame, guys, but 99% of you are here because you WANT to be here. You can get on a plane tomorrow (personally – I don’t mean figuring out what to do with wives and/or children who might not have foreign passports) and LEAVE. The authorities will not stop you. You do not owe a couple of months’ salary to some bloodsucking agent. Heck, you don’t even have to file your taxes before leaving Taiwan anymore (like you used to have to do, or appoint an agent).
Seems like it just might be time to give this thread a rest. Basically what I see going on is, those who feel that one has a responsibility to “butt in” on situations of social injustice (and there seem to be darn few of 'em posting) are saying so, while acknowledging, as has Paul himself, that not 100% of this most recent event was ideally conceived. Those who are enjoying their own little existence on this planet are going to continue doing so and would prefer not to even be reminded that some people do take it upon themselves to try to change things.
I would have hoped that living in a foreign country might have OPENED eyes, not closed them, but this does not seem to be universally the case.
And remember, everyone agrees (today) that Nazi anti-Semitism was wrong, but at the time there were plenty of nice, animal-patting, child-kissing German citizens who either accepted it or turned a blind eye. While the Filipinos aren’t being systematically slaughtered at factories in Taiwan, the principle is the same. It is not OK to discriminate against someone, or take advantage of him or her, simply because you happen to hold economic power over them, added to the advantage of being a member of the dominant ethnic group.
BTW, the Foreign Affairs Police rep that I talked to the other day a) has not even heard of Paul’s case, and b) reported that most of her day consists of dealing with cases of OCWs who have run away or tried to escape abusive situations. She even asked me to confirm English phrasings for “abuse” and related words. Would she do this if it wasn’t needed in her daily work?? BTW I asked her what she did on an average day BEFORE mentioning Paul’s case, so don’t go saying I put the idea in her head.
I was married in Canada last year, but because I failed to get my marriage certificate notorized in Canada, I can not register my marriage here. I have to wait until I go back this summer to get this done and then come back to Taiwan and get registered. Because of this problem, I couldn’t get spousal sponsorship and had to renew my workpermit through my school—and yes, let them suck my blood to test for drugs.
Does it sound as bad as your story, Paul? Sure, and in case you’ve been out of loop, it’s been getting worse here for us Whities.
Really…I used to be on your side, but this constant whinning is getting on my nerves.
Paul: Go to Viet Nam already and stop thinking you’re unique. No one is actually unique. And stop thinking you’re better than other lowly English teachers just because you have a PhD and YOU didn’t just fall off the turnip truck. As someone else said, you’re NOT the only one married to a Southeast Asian and you and your family are not the only people to experience discrimination. STOP WHINING AND GO TO NAM ALREADY!!!
Paul, be thankful that your wife is Filipina. If she were mainland Chinese, you would have to have gone through twice the red tape to get her into Taiwan. For instance, the immigration officials would have had to ask very detailed questions about your sex life (how often do you do it, etc.), which would somehow ascertain that your marriage is not fake and you’re not trying to smuggle a prostitute in.
