My partner currently lives in Taiwan and has been unable to find a job in the United States, so I have been considering moving to Taiwan. I currently work as a Business Banker and just have vocational diplomas and no degrees plus I am 41. We have been thinking that I go to Taiwan to attend language school and then University. My concern is my age and I know they do some age discrimination there. Do you think it is a wise move to move to Taiwan? By the way marriage would not work since we are gay. Please respond.
Sure you can attend language school here, I never heard of any age discrimination there (had one 40-ish classmate, and know of one 50-ish guy who apparently has been studying at MTC pretty much indefinitely), just pay up and you can study. I imagine it’s the same for regular uni courses.
If you’d want to work here, that’s a different issue. It’s always possible to teach English. I don’t know how hard/possible it is to find work in your field here, maybe someone else can tell you more about that.
Whether it would be a wise move to come here is up to you, can’t answer that for you. How much do you want to be with your guy vs. how much do you have to loose by coming here. In the end, you can always go back home if things don’t work out here.
The only problems you can have is to get student visa. Either than that, don’t know what is the people’s reaction here toward gays (the only gay thing I ever saw here was some guys that are on talk shows saying to woman how to put make up and dress).
But as long as you qualify to get a student visa, I don’t think you have a problem. It will also depend where you want to live, to find a source of income. But, generally speaking, if stay is not a problem, life in Taiwan is fairly cheap.
You should be able to get a scholarship to get your degree here. Check out: studyintaiwan.org/
If you study full time at a university, you will be able to get a work permit to teach English, but many foreign students teach English under the table (not that I would ever recommend anything illegal of course). I am in a graduate program right now and there are a lot of middle-aged students. I don’t think it is a big problem, although in undergrad the students will be younger.
I don’t know you personally of course, or anything about your relationship with your partner, but you need to also consider the fact that your relationship will be severely tested in Taiwan. Temptations from tons of English-speaking gay men seeking foreign “friends” and you being fresh meat on the island, plus the stress of work/school and being in a new country and culture can be a dangerous thing.