I was offered a part-time teaching position at a cram school that has never gone through the process of applying for an ARC card for their employees. They offered me around 10 hours to start, but promised more in September (I know there is a minimum amount of hours needed for an ARC card - 16 or something, but they said they could get one for me anyway). The previous and current teachers that work there have primary jobs at other schools that gave them ARC cards.
My questions are:
Do you think this school will have any problems applying for and obtaining an ARC for me, since they have never applied for one before?
Is it advisable to work for this school, based on the ARC card situation described above, or should I keep on looking?
In theory, no. If you have everything that is required to get an ARC, the process should be smooth sailing. The problems, if they come, will come with the school not getting the list of required documents straight. Expect them to ask for one half of the documents, and then another thing two weeks later, and then an extra photo or two a week after that, etc. It’s happened with me with big organisations that have done hundreds of ARCs before.
It depends upon what you mean. Realistically, when they say they can give you ten hours now, but will increase that later, expect that to mean that they won’t increase that later. Maybe they will, but really don’t count on it. That’s what they’re trying to say to get you in the door to cover their classes. That leaves you with two possible predicaments. The first is not having enough hours, which you could possibly make up elsewhere anyway. The second is not having the legally required minimum. This could be a problem, but in practice, it’s very hard for the government to prove this and do anything about it. The school could bullshit its way through that without any problems. This happens with lots of people. Two of my best friends here don’t have the legal minimum through their ARC jobs.
By your post count, I’m assuming you’re not a newbie. As such, you must have some idea about the grey area that is anything official in Taiwan. Yes, sorting out your ARC is important, but I think you could get it done okay. Personally, if I were looking at working at a buxiban, I’d have much bigger questions on my mind. If this is the worst of your concerns, then you’re probably pretty lucky (or you may not have asked the right other questions).
I think you can assume that they intend in good faith to obtain a work permit so that you can get an ARC. But you cannot rely on them to get it right or to understand the consequences for you if they get it wrong. So you will need to be very proactive with them every step of the way. Do you own research and figure out what is needed and how long it takes and then push them.
