I am thinking of going to Taiwan, teaching English part time, studying for a master’s degree and taking family. I would definitely want to get the work permit so I can take the family along.
Is it possible (and legal) to start work and then start working on a degree a few months later?
Anybody know about whether it’s possible to get student loans from the US for foreign school? I was thinking maybe NTNU or another Taibei school to study history. I would guess the school wouldn’t have the easiness of financial aid offices in the states in this area…
Interesting questions. I’ll be curious to read some of the answers.
Shouldn’t have any trouble getting the documentation to work and study simultaneously, but I don’t think it would include the family. There must be some stipulation for foreign companies who send managers here with their families, but I’ve never heard of anyone getting a work permit to teach that would cover their families.
About education financing, you should check with the TECO office nearest you. They regularly offer generous scholarships for pursuing advanced education in Taiwan. When I was in college, I got a student loan to study in France, but it was organized through a US university. You should check in the US. Rotary club has scholarships for studying overseas, too.
I can tell you from experience with Taiwan is that you can’t. I studied at NTU for two semesters during my senior year of college (05-06). When I tried to notify my Stafford loan provider (Sallie Mae) to let them know where to send my loan money, they told me they couldn’t.
The reason, as I was told, is that since Taiwan isn’t recognized as a country by the State Department, none of the universities here are recognized. As such, they can’t be accredited for Federal student loan funding. I got that same answer when I applied for private loan funding from B of A, Wells Fargo, my credit union, etc etc. After politely denying me at the previous banks, the bankers told me that they use the same requirements that Sallie Mae does, i.e. State Department recognition.
To borrow money to study at any university, you have to show that you are going to enroll at an accredited one. That’s the issue with trying to borrow money under a student loan to study abroad. It has to be at a university that is already accredited or has a reciprocal agreement with a university in the US. This is to keep you from enrolling at the “West Hollywood Upstairs Dental, Law and Medical” University.
If you wanted to borrow money from an normal loan, you could. You would just have to show them all the usual requirements for loans like a steady income, good credit score, etc etc. Furthermore, you would have to start making payments on the loan immediately. Normal loans don’t offer that (wonderful) deferment on payments while enrolled that student loans do. Nor do they offer a grace period after you finish you’re degree.
The only caveat to this is undergraduate study abroad programs. Some universities have gone to the trouble to certify foreign universities for their own study abroad program. My university did this for Mingquan university (Mingchuan) and for the CLD program at NTU. That is for undergraduate study abroad though.
If you get an Alien Resident Certificate and work permit (through your employer), your family can live in Taiwan with you. They too must get an ARC and a visa showing they’re joining you (Joining Family Residence Visa, or JFRV). To work, she would also have to have a work permit.
You can, however, receive a scholarship from a TECO in your home country. If you’re already in Taiwan, this can be a difficult thing to do. But if you’re still in the US, you should contact various TECO offices to see if you can get a scholarship. www.ncu.edu.tw).
Unfortunately, the current Ma administration seems to be phasing out support for graduate studies even for students in the middle of their studies, so I’d be aware of this. On the other hand, I find that the fees for international students at universities in Taiwan are about a third of what you’d pay as a domestic student at many schools in the US. National schools are especially reasonable. costing a few thousand US dollars per year. Therefore, the Taiwan scholarship that pays about NTD$30,000 per month is quite good; however, it does come with the stipulation that you can’t work while you study.
Also, I believe that quite a few people are taking online degrees while teaching in Taiwan. For example, the UK’s Open University is now one of the top five universities in that countries by some measures. There is a drawback in that Taiwanese institutions don’t recognize online degrees, but if you plan to return to the US the degree could help you there. Another problem I foresee with your plan of studying and working part time is that the law in Taiwan stipulates that foreigners must study full-time, making it difficult to get enough money from working part time, unless also receiving a scholarship.
[quote=“twocs”]You can, however, receive a scholarship from a TECO in your home country. If you’re already in Taiwan, this can be a difficult thing to do. But if you’re still in the US, you should contact various TECO offices to see if you can get a scholarship. ncu.edu.tw).
Unfortunately, the current Ma administration seems to be phasing out support for graduate studies even for students in the middle of their studies, so I’d be aware of this. On the other hand, I find that the fees for international students at universities in Taiwan are about a third of what you’d pay as a domestic student at many schools in the US. National schools are especially reasonable. costing a few thousand US dollars per year. Therefore, the Taiwan scholarship that pays about NTD$30,000 per month is quite good; however, it does come with the stipulation that you can’t work while you study.
Also, I believe that quite a few people are taking online degrees while teaching in Taiwan. For example, the UK’s Open University is now one of the top five universities in that countries by some measures. There is a drawback in that Taiwanese institutions don’t recognize online degrees, but if you plan to return to the US the degree could help you there. Another problem I foresee with your plan of studying and working part time is that the law in Taiwan stipulates that foreigners must study full-time, making it difficult to get enough money from working part time, unless also receiving a scholarship.[/quote]
You can go to school full time and work full time if your ARC is from work. Also you can work part time on a student visa, there are ways to do it legally; although I’m not sure.
Anyway, full time is 14 hrs in the eyes of the law…just get a job offering how many hours you want.
You can go to school full time and work full time if your ARC is from work. Also you can work part time on a student visa, there are ways to do it legally; although I’m not sure.
Anyway, full time is 14 hrs in the eyes of the law…just get a job offering how many hours you want.[/quote]
Yes, that’s right. You can work part time or full time on a student visa. If you get a scholarship for studying, it may come with some rules about working. In general, I’d say it’s the scholarships that provide the most money that put the most restrictions on work. Also, some scholarships, particularly ones that come from a university, are grade dependent. If you’re getting $15,000 a month, it’s quite likely that they will drop the amount you receive in the second year. For example, my friend from Vietnam had an 88% GPA (strangely enough, in Taiwan 80% - 100% is the range for As). So he had an A average, a glowing reference letter from his advisor, yet he still saw the amount of his scholarship drop. Perhaps one way to look at it is that you shouldn’t count on scholarships to get you through.
A Master’s degree in Taiwan takes two years. However, a PhD seems to take an arbitrary amount of time, generally more than four years. It’s supposedly possible in three years, but I heard that it’s never been accomplished by anyone at NCU where I study. Perhaps it would be cost effective to pay for your Master’s in Taiwan, since it may cost less than US$3000 a semester for school and credit fees.
As a bit of trivia, I think non-residents pay a minimum of US$7,000 a semester to study in Australia, and you’ll be lucky to get that even as a resident in the US. And according to llm-guide.com/university/675 … university, it will cost about US$5000 to take a law degree at a public university in China in English (I think it is very difficult to get a history degree taught in English in China).
Yes, that’s right. You can work part time or full time on a student visa. [/quote]
Where did you find this information? Can you provide a link?
Everything I have found says that while on a student visa you cannot work at all. With regards to working scholarships and work.
So I would say you are mistaken about being to work full time, or even part, while on a student visa. You have to be here for a year before they allow you to apply to work part time.
If they catch you working illegally while on a scholarship :
All scholarships come with rules about working, i.e. you can’t legally. They are also all grade dependent. You have to keep the minimum grade requirement to avoid losing the scholarship. That grade is set at a minimum of 80. I haven’t heard about the scholarship value being lowered permanently though. Usually that comes from 1 month suspensions of the scholarship.