Is it possible for foreigner’s to get unskilled work in Taipei, eg labouring/ construction etc. Thanks
Are you from SE Asia?
If not, I know some without formal qualifications, able to make a living as English teachers.
Hi
I come from the UK, but my usual trade is construction and I’m not sure if I haev got what it takes to be a teacher. Is there any non-teaching jobs available. Or is it possible just to do some kind of conversation teaching, something less formal?
Thanks, for your quick reply!
There are many kinds of teaching here, do you have a BA?
I’m afraid that I don’t have a degree
Many people fake it. I’m sure you could do it too.
If you did, and they caught you, bye bye Taiwan!
Ski
I don’t fancy getting caught out. Is there any other type of work that I can do? Even something part time and without great pay eg baby sitting/ gardening etc?
nope.
Need a work visa for most things. You get the vis by having a degree (teachers) or you company which gives you a job. In most cases big companies who need foreigners here to manage some aspect of he business. To get that kind of job you need experience and or a degree in that field. So in short it would be hard.
As for labour, most foreign labourers areThai or Philipino. They work for peanuts and are all round poorly treated. (I think). You would’t want to do thier job for thier pay.
Ski
Slinky,
I agree that you would probably not want to do unskilled labor in Taiwan. The pay, as you’ve read, is awful, and the treatment you may receive by the employer would probably not be much better than the pay.
If you don’t mind my asking, why do you want to come to Taiwan? Not that I think Taiwan is a bad place. I live here and I do so happily and willingly. However, many foreign people I have met here, seem to have come here in order to teach English. Not all have, of course, but many have.
I have a suggestion for you. Why don’t you come here for a short vacation, such as a few weeks or a month? Then you can see how you really like it and if you want to come back. You may even have the chance to meet a few potential employers in construction and perhaps you could decide if coming here would be worth it for you to do.
All in all, I like Taiwan but I think doing manual labor may make this place a less than ideal place for a foreigner to live.
Best of luck to you.
Well I’m moving to Taiwan with my partner (who has an ex-pat teaching job) but I’m just wondering what I can do with my time and whether I can do something to contribute while I’m here.
Since you are coming here to be with your partner, but don’t have a degree, I would suggest you teach privately. Basically, you advertise for students, or answer students’ ads, go to their house or have them come to yours. Usually they just want conversation. You can’t teach legally without a degree, but the government seems to ignore private tutors.
You certainly wouldn’t want an unskilled labour job. The pay will be much less than what it would be back home, and the other people doing it are usually from Southeast Asia, and so are mistreated by the employers. You’d be treated badly, too, I assume. Safety precautions are also lax by Western standards.
Watch out for Kimichen though!
I’ll have to politely disagree with every comment written above…
Not only do western construction people work in this country, they can make good money…local Taiwanese construction workers make far more than the above posters seem to make out…And most of the private construction companies don’t like to use SEA laborers…There is a growing emergence and demand here for better quality housing…Central heating/Airconditioning and more projects are starting to use western materials in their construction. If you have experience in any of these areas, I think it would be highly possible for you to get work here, maybe even legally…
There is an apartment complex, right in the middle of Neili, built in it’s entirety by Canadian construction workers in the late 90’s. It stands in sharp contrast with the surrounding buildings, with storm windows, central heat / Air and steel stud sheet rocked interior walls…Nice…
What kind of experience do you have?