My one year teaching contract will be over at the end of December. I will most likely be leaving Taiwan at that time, but I just want to see what my options would be if I decided to stay. Since I really don’t like the job I have now, I would like to find a new one.
My ARC expires on Dec 31, but I know ARCs can be extended. If I found a new job and began working January 2nd, would it be possible to keep/extend my old ARC and resident visa without being forced to go on a visa run? Or would changing jobs at the same time my ARC expired require a visa run?
If I have to make a visa run I will almost definitely leave Taiwan for good.
Find out if your present employer is willing to transfer your ARC to your new employer. It requires an affadavit stating that they allow the new employer to take up your work permit.
Really? I had read on Tealit that it’s possible to have more than one work permit. So it seemed like the best thing to do would be to arrange a new job and have them apply for a second work permit while I was still working at my old job. That way, when I finished with my current job I could just transfer the ARC to my new work permit.
Does this sound accurate? Most people I’ve spoken to haven’t heard about the possibility of having multiple work permits. Maybe Tealit was wrong. Full article here:
Really? I had read on Tealit that it’s possible to have more than one work permit. So it seemed like the best thing to do would be to arrange a new job and have them apply for a second work permit while I was still working at my old job. That way, when I finished with my current job I could just transfer the ARC to my new work permit.
Does this sound accurate? Most people I’ve spoken to haven’t heard about the possibility of having multiple work permits. Maybe Tealit was wrong. Full article here:
tealit.com/arc_transfers_and … etters.htm[/quote]That Tealit piece is quite old, now. I think it was written before or just after the establishment of the NIA, who implemented new rules. It’s not really as easy as it seems to hold two work permits concurrently in the way you describe. There’s the concept of a primary work permit (your main job, at 14+ hours a week I think), and a secondary work permit (6+ hours?). A secondary work permit isn’t considered to be enough on its own to uphold an ARC. And if you hold two primary work permits, you’d better have a good reason.
The normal procedure when changing jobs is now as follows:
[ol][li]Apply for the new work permit[/li]
[li]When you have the new work permit, your previous employer should provide you with some kind of leaving document, with your last work date being the day before you start the new job.[/li]
[li]Very shortly after you start the new job (and at least within two weeks I think), you should get an employment certificate from the new job, and take that, the leaving certificate, and the new work permit to the NIA. Give them some money (around 1000 NT per year of ARC coverage), and they’ll do the new ARC for you.[/li][/ol]
[quote=“joesax”]
The normal procedure when changing jobs is now as follows:
[ol][li]Apply for the new work permit[/li]
[li]When you have the new work permit, your previous employer should provide you with some kind of leaving document, with your last work date being the day before you start the new job.[/li]
[li]Very shortly after you start the new job (and at least within two weeks I think), you should get an employment certificate from the new job, and take that, the leaving certificate, and the new work permit to the NIA. Give them some money (around 1000 NT per year of ARC coverage), and they’ll do the new ARC for you.[/li][/ol][/quote]
Thanks for that information, joe. So if my ARC expires on December 31, I would need to begin my new job a week or two before to be sure that I had enough to transfer my existing ARC, right?
It’s crazy that the visa rules are so complicated here… The school that sponsors the visa/ARC virtually owns you.
[quote=“barfomcgee”][quote=“joesax”]
The normal procedure when changing jobs is now as follows:
[ol][li]Apply for the new work permit[/li]
[li]When you have the new work permit, your previous employer should provide you with some kind of leaving document, with your last work date being the day before you start the new job.[/li]
[li]Very shortly after you start the new job (and at least within two weeks I think), you should get an employment certificate from the new job, and take that, the leaving certificate, and the new work permit to the NIA. Give them some money (around 1000 NT per year of ARC coverage), and they’ll do the new ARC for you.[/li][/ol][/quote]
Thanks for that information, joe. So if my ARC expires on December 31, I would need to begin my new job a week or two before to be sure that I had enough to transfer my existing ARC, right?[/quote]Well, that would give you a bit of leeway just in case there was a delay at some stage. In theory you could probably start the new job the day before your ARC had been due to expire. But that’s not leaving much of a margin.
[quote=“barfomcgee”]It’s crazy that the visa rules are so complicated here… The school that sponsors the visa/ARC virtually owns you.[/quote]Yup.
You will need a current health check. Get it in early December and pick it up 8 days later. It’s valid for . . 30 days, if I recall. Then start your secondary Work Permit paperwork. This should get them enough time to get it done before your old ARC expires at the end of December. Then they can transfer the secondary to your primary holder. Anyway, that’s what I did about 3 1/2 years ago with no problems. If the Work Permit paperwork is in order and submitted, you can get an extension of 30 days if the deadline gets close. Your new employer should know how to request this. Doing it this way, if they do all the paperwork timely, should preclude a visa run. I think you will find that an extension for the prurposes of sightseeing won’t happen.
[quote=“Enigma”]You will need a current health check. Get it in early December and pick it up 8 days later. It’s valid for . . 30 days, if I recall. Then start your secondary Work Permit paperwork. This should get them enough time to get it done before your old ARC expires at the end of December. Then they can transfer the secondary to your primary holder. Anyway, that’s what I did about 3 1/2 years ago with no problems. If the Work Permit paperwork is in order and submitted, you can get an extension of 30 days if the deadline gets close. Your new employer should know how to request this. Doing it this way, if they do all the paperwork timely, should preclude a visa run. I think you will find that an extension for the prurposes of sightseeing won’t happen.[/quote]Right. Just one thing about terminology: by “secondary work permit” you just mean the new one, right? The government uses the term “secondary work permit” to mean a permit for teaching around 6 hours a week. However, this kind isn’t good enough in its own right to get you an ARC, and I don’t think would be possible to just amend the hours on the permit if you wanted to go full-time for that job–you’d have to reapply to make it a primary permit.
Thanks for all the tips. I will begin applying for jobs towards the end of November and hope that I can find an employer who is willing to be (extremely) patient and cooperative in working through this tedious process.
Thanks for reminding me about the health check, I’d forgotten all about that. I believe it’s good for six months, though.
[quote=“barfomcgee”]Thanks for all the tips. I will begin applying for jobs towards the end of November and hope that I can find an employer who is willing to be (extremely) patient and cooperative in working through this tedious process.
Thanks for reminding me about the health check, I’d forgotten all about that. I believe it’s good for six months, though.[/quote]The health check’s good for three months, actually.
The whole process can be quite smooth if the new employer knows what they’re doing. Good luck with the job search.
I’m also planning to switch jobs in December, with my old job ending on a Friday and the new one scheduled to begin on the Monday after. However, my new employer said that when he called the government, they told him that he couldn’t begin applying for my work permit until they’d received the cancellation from my current school. That would be on a Saturday. So, he’s told me that I will have to leave the country and do a visa run because there’s no way to get the paperwork done in time. My current employer has told me the same thing.
Is this true? It seems ludicrous!
If it is true, is leaving the country for a day and coming back enough? Or, do I have to go to some office to get a special visa to come back?
[quote=“Persephone”]I’m also planning to switch jobs in December, with my old job ending on a Friday and the new one scheduled to begin on the Monday after. However, my new employer said that when he called the government, they told him that he couldn’t begin applying for my work permit until they’d received the cancellation from my current school. That would be on a Saturday. So, he’s told me that I will have to leave the country and do a visa run because there’s no way to get the paperwork done in time. My current employer has told me the same thing.
Is this true? It seems ludicrous!
If it is true, is leaving the country for a day and coming back enough? Or, do I have to go to some office to get a special visa to come back?[/quote]
If it works how I think it’s supposed to (and how it did recently in my case), the “cancellation” from your old employer is actually really a notice of impending cancellation that he can write at any time beforehand. He has to give your date of leaving, so it makes since to try to sort that out as far in advance as possible in case there are any hiccups in the process.
Still, I don’t think it’s a good idea to have that two-day gap over the weekend. You should try to get the old boss to give your leaving date as the Sunday.
Are you breaking the contract with your current employer or is it the end of the contract? If you’re breaking the contract, then yes you need a release from your current employer. There is a standard form at: tealit.com/cancel-contract-agreement . If it’s the end of the contract, I can’t imagine why you need anything from them. I got a work permit for a second job and added them to my ARC with nothing from my primary employer.
Erm… I’ve got a feeling the Tealit stuff is outdated. Craig’s right about the contract thing though, I think.
Even if you’re leaving mid-contract, you shouldn’t need a standard form, at least for the work permit bit. I didn’t. A chopped, letterheaded letter from the old employer giving the leaving date should be good enough.
There must be some issue with linking from outside. If you go to Tealit, click on the section about changing jobs, then click on the link for the cancellation letter, it will open up. But like you say, the form letter is not necessary. It just makes it easier if the boss gets crabby about having to write something up him/herself.
Well, I gathered all the paperwork–health check, pics, tax forms, and stamped Termination of Contract from my current employer stating the date that I would no longer work for them–and gave it to my new employer. He sent it to the government, and two days later received a phone call saying that it wasn’t enough: they have to receive the Termination of Contract letter directly from my current employer!!! I went back to my current employer and asked them to send the letter ASAP. They said, “Why? You’re not leaving for another couple of weeks? We’ll send it then.” I told them that that’s what the government told me. Now I’ve gotta wait for my school to contact the government…
I’m really starting to worry that this isn’t going to be done in time to avoid a trip out of the country. Any advice?
That sucks. Ridiculous bullsh*t like that is just one more reason why I’ve decided to leave this place once and for all. I don’t regret coming here but I’ll certainly be pleased when I’m gone.
I went back to my current employer and asked them to send the letter ASAP. They said, “Why? You’re not leaving for another couple of weeks? We’ll send it then.” I told them that that’s what the government told me. Now I’ve gotta wait for my school to contact the government…