I was born in Taiwan. I have both an Taiwanese passport and an US passport. I am planning to work in Taiwan, and I have already have job offers. I just received my B.S. in CS on August 2003. My work experience is about 10 months (partially part-time). I wish to work legally in Taiwan and avoid drafting at the same time. I am not sure what is the best method for me to work in Taiwan. Please help.
Method One - Enter Taiwan as an US citizen and apply for work permit. What are my chances of receiving one, anyway?
On a US passport, you normally need 2 years verifiable full-time work experience in a related field in order to get a work permit, in addition to your degree. You are also limited in the types of work you are allowed to do. What is CS? Is it Chinese studies? I don’t think you’d be allowed to work as a Chinese teacher, although I could be wrong about this.
On a Taiwan passport you’ll be able to do many different kinds of work, but you’ll need to leave the country every 12 weeks in order to avoid the draft, and I don’t think many local employers will be very keen to allow you to do this. Also, the draft is kind of a rite of passage for Taiwanese men, and draft dodgers such as yourself tend to be looked down upon by local bosses (most of whom are men), so you’re liable to be passed over for promotions, treated as less than a man, etc.
And don’t forget the alternative service option. I don’t know how you get into this, but it essentially means that if you have specific skill sets (I don’t know if a computer science degree with no work experience would be worth anything – inexperienced CS graduates are a dime a dozen here) you can opt to serve your conscription time with, say, a hi-tech company, overseas with a medical mission (well-digging in Chad, anyone?) or as a kind of gopher for the cops (you get a cute brown uniform for this and you don’t have to do anything except stand around looking lost and stupid).
This way, you serve your civic duty, you don’t have to go into the armed forces, you get paid, but you’re not allowed to leave your company or other alternative service job until your period of conscription is finished.
