I’m moving to Taiwan early in April, 2012 and when I arrive my employer will have a Work Permit ready for me to allow me to work in Taiwan. At the moment I am at home in Canada.
I understand that I can then fly to Taiwan and when I land, I am visa-exempt for 90 days. During these 90 days I plan to start working at my company, apply for my ARC and residency visa at the MOFA, and before my 90 days is up, I will fly out of Taiwan (to somewhere close like Hong Kong), and then back to Taiwan so that I may start my stay on my new working visa with my ARC card.
My main question is how does my spouse fit into all of this? She is a Canadian citizen like me (only has a Canadian Passport) and will not be working anywhere. Does she have to follow the same process as me? (Fly to Taiwan, land with 90-day visa-exempt, apply for residency visa from MOFA, fly out of Taiwan, fly back in on new visa). Or is there a simpler way for her where I can get the paper work rolling before she flys over? Preferably a way where she does not need to leave and return to the country because it seems like a waste of money.
I will be flying to Taiwan approximately 1-2 months before her. I’ve also heard rumour that we may need to contact the Taiwan Embassy here in Canada to get our marriage certificate notarized. I’ve emailed them but no reply yet (emailed a week ago). Is this true?
I tried to find a similar question on the forum but couldn’t find anything regarding spouses.
Please note it is illegal for you to work without a work permit and doing so can get your deported. no reason your work permit cannot be processed in a couple of weeks.
Also some others have changed from a landing visa to a work permite without needing to leave Taiwan.
Yes I only plan to start working when my Work Permit is ready. From my understanding, I can still work using my Work Permit without having yet applied for my ARC and residency visa. Correct?
Also, you mention that others have changed from landing visa to work permit without needing to leave Taiwan. Where did you get this information from? I would love to find out more details because it seems it would save me some money and the hassle of flying somewhere.
SatTV is right. Under NO circunstances work, heck, even step into the workplace, without proper documentation, ie, ARC.
The Work Permit is NOT independent of your ARC. The work permits “backs up” or give svalidity to your ARC, and when your work permit is cancelled, no matter what date is stamped on your ARC, your time is out, and you cannot stay in Taiwan anymore. That said, the work permit doe snot allow you to be here on its own, it is a single unit with the ARC. As a matter of fact, you get a copy only, the true valid work permit is always in teh hands of your employer, who can recind it anytime. And no, no one has to tell you when.
You and your wife both have to process the paperwork together. It is easier that way. Do not email the Taiwan TECO, go there or at least call. Have a SEARCH here at the forums about the paperwork involved, she needs to be tied to your visa -as she will be joing family. And no, she cannot work on that visa. If she wants to work, she needs to find a permit on her own.
Anyways, you’d still need to have TECO certify your degrees/experience records/wedding documents.Look at BOCA’s website for further data.
Thank you for that detailed information. My primary concern regarding what you said, is that I am going to be flying to Taiwan in April to start work, yet my wife isn’t going to by flying over to join me until June (because of her work commitments). So out of necessity we would have to apply for our ARC’s at different times because I need to start working at my new company in April. Is this going to be a problem us?