Could someone clarify for me whether ESL teaching is considered a White Collar or Blue Collar Occupation.
The reason I ask is because those who enter Taiwan on a VISA exemption can convert it to a Working VISA if they are are working a “White Collar” job
White collar, if I remember right. I think this question is addressed on the WDA FAQ
wda.gov.tw/en/home.jsp?pageno=201111180014
If not, they have answered such questions by email in the past.
[quote=“Tempo Gain”]White collar, if I remember right. I think this question is addressed on the WDA FAQ
wda.gov.tw/en/home.jsp?pageno=201111180014
If not, they have answered such questions by email in the past.[/quote]
A search for “collar” turns up nothing. My understanding is that “white collar” is just shorthand for all jobs covered by the “Qualifications and Criteria Standards for foreigners undertaking the jobs specified under Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act”, teaching being either 46.1.3 or 46.1.4 depending on whether it’s at a “school” or a buxiban.
This is the list of job categories in the ESA.
[quote]
Unless otherwise provided for in the Act, the work that a foreign worker may be employed to engage in within the Republic of China is limited to the following: 1.Specialized or technical work.
2.Director/manager/executive of a business invested in or set up by overseas Chinese or foreigner(s) with the authorization of the Government of the Republic of China.
3.Teacher at the following schools:
(1)Teacher at a public or registered private college/university or school established especially for foreign residents.
(2)Approved teacher teaching course(s) on foreign language(s) at a public or registered private primary or high school.
(3)Teacher teaching course(s) at a public or registered private experimental high school’s bilingual department or at bilingual school(s) .
4.Full-time teacher teaching course(s) on foreign language(s) at a short-term class registered for supplementary schooling in accordance with the Supplementary Education Act.
5.Sports coach and athlete.
6.Religious, artistic, and show business work.
7.Crew member of a merchant vessel, working vessel, and vessel ad hoc permitted by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication.
8.Marine fishing/netting work.
9.Household assistant and nursing work.
10.Workers designated by the Central Competent Authority in response to national major construction project(s) or economic/social development needs.
11.Other specialized workers ad hoc approved by the Central Competent Authority due to the lack of such specialist in the domestic employment market and the business necessity to retain the service of such specialist therefore.
The Central Competent Authority shall consult the other central competent authority(ies) administering the work concerned to determine the working qualification(s) and standard of review thereof in respect of the foreign worker engaging in work as referred to in paragraph 11 of this article.
The employer when employing a foreign worker to engage in work as referred to in subparagraphs 8 to 10 of paragraph 1 of this article, shall execute a labor contract in writing with the employed foreign worker and with fixed duration only; in case where it is not so fixed, the duration of his/her employment shall be deemed as the same with the duration of employment permit thereof. The foregoing in this paragraph shall equally apply in the case of extension of such labor contract.[/quote]
“Blue collar” seems to refer to 46.1.8 to 46.1.11, as in “The Reviewing Standards and Employment Qualifications for Foreigners Engaging in the Jobs Specified in Iterns 8 to 11,Paragraph 1 to Article 46 of the Employment Service Act”. I don’t know about 46.1.7… “other collar”? 
Grey (Gray) collar is actually a thing, although I doubt the Ministry is on to it.
The whole concept seems rather archaic and not a little elitist/prejudicial when you consider it anyway.
Didn’t they always used to except buxi teachers from a lot of standard benefits (e.g. paid national hols) because they were paid hourly, so weren’t technically employees?
This does, of course, go back to when all cram teachers were paid hourly. 
Yeah I think I was thinking of this:
wda.gov.tw/en/home.jsp?pagen … 1304230016
but I’m not sure if “foreign professional workers” is equivalent to “white collar”
[quote=“Rocket”]Grey (Gray) collar is actually a thing, although I doubt the Ministry is on to it.
The whole concept seems rather archaic and not a little elitist/prejudicial when you consider it anyway.
Didn’t they always used to except buxi teachers from a lot of standard benefits (e.g. paid national hols) because they were paid hourly, so weren’t technically employees?
This does, of course, go back to when all cram teachers were paid hourly. [/quote]
The exclusion has been attempted on the basis of 委任契約 (contract of mandate), which is bs because that only works for managers/executives. It’s also been attempted on the basis of 承攬契約 (“contract of hire of work”), which actually means independent contracting, and that’s probably also bs in most cases – employment agencies are bound by certain regulations, “dispatching” agencies are bound by the Labor Standards Act anyway, and why would the WDA approve a work permit without a 雇傭契約 (“contract of hire of services” aka normal contract)? But most foreigners don’t know the system, so buxibans still get away with a lot of bs.
You may be thinking of the days when buxiban teachers weren’t covered by the LSA. I forget which year that changed, but it wasn’t later than 2011.