I have some very interesting information about a shortcut Work Permit Application Procedure for those who have been residing in the ROC for five years continuously and have been legally employed during all that time (and can produce copies of all the relevant documents.)
As you know the Employment Services Act restricts foreigners to a few very narrow job categories, however if you qualify as above you can actually apply for any job you want, as long as the employer is fully registered in the Taiwan area.
My question is this: Would anyone out there be able to assist in organizing this information in Chinese-English bilingual style and then putting it into Adobe Acrobat format, so that it could be posted on some appropriate website? The data I have not only includes explanatory pages, but application forms as well.
I am unfamiliar with the technical aspects of this. If Chinese text is included in Adobe Acrobat files, will such text show up clearly on a computer without Chinese system? If not, then some other “file type” would have to be considered.
Moving on to a larger area of concern, is there anyone out there who is seriously working to promote the rights of “average foreigners” (for the lack of a better term) in Taiwan? I would like to liaison with such a person. There is a lot that could be done. Since I am married to an ROC national, my primary area of research has primarily been directed toward advancing the legal rights of “foreign spouses”, but I am interested in helping others as best I can.
Originally posted by Hartzell: If Chinese text is included in Adobe Acrobat files, will such text show up clearly on a computer without Chinese system?
No, not if you want to treat the Chinese as text and not as pictures of text. People could, however, download a very large file from Adobe that could allow the Chinese to come through as real characters.
But pictures of characters would probably be fine. It depends on the documents.
But Acrobat files might not be the best solution. Send me the material and I’ll see what I can do with it. (And you’re welcome to post it on my site, too.)
Cranky’s got it: Starting with version 4 of Adobe Acrobat (the program to make PDFs) and Adobe Acrobat Reader (the free reader program), it is now possible to encode and display Chinese as text with the extra “font” download. So, it would be possible to post a document in Chinese on the Web, but it would probably be a good idea to warn people that they need to upgrade to the latest version, version 5, and download the optional Chinese font pack:
I’m very interested in this new law myself since I will meet the criteria you mentioned in about 4 months. I thought it was originally 7 years for working people to get the Permanent Resident Certificate? What is the difference between this and that? Would this change in policy have anything to do with agreements made to get into the WTO? Is there a place where I can go to learn about what changes were made concerning working/married foreigners and Taiwan’s admittance to the WTO?
I think the best way to find out is to try
it, so what about you send your documents
in Word format and someone help you to convert it
to PDF and then I will open it with my Acrobat reader in Chinese and English to see what happen
Thanks for the replies. However, when I posed this situation originally, I said
quote[quote]Would anyone out there be able to assist in organizing this information in Chinese-English bilingual style and then putting it into Adobe Acrobat format, so that it could be posted on some appropriate website? The data I have not only includes explanatory pages, but application forms as well.[/quote]
The meaning of this is that I do not have all this information in WORD format. The person who was willing to assist in organizing all this information would have to be in charge of the entire project.
Ideally, someone who is seriously interested in promoting the legal rights of “average foreigners” should step forward and take charge of this and all related projects.
quote:Originally posted by Hartzell:
Moving on to a larger area of concern, is there anyone out there who is seriously working to promote the rights of "average foreigners" (for the lack of a better term) in Taiwan? I would like to liaison with such a person. There is a lot that could be done. Since I am married to an ROC national, my primary area of research has primarily been directed toward advancing the legal rights of "foreign spouses", but I am interested in helping others as best I can.
Are foreign nationals working in Taiwan, who are not married to an ROC national “average”? I don’t know what average means in this context, but it sounds extremely inaccurate.
We should be against any legal/regulatory change that brings greater benefits to a foreign national married to an ROC national which does not convey the same opportunity to a foreign national who is not married to an ROC national.
If Taiwan is awarding permanent residency based on number of years having been here with a clean record, or is awarding a “universal” work permit also based on the number of years having been here with a clean record, such should not be linked to one’s marriage status.
I am not going to take a position on the comments made by fdr one way or the other. I agree with the idea that everyone should be entitled to their own opinions.
However, it is important to remember that most of the legal relaxations which foreigners desire in Taiwan will not be achieved by counting on the generosity or human-spiritedness of the Taiwanese bureaucracy. It is necessary that foreigners themselves get organized and push forward. The best way to do this is by lobbying with the Legislative branch, communicating with the Executive branch, and undertaking court actions with the Judicial branch.
I have been involved with the foreign spouse group since 1994, and I can state that we are moving forward in all these three areas. If there is a person who is involved in promoting the legal rights agenda of those “not married to ROC spouses”, I would hope that that person would liaison with me, so that we can move forward together.
During the lobbying on the ROC Immigration Law in the Fall of 1998 and the Spring of 1999, I also actively contacted a number of foreign organizations in Taipei, including the American Chamber of Commerce and the European Council of Commerce and Trade, to try to find someone who was seriously interested in lobbying for those “not married to ROC spouses,” however I was never able to locate such a person. The result is the Immigration Law as you now see it. I personally felt that those “not married to ROC spouses” could have gotten a much better deal under that legislation, however no one stepped forward to push their agenda. The legislative caucases were willing for me to negotiate on behalf of “foreign spouses,” but not foreigners across the line. That was their decision and I had to accept it.
I continue to feel that many of the important problems discussed in the Oriented Legal Matters Forum and Human Rights Forum are not going to achieve a satisfactory solution until some dedicated individual (with excellent English and Chinese skills) steps forward and “assumes command of the troops.” And as I have stated before, I would very much like to liaison with that person.
quote[quote]I continue to feel that many of the important problems discussed in the Oriented Legal Matters Forum and Human Rights Forum are not going to achieve a satisfactory solution until some dedicated individual (with excellent English and Chinese skills) steps forward and "assumes command of the troops." And as I have stated before, I would very much like to liaison with that person.[/quote]
Is the above possible without first having an organization to lay out the appropiate groundwork first? If the NNFS or some other organization doesn’t step up to hire someone full time, then it would be very doubtful that someone would come forward with those qualifications to help out. I think we’d have to wait a long time to find another Richard Hartzell.
As stated in my initial posting of November 18th, I am anxious to pass this “Work Permit for 5 year residents” information on to a person who is seriously interested in promoting the rights of foreigners in the ROC. It would be desirable for that person to organize that information, retype various portions, translate some sections, etc. and then make it available to other interested foreigners in Taiwan.