Taiwanese youth love to flock abroad for working holidays, and Taiwan is party to many reciprocal agreements. But I’ve never actually heard of a young Australian or German or South Korean coming to Taiwan to take advantage of the working holiday program here. Does anybody have any experience, first-hand or otherwise, in this regard?
Mostly, I’m really curious about just what short-term job opportunities are open to non-English speakers on a short-term basis like that. 
I know that loads of people on working holidays go to Du Lan, Taitung county to work with Barry and Sonia on their organic farm and the constructing of their "Dome " house. Also The Sanctuary, which is located up North past Taipei also wants volunteers. The Sanctuary is a rescue organization for animals in Taiwan. They currently houses over 130 dogs, some squirrels, rabbits, pigs…etc…
Besides volunteer opportunities, how about working as a short-term tour guide in Taiwan?
Do you know Taiwan?
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@Hokwongwei, I’m here on the working holiday visa.
I have a few Korean friends that are doing the same (except they followed their boyfriends here), but because they cannot teach English they’re just doing private Korean lessons and learning Chinese.
I know Taiwan have a reciprocal agreement with NZ, but I think it would be very difficult to get work in NZ without speaking English. The only type I can think of right now would be working in a Chinese grocer or restaurant, but they probably want to hire under the table and you don’t exactly need a work permit for that…
Mind you, working in the vineyards and picking seasonal fruit seems to be a popular option for people coming to NZ, my Korean friend did that and slowly learnt English there.
I remember seeing an article on this somewhere and the numbers are minuscule.
If it’s possible, I’d really appreciate if you could conjure that up for us to see.
I was talking with my coworker about this the other day, and I just don’t see why Taiwan would be appealing for a work-holiday program to Westerners, mostly because of language issues (although I’m sure lots of haughty white people out there think they can pick up Chinese in a couple of months) and because of a lack of vacations.
When I first came here to study abroad in college, I was subject to strict attendance requirements (couldn’t miss more than 4 classes in the semester) which meant that in 4 months in the country, I only got out of Taipei twice. :s
I remember asking the Taiwanese cultural office in Britain how many people use it. For that year it might have even been 0. Certainly less than 10. The problems are that most people can come and teach English or study. With the working holiday they have to (I heard people don’t now!) change jobs every 3 months and can only study for 3 months of the year at a language centre because it’s a working holiday not studying holiday. I do know people who aren’t doing it like this now but I think the numbers are microscopic.
If it’s possible, I’d really appreciate if you could conjure that up for us to see.[/quote]
This China Post article from June of last year gives numbers for Britons and Germans: chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/nati … opeans.htm
Here’s a fairly old Taipei Times article (April of 2012) that has numbers for New Zealand, Japan, Canada, South Korea, and Australia: taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/ … 2003529322
Over 10,000 Taiwanese people travel to Australia on Working Holidays each year. Since 2004, an average of 14 Australian citizens per year have reciprocated that.
So considering that there are 700 times as many w.h visas given by one side than the other, don’t you think it would be fair that Taiwan would grant Australian citizens more than 30 days of visa-exempt tourist entry? Especially considering that AU already gives Taiwanese citizens 90 days?
Oh I’m sorry. That would mean that a country struggling for international representation and recognition would have to reciprocate immigration laws equitably to another friendly country. Oh no. Better not do that.
Actually the number is running at a staggering 35,000 per year.
[quote=“bumclouds”]Over 10,000 Taiwanese people travel to Australia on Working Holidays each year. Since 2004, an average of 14 Australian citizens per year have reciprocated that.
So considering that there are 700 times as many w.h visas given by one side than the other, don’t you think it would be fair that Taiwan would grant Australian citizens more than 30 days of visa-exempt tourist entry? Especially considering that AU already gives Taiwanese citizens 90 days?
Oh I’m sorry. That would mean that a country struggling for international representation and recognition would have to reciprocate immigration laws equitably to another friendly country. Oh no. Better not do that.[/quote]
But I’m dying with curiosity: Just what jobs do those 14 individuals engage in?
Yeah, up from about 22,000 the year before. As an Australian teacher I field a lot of questions regarding these working holidays such as ‘Can I get a job in Sydney?’ or ‘Will my English improve?’. One question that took me aback was ‘Why do Australians treat Taiwanese like Taiwanese treat south-east Asians?’, from a guy who didn’t want to lower himself to farm laboring (he had no idea that, for many years, the typical working holiday maker has been a university graduate from an affluent nation like England, Germany or Japan).
Actually, I’ve noticed this topic touches a nerve here. A while back a magazine reported on one Taiwanese lad who managed to save NT$1 million in a year; in response, however, the government (the friggin foreign minister if I’m not mistaken) issued a statement advising that Taiwanese youth should be going for the ‘life experience’, not just to save money. Or, in other words, Don’t go there and be Taiwanese labor, it’s making us lose face.
[quote=“antarcticbeech”]One question that took me aback was 'Why do Australians treat Taiwanese like Taiwanese treat south-east Asians?[/quote]I thought the answer to that question would be another question. Why do you treat S-E Asians they way you treat S-E Asians?
I cop these working holiday questions from the general public on an almost weekly basis. The one question that really bothers me is something along the lines of; “Is it true that I might have to do work that most Australians aren’t willing to do?”.
They’re always so shocked to learn that, no, as a foreign national, you are not being handed up to 2 years of open rights to simple, comfortable, easy high-paying jobs.
It’s much easier now than it was. When I was there you could only work 3 months in a single job and there was no one year extension, even if you worked on the farms. Also the economy wasn’t great then either.
Sorry to go off-topic, but there’s just one thing I want to add:
Some people ask where I’m from and I say ‘Australia’. Then they say “I’m sorry… But your country did not treat me very good”.
A couple of questions later, I usually find out that they went on a W.H to Australia, but they did not come back with the huge bags of money they were expecting; so therefore they were mistreated. Disappointment+dinted pride ≠ mistreatment. It’s as if many of them feel like they are owed free money. I just don’t get it.
I am also wondering what the hell those 14 were doing?
Well 13 for one of those years. I think I met one once. A quite young ABC (A= Australia here, not America) who was working in a coffee shop, I think really more to improve his Chinese (which was heavily accented) rather than for money.
As an Australian in Taiwan I can’t help but think it should be reciprocal. Perhaps Australia should let 14 Taiwanese a year in on these visas and only give Taiwanese a 1 month visa… Now who to lobby in Australia to get this changed?
We can send some letters to the trade office. Worth a try.
[quote=“bumclouds”]Sorry to go off-topic, but there’s just one thing I want to add:
Some people ask where I’m from and I say ‘Australia’. Then they say “I’m sorry… But your country did not treat me very good”.
A couple of questions later, I usually find out that they went on a W.H to Australia, but they did not come back with the huge bags of money they were expecting; so therefore they were mistreated. Disappointment+dinted pride ≠ mistreatment. It’s as if many of them feel like they are owed free money. I just don’t get it.[/quote]
Come on, guys, stop the eternal whining and be grateful for the opportunity to be an English teacher in Taiwan, which compared to a WH in Australia is easy money (and ever thought about how many English teachers from Australia there are in Taiwan compared to Chinese teachers from Taiwan in Australia? Are you gonna write a letter about that too?)
Funny thing is that despite the easy money and easy life, many of those same people feel mistreated and as if Taiwan or the Taiwanese owe them something just for being from a western country. Time to take a look in the mirror, guys.
The topic is about how non-reciprocating the WH agreement is. Nobody whinged about their working conditions in this thread, or even mentioned teaching.
We are all grateful for the opportunities that the island gives us. But we are talking about putting an end to this (see below map; 30 days is coloured light blue); especially in the light of the aforementioned agreement, which is unequal enough as it is. And nobody has even mentioned the 2-years max duration vs. 1 year thing yet. Or the 6 months per employer vs. 3 months per employer thing, both of which are unequal in favour of Taiwan.
