I posted a frantic thing last week when I was having trouble applying for a working permit for a writing job.
My solution was article 5.4 which says:
Specialists who have been trained professionally or self-taught in the specific field and have more than five years experiences in related skills and have demonstrated outstanding performances.
Thankfully I believe I qualify for this one and my employers said that they really wanted to hire me, so they have submitted the application based on the above.
As mentioned before, I do have my university degree, but my work experience occurred during my time at University, so I can’t do the standard: Degree and two years experience.
It is my understanding however, that if you have over five years experience and either some demos of your work or a reference letter then you’re pretty much good to go… Am I wrong in assuming this?
you need to have strictly 2 years of post-degree working experience. This is really a major showstopper for young expats. Didn’t expect Taiwan to have such strict work permit rules until I’m being slapped on the face with it
Thanks for the info. After speaking with someone at the CPA, CLA, whatever it’s called, she said that provided I have five years experience (I have about 5.5, phew!) and can provide either samples, or references then along with proof that I graduated from High School then I’m good to go.
So I’ve submitted my previous proof of employment letters, a really solid reference letter, and my University Transcripts along with High School ones (never thought I’d need these again).
My previous work experience is working for a large telecommunications company back home doing copywriting for broadcast television along with some advertising design, and before that working for a media company penning commercials and music videos.
The unfortunate part is that while I was doing this work, I finished my degree part time in night school and on the weekends which was a major setback here.
However, based on what two different people told me at the CPA, it sounds like this WILL work out… I’ll just keep my fingers crossed. And I’ll let you guys know what ends up happening in a week or so.
Wrong. That’s only ONE set of criteria. Five years (used to be eight) verifiable experience in your field also qualifies, as the OP has found out.
Maybe its different for teaching English, but that’s not the OPs area, nor mine, so I have no idea what English teachers need in terms of qualifications here.
I was actually in a very similar situation about a month back - went to university part time as I was working.
Managed to secure a position here in Taipei and my company applied for my work permit. However a week later received a note that it could not processed because of the lack of experience after graduation.
Therefore had to apply under the 5-year work experience bracket. I only had 4.5 years of relevant experience, therefore had to get a friend back home to write something. Submitted it and everything worked out =)
