How to get a decent job in Taiwan?

This page is about the opportunities and main concerns for getting a decent job in Taiwan. I recommend the first thing you do is to get familiar with 104.com.tw- upload your CV in Chinese, cover letter, fill in as much information as possible. It might seem tough at the beginning since everything is in Chinese, but this is really almost the gateway and absolutely necessary skill for getting a job. Many employers won’t advertise jobs anywhere else. 

When searching for job other than teaching, you have several options:

•   Engineering
•   Sales/Business development
•  English translator/interpreter
•  Modeling (I’m serious)
•  Research position in university

It also depends on your Chinese level. Speaking Chinese will of course make you more desirable. However, there are some jobs that do not require you to speak Chinese well, such as engineering positions, researcher in university, and English teacher.

Majority of those jobs employer expects you to speak a bit Chinese are sales representative position (business development abroad)- full time, part time or as agent. When you work as sales for full time, your employer will provide you work permit and ARC.

From visa-exempt stay to resident working visa

Let’s just say you’re staying in Taiwan for 60 or 90 days (visa exempt entry), it mean you don’t have any visa just permission to stay for 60/90 days. When applying for job, you should tell the company  about this at the beginning. You should also make them clear what is your level of spoken Chinese and I can guarantee it will save you a lot of money, time and disappointment (It happened to me several times that after I had travelled long distance and appeared in the company, they realized I really cannot speak Chinese fluently and sent me back home). If the company still wants you to come for interview, then.. that’s great! J

After the company decides to hire you, make sure about the salary, work contract, etc.  Let them know that you need them to apply for work permit for you. You cannot apply by yourself, company has to do it and it takes about 7-14 days. You can start working legally after you obtained resident visa with work status.

For work permit you will need to give the company:

• Passport (copy)
• Photos
• Health certificate form B (you can download it from Taipei representative office of almost any country, bring it to hospital. They will examine your health and if everything is OK, they will give you certificate in 7 days. It is useful to bring any vaccination certificate you have with you to hospital)
• Bank account – you can issue one only when you've got ARC already. You may probably submit this later on.
• Diploma of highest degree – copy (not sure whether certified one) or any work contract or anything that shows what have you done for past one year or anything that shows you've got a qualification to work as sales/engineer/etc.
• Other documents that might be relevant.

After obtaining a work permit

After they applied and got a work permit, they will issue visa for you through agent (either company or you have to pay for agent service) or you can do it by yourself. When issuing visa by yourself, call to Immigration office and ask whether you have to leave the country or you can get resident visa while staying in Taiwan. Usually, if you already have resident visa and ARC, you just need to change the status. If you have visitor visa, you must change it to resident visa- in these cases you don’t have to leave the country.

However, if you have visa-exempt entry, you just have to make sure by calling to Immigration or Labor office about leaving the country for visa.

Basically when you’ve got a work permit, you just need to apply for resident visa and get ARC. Work permit is a permission to work, nothing else. It is not permission to stay. ARC is the official permission for staying in Taiwan. Work permit is just one of the documents you need to get in order to get visa and ARC.

Visa run or leaving the country to apply for visa

The best representative office to apply for resident visa is probably Hong Kong. I have heard they have a lot of experience and are friendly. You can check  Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (Hong Kong)  (http://www.taiwaninfo.org/apply.htm) for required documents, payment and procedure. Just make sure you have got all what you need for application so that you don’t have to trouble yourself in Hong Kong when you realize you forgot one paper.

I heard the service in Manila is quite chaotic. I’m not familiar with offices in other cities or countries.

Salary for foreigner

Today I've finally got the information what is a minimum salary company is required to pay to foreigner. The company is required to pay foreigner minimum 48 000NT/month. From this amount the government will deduct 20% (in this case=9600NT), what’s left is: 38 400NT. Then the company will reduce this amount of insurance pay (the company I was applying for job told me it’s about 6% of 48000NT monthly, so around 3000NT). What left is 35 400NT- this is the minimum net salary foreigner should get in Taiwan by law. Just make sure about everything what the company is going to deduct from your salary.

For sales and foreign market development positions, average salary for foreigner is:

-         

•       Tainan: 35 400 – 38 000 (depends on the size of the company and industry; usually family-owned        small manufacturer will pay less)
•           Kaohsiung and Taichung (similar to Tainan, but could be a bit higher;  surprised?)
•         Taipei- 37 000-50 000 (depends also on your specialization, years of experience and whether company has foreign capital)
•            Hsinchu (similar to Taipei, perhaps a bit lower- really depends)

Which company is the best for me?

This is very individual, but I would suggest if you don’t have much working experience, bigger company is better for you. Bigger company usually already has some marketing department or some basics of marketing. From my experience, small family-owned business’ owner doesn’t have many resources and time to teach you and expects you to bring the real value to company in a short time. Sometimes their expectations are a bit unrealistic, but it really depends on the particular company.

The best is to work for international company (in most cases)- these positions are very competitive and almost exclusively in Taipei.

When deciding which city to go for working, each does have pros and cons. Tainan is small and easy to go around if you've got a scooter.  The weather is hot, people warm and friendly. It’s not that far to Kenting either. On the other hand, vast majority of the companies there are small businesses. These companies do not have much of a budget for marketing and other activities. In this type of business, traditionally, owner is the head and center of everything, it’s his business and he doesn’t like to hear any suggestions, improvements or complaints about the way they do business.

Kaohsiung is similar to Tainan I would say, perhaps more opportunities to find something decent.

Many foreigners say Taichung is the best city to work and live. It has the best weather, people are friendly, but it doesn't have access to sea. 
Taipei is the capital and biggest city, it has everything, but weather. People are also busier and less relaxed compare to people in South.

As for me, at the end I would choose a place where I already know few people who live there and know the place itself, so I wouldn't be completely unfamiliar and without help in a new place. For example, I don't know almost anyone in Taichung and don't know the city that well as Tainan or Kaohsiung, but that's another opportunity and later on I would surely make some friends.
You just have to realize you're going for work, so you won't have that much time to do as many stuff as you do while studying.