Termination of ARC: any grace period?

[Visitor]

Does anyone know if there is a grace period once your ARC is terminated. If your employer terminates it how long do you have to leave the country?

[Visitor]

According to Article 52 of the Employment Services Act, if your "employer-employee relationship" has dissolved, the employer is supposed to notify the relevant central government authority within three days.
With that in mind, I would like to have further information before I answer this question in more detail: (1) Have you reached a mutually satisfactory arrangement with your present employer to dissolve the "employer-employee relationship", or what are the circumstances? (2) Are you working in a blue collar job (factory, construction site, etc.) or white collar job (office)? (3) Is your employer willing to give you time to look for a new job before he notifies the relevant authorities that you are no longer employed? (4) Do you have a strong possibility of a new job lined up in the ROC with the employer ready to apply for your "new" work permit? (5) Are you single, or married? If married, what is the nationality of your spouse?

[Visitor]

Hartzell
The termination is more or less amicable. But my boss does not know the laws well, he does however look into things. So if I understand you correctly if the employer follows the law and teminates the work permit within three days then I will have to leave the country immediately? Or is there a grace period once the work permit is terminated? I am not in a blue collar job.

[Visitor]

According to Article 11 of the "Regulations Governing Visiting, Residence and Permanent Residence of Aliens", there is a grace period of 15 days when you are applying to have your Purpose of Residency changed. In other words, that would be when you are applying for a "new" ARC based on a work permit with different employer, or are getting married to an ROC national, or are doing something else that will qualify you for a "new" ARC, based on some other Purpose of Residency.
Article 11 says "Aliens, when there is a change to their purpose of residency in ROC, are required to reapply for a resident visa from the Bureau of Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or its branch offices within 15 days after the actual change takes place, before they can apply for another term of residence from the Authority."
(Note: The Immigration Administration has not been established yet, so effectively speaking the meaning of "Authority" is the Foreign Affairs Police Station where you live.)
If your residency permission is coming to an end, because of the loss of your original legal status, and you are not applying to have your Purpose of Residency changed, then it would appear that you should leave the ROC right away. There is no provision in the regulations to give you a "grace period." (Off the record, if your employer is willing to wait two weeks before he reports the termination of your employment, you may enjoy that two week grace period.)
When you leave the Taiwan area, you need to get a tourist visa, and then come back.

[Visitor]

I am changing job from teaching to a white collar job..meaning that I will have to change my work visa to the company that is hiring me.
As agreed in my contract with the school I teach in; my resignation will lead to automatic cancellation of my working visa/ARC in Taiwan.

Can I apply for the Visa through the other company before my existing visa gets cancelled?

Upon cancellation do I have a grace period because I am changing jobs within Taiwan, baically do I have to come back into Taiwan on a visitors visa, and wait for the paperwork for my new visa/ARC to be processed

In some schools a clause is in the contract stating that, upon termination of the contract on the employee's part, the employee will need to pay the school X amount of Taiwan dollars.
Is this actually enforced and can the schools actually use this clause in a court of law, or is it a deterent to prevent people from changing schools.

Do the Taiwanese authorities deliberatly make the laws akward and unclear to confuse foreigners, is there a scam between Thai airways, the visa office in HK and the Taiwanese goverenment to make money ?

[Visitor]

Please note that teaching is also very much considered "white collar".
Answers to your questions are as follows, (however these answers only apply to so-called "ordinary foreigners", the situation for those married to ROC nationals is different):
Q: Can I apply for the Visa through the other company before my existing visa gets cancelled?
A: If you are a fast talker you might be able to negotiate it. Technically speaking, you are only allowed to have one Work Permit at a time.
Q: Upon cancellation do I have a grace period because I am changing jobs within Taiwan? Or do I have to come back into Taiwan on a visitors visa, and wait for the paperwork for my new visa/ARC to be processed?
A: As stated above, if you somehow start early on the new Work Permit paperwork, and get all the necessary approvals done within fifteen days of the adjusted expiry date of your now cancelled "original" ARC, you might be able to pull it off. But why not just go to Thailand for a week, go swimming, drink beer, come back on a tourist visa and sort everything out then?
Q: In some schools a clause is in the contract stating that, upon termination of the contract on the employee's part, the employee will need to pay the school X amount of NT$. Is this actually enforced and can the schools actually use this clause in a court of law, or is it a deterent to prevent people from changing schools?
A: Clauses in contracts which are unenforceable in the Taiwan courts tend to be those where you are renouncing your legal rights. This is because those legal rights (such as "freedom") cannot be renounced in a democratic society (sic). Considering the contract terms you have stated above, these appear to represent a fair agreement between two parties. For example, you cannot argue that you were under coercion to sign such a contract, in fact, you signed in under your own free will, and (apparently) you understood the provisions.
Q: Do the Taiwanese authorities deliberatly make the laws awkward and unclear to confuse foreigners?
A: I don't think so. However, I find that the local ROC people do not understand the full scope of all the laws that apply to foreigners. Hence, different people will give you different (and contradictory) advice.
Q: Is there a scam between Thai airways, the visa office in HK, and the Taiwanese government to make money ?
A: I assume that you are referring to the need for foreigners on short term visas to make frequent visa runs to HK to get their visas renewed. This appears to assure the airlines of full bookings, but I think that this is not a deliberate tactic. No doubt some foreigners are especially sensitive to this, particularly if they have a "short term visa".
While we are on this topic, I would note the following curious fact: According to Article 03.01.07 of the Immigration Law, (which is the seventh item of Article 3), "residency" is defined as "living in the Taiwan Area for more than six months." (This is my translation, taken directly from the Chinese. The translation on the Bureau of Entry and Exit's website is incorrect.) In all the time that I have studied the Immigration Law, I always found this definition extremely over-simplified. (For example, in this definition there is no mention of "Purpose of Residency", which has traditionally been limited to five very narrow categories.) Interestingly however, this definition does leave open the avenue for a legal challenge for a foreigner on a short term visa to apply for a resident visa based merely on the fact that he/she meets this "definition of residency"! To my way of thinking, undertaking such a legal challenge would be a very positive development for the foreign community. If you want to do that, we should initiate the procedures in the period of early July to late December of the year in question. Hence, that means before the end of December 2000, (or else we wait until after July 1, 2001).

[Visitor]

Can the change of their "purpose of residency" in the ROC be: looking for a new job?

[Visitor]

In terms of a foreigner obtaining a resident visa to live in Taiwan, I suggest that you refer to my comments in this FORUM under the "Desperate - Clock is Ticking" inquiry.