How to get or renew your work permit and ARC on your own

One of the things with living in Taiwan as a foreigner is that you need to have a valid work permit to work here and to be able to apply for an ARC or Alien Resident Card.

For most people, the company you work for will do this for you, but not all companies do this and if you’re running your own business, you’re either going to have to do it on your own, or have an accountant do it for you, usually at several times the actual cost.

The whole process is a bit of a mess though and takes a fair bit of running around, especially if you like me, haven’t done it before. There are a few things you need to prepare, such as copies of your passport (and ARC if you have one), your chops, a letter of employment stating your salary, hire date and termination date, tax records (which I’ll go into a bit more detail about shortly) and in the case of you having your own business, some paperwork that proves that you’re in Taiwan for serious business reasons such as a calendar with appointments and a few select emails (all stamped with your chops). You need to bring this with you to the Workforce Development Agency located here (it’s in the same building as the Thaisugar Hotel, just slightly in the back and on the 10th floor and up) if you live in Taipei City. On a side-note, this is also where you go and apply for your open work permit once you get an APRC. There’s a NT$500 fee for the work permit (NT$250 for the open work permit, but you need a photo for this one), which also have to be paid at the time of the application. Normally you’d get a two year work permit, although one and three years is also possible, as it depends on your contract and ARC.

For Taipei City residents you need to go to the main tax office in Taipei which is located here to get the tax papers you need. Sadly I can’t tell you what you need, but the staff at the Workforce Development Agency will be able to inform you as to the specific documents you need to submit. Just be aware that if you’ve ever stayed in Taiwan for more than 90 days in a single year over the past seven years without filing for taxes, you might end up running into some problems, as the tax office will check your entry and exit records to the country.

Once you’ve submitted enough documentation to the Bureau of Employment and Vocational Training it should take no more than 7-10 days for you to get your work permit. Once you’ve collected your work permit (or had it sent to you) you need to visit the National Immigration Agency which is located here. Here you need to fill in a form and once again bring copies of your passport, a letter of employment, as well as any pre-existing ARC, which they will keep at this point. The cost is NT$1,000 per year for the ARC, so if you have a two year work permit and want a two year ARC, you have to bring NT$2,000. As a side note, if you’re applying for an APRC the cost is NT$10,000. Normally it takes about two weeks for the ARC to be processed, so keep this in mind if you have to leave the country, although it’s possible to get a piece of paper from the National Immigration Agency that will get you back into the country again. You can also get a paper here in case you need to get a bank account, cellular phone, etc. with a number and a great big stamp that works as a temporary ARC.

If you want to take the easy route, or are looking at setting up a business in Taiwan, I’d recommend JusRegal or D&C CPA & Associates. Both are local accountants located in central Taipei and I have used both as my accountants. They have some English speaking staff, as well as English websites, however, sometimes there are language barriers that can complicate things. I currently use the latter and have been doing so for a few years. They charge a bit more than JusRegal, but are also more professional.

Hopefully this is of some use and once you know what you need to supply the Workforce Development Agency, it’s really not that hard to renew your work permit on your own. That said, if you live outside of Taipei City, or have your business registered outside of Taipei City, you’re going to have to find your local equivalent, which could be located quite far from where you live and work.

This post was updated on the 24th of July 2016

New site design and some changes

Well, I’ve finally gotten around to do something of a custom design, not sure it’s the final choice, especially the colours, but it’s a work in progress. I’ve also updated the supermarket list, as some things were not up to date and I added another small chain called Kuma to the list.

I still suck at blogging regularly, but hey, such is life I guess. Been keeping busy with tons of work recently, too much in fact, but the good news is that I’m at least finally starting to make some money. Been doing a couple of video projects and learnt a lot along the way and I’m still learning. If this works out to be a regular thing, then I’m going to have to invest in some better equipment and as tempted as I am by Sony’s new NEX-VG10, it’s a bit outside of my current budget to say the least.

At least the weather has been ok the last couple of weeks, although a tad on the hot side with it hitting 36 degrees plus. Either which way it’s better than rain…

Computex is over, yet work hasn’t slowed down…

The first week of June was Computex, which is usually the busiest week for me in the year, but for whatever reason, I’m getting requests to do freelance work from left, right and centre. I guess it’s a good thing as work has been slow, which in return means I haven’t been making a lot of money. Things are looking up though and if things work out as they appear, then it looks like I’ll be doing a lot better than I have since I moved to Taiwan. I guess these things take time, but when you’re down and out it just doesn’t look like there’s an end to the misery, but apparently there is

Otherwise life is treating me pretty good these days, need to start moving my ass, as I’ve been getting way too lazy and put on too much extra weight these past six months or so. I just don’t have the drive to go to the gym and there’s really no-where to walk to where I live now, so I don’t go out for walks either. Anyone got ideas on how to make me want to move my backside? 😀

I’ve got a few new eateries I need to add to the blog as well and I’m looking at sorting out a new design for the blog, as I’m seeing this one all over the place. Sure, it’s a good template, but I think I’m going to try to go with something a bit more original.

Anyhow, I’ll try to at least update things once a month, as I’ve been really bad at this whole bloging thing. Until next time…

Easy come, easy go…

Well, I guess it’s not exactly an accurate description of things, but I’m no longer with netbooknews.com…

Still, I’ve got more work on right now than I’ve had in a while and hopefully I’ll also make some money on it all, it’s just that I seem to be sitting around waiting to get paid by a bunch of people/companies that owe me money.

Life’s been a bit rough as of lately, but it seems like things are getting better once again. I guess you never really know what to expect, no matter what you get yourself involved in.

Now I’m working on something on my own on the site as well and hopefully with the help of a few friends, it’s not going to take too long to get it all sorted out. I guess it’s not hard to figure out what it is that I’m working on if you know what I’ve mostly been doing for a living over the past few years. I really should’ve done this years ago, but I guess I just never got around to it.

Tomorrow is “Typhoon holiday” here in Taiwan, as we’re about to be hit by a rather large typhoon up in the northern parts of the island. This means that most local will be haning out in the malls, as I have yet to be here during a typhoon that’s bad enough to close up the malls…

I’ll try to be a bit more of a frequent blogger as well. I know I keep saying this every time after I’ve been absent for a while, but I guess this is just my little personal thing and not something I have that much time to focus on.

Until next time…

Yuma SouthWestern Grill

Ok, this was supposed to have gone up some time ago, but I’ve been so busy that we in fact have managed to eat a few at Yuma since our first time there. I guess that in itself is a good sign, as we don’t tend to go back to places we don’t like…

We’ve tried all sorts of things ranging from ribs and pasta to starters and Quesadillas. The Fajitas might not be as authentic as the stuff served up by Eddy’s Cantina, but it’s more to my taste. The tortillas seem to be freshly made by Yuma and are at least grilled before being served. I found the Peri-Peri ribs to be a bit on the sour side, but they were way better than the fatty stuff that TGI’s serve up.

The pasta was good too and the cheese Quesadillas are great. Just be aware that both the Quesadillas and Fajita’s come with a side of rice, so you get a pretty big meal, unlike what you get at TGI’s once again. The starters are also good, although a bit more dip sauce wouldn’t go amiss, as it’s not quite enough sauce to go with all of the starters on their sampler platter. Yuma also have a bunch of different sauces to go with your food which is also a bonus.

One oddity is the fact that the coleslaw comes with lingonberry jam, although I think they’ve mixed it up with cranberry sauce, but the two doesn’t taste anything remotely the same.

I suggest you head over to Yuma and have a try yourself, as the food is great. You can find their website here and the location is marked on on the FindIT map.

Update: Sadly this place has closed and On Tap, a UK style pub has taken over the location, although they’ve kept some of the menu items, or at least something fairly similar.