24 Nov 2011, 17:29
So, over the past month I've been trying to extend my work permit, something you have to head to the Bureau of Employment (and Vocational Training) to do and something I expected to be fairly straight forward. By now, at no fault of my own, I've had to re-submit my application three times and I'm running out of time.
I should add that they have no instructions as to what paperwork has to be submitted or where you can get things that you may not have that you need to get from other government agencies. The first application was screwed up by the staff there, as they filed it under the wrong code, this I was only informed about when I returned with my tax papers, as at the time I submitted my application I didn't know what tax papers I had to bring, something they couldn't tell me either, nor could they tell me where I could get them
At least that time around they sent a letter, after I'd already submitted the tax papers telling me I had to submit them...
Called them up earlier today, asking what was going on, as I'd heard nothing. Turns out they wanted additional proof as to why I have a business here and I was told I had to submit additional documents to support my reason for being here. Apparently they'd sent me a letter telling me this, except I never received it and that was nearly two weeks ago. When I get there today, I find out that they're sitting on the letter and it was in fact never sent, thanks a million, how am I supposed to know that I have to submit extra paperwork then?
Then it turns out that on the receipt, you need to attach a copy of the front and back of your current ARC, something again I wasn't told. None of the staff at the "help desk" knows anything about what paperwork has to be submitted and during this mornings call I was told that the handler refused to talk to me by seemingly the only person in that office that spoke comprehensive English. The staff at the "help desk" do not speak enough English to be able to handle these kind of issues, yet they have a specific counter for foreigners.
Now I don't know if I'll get my renewed work permit in time to re-apply for my ARC which means I have potentially thrown away two years stay here if I was to apply for an APRC in the future. The Bureau of Employment's English website is utter crap http://www.evta.gov.tw and there's apparently an online form where you can enter your case number to find out if they're finished with your application or not, but this is only available on the Chinese page as far as I can tell, yet this is their only means of communication unless you call them or go there in person it seems. How can any government agency be this useless? There isn't even anywhere to complain about this, although I'm seriously considering contacting the Swedish trade office here to launch a formal complaint as this is no way to treat someone who's operating a legit business here.
It's not the poor girls fault, they just sit there and take the paperwork, but it's annoying when they don't speak enough English to do their jobs (yes, I should learn Chinese, but I haven't so...). The problem is that it's utterly and abysmally poorly organized and there are no clear instructions as to what you need to supply, not in English, not in Chinese. The first time around I had someone scribble down what I needed from the tax office, but they didn't know which tax office I had to go to. The tax office happened to know what I needed (and for those wondering, you have to go to the main tax office where you're registered, not the local one as they are now allowed to deal with foreigners), but of course wanted more papers themselves due to what I think is a little known fact. Apparently, IF you stay more than 90 days in Taiwan in one year, no matter what you do here during those 91+ days, you have to file tax here. It was something I wasn't aware of, nor do I think most people are. So if you've stayed here for more than 90 days for the past 7 years and then apply for a work permit or a renewal, you have to have filed tax for every year you've been here for more than 90 day and yes, they do check with immigrations to see when you've come and gone.
Anyhow, all good "fun" and all to save myself some money, as my accountant wanted NT$10k for this and the actual work permit fee is a mere NT$500, with the tax office papers being free. That said, I've now spent a full working week out trying to get this crap sorted and every time I've submitted more papers, they've reset the submission of my application, so I have no proof of having done it multiple times... Any suggestions as to with regards to some competent government people here I could contact with regards to my complaints in this case would be helpful.