Q. Are my flights to and from Taiwan at my expense?

A. On the one year salary contract you get your flight there paid for. On a two year salary contract you get round-trip. On hourly contracts, you pay your own way both ways.

Q. What if I hate it? Can I break a contract?

A. Yes, but you should give notice. On the regular contract, you will have to reimburse the flight there though.

Q. I've heard about private tutoring or teaching on the side - can I do that as well?

A. You can and many do, but remember, it is illegal and you can get deported if caught. Besides, it just isn't ethical to do this. You've committed yourself to an employer who has made a commitment to you as well. You've got to decide if you want to do the right thing.

Q. If I have more than one degree, will I make more money?

A. Sometimes, with exceptional ESL experience, Kojen Taiwan will pay more on an hourly contract.

Q. How long is the school year?

A. You will be teaching for the entire year. Language schools are private and teach year round. In fact, when universities and gradeschools are on their break, the private language schools get very busy. This is when many English teachers pick up overtime wages.

Q. What holidays do I get?

A. On the salary contract, you get all national holidays, plus one week paid holiday and seven sick days. On an hourly contract you get all national holidays plus up to 4 weeks unpaid vacation. For the adult program you may have to make up days for national holidays lost, however.

Q: How often will I receive payment? (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly)

A: Bi-weekly, on every other Thursday if you are an hourly teacher. If you are offered a salaried contract, the payday is every 5th of the month. All preschool teachers are paid monthly on the 5th of each month.

Q: How will I receive payment? (check, cash, automatic deposit into my checking account)

A: For your first one or two paychecks you will be given cash. Once you have received your ARC (alien resident certificate aka. work permit) you will be able to get a bank account and from then on your salary will be direct deposited from then on into your savings account, with an ATM card. (Personal checking accounts are very rare in Taiwan, and even most businesses don't use them.)

Q: Will my salary be based on your local currency or US currency?

A: Your wages will be in New Taiwan Dollars. The currency is one of the most stable in the world and has settled at around 32-33 = US$1 for the past 5 years. This is because Taiwan has some of the largest currency and gold reserves in the world, protecting them against any large changes.

Q. What about taxes when I come home on income earned in Taiwan?

A. In Canada, if you are out of the country more than 2 years, you can claim non resident status. For 1 year, you have to file a return but you do get tax credits for all the tax that you paid while overseas.

In the US, if you are out of the country more than 12 months, you still have to file a return. You will receive a foreign earned income credit and will probably not have to pay any tax.

Question: Upon acceptance of the position, will you be presenting me a sponsorship guarantee form, a contract, and a certificate of employment?

A: If you accept a position offered you, you will have our word that it is so. We will send you a copy of our contract so that you may review its contents. Teachers first apply for and receive a 60-day tourist visa in their home country. On the day after you arrive in Taiwan, you will come to our office to fill out all your paperwork for your work visa.

Filing from abroad is a huge morass of bureaucracy, and expensive. In Taiwan, our schools will pay for your medical (which involves many expensive tests required by the government). If you were to try and file abroad, you would have to go to a hospital that would (from experience with other applicants) charge you anywhere from US$300-US$600, and there is a good chance that the Taiwan embassy (TECO offices) would reject it anyway (about 40% of all cases). In Taiwan, it costs you nothing, and the documents are all accepted. It saves you time, money, and bureaucratic headaches. You would not need a sponsorship guarantee form, but we will sponsor you for the work visa, certificate of employment, and ARC (alien resident certificate). There is a nominal cost for these things.

• If you are a US citizen, the cost is NT$4,400, but if you are a passport holder from another country you will need to pay NT$3,000.  Regardless of country of origin, there is a processing fee of NT$1,000 for the ARC (Alien Resident Certificate).

Q: What type of working Visa will your sponsorship grant me?

A: It's known as an Alien Resident Certificate. This allows you to stay in the country for one year from issuance, and allows you to work legally for the school that sponsors you. Visa renewal is also a much simpler process if you and Kojen Taiwan renew for successive years.

Q: Will I be required to hand over my passport to your office for the duration of my stay?

A: No. We feel that it is unethical to do so. Your passport is the property of the government that gave it to you. I do however, strongly suggest that you make photocopies of your passport and keep them in a separate place, and give a copy to the school that you work for in case of loss or theft. Friendly advice: Do not consider any school that requires you to surrender your passport in Taiwan, and probably not in any other country either.