Paperwork Hell

Hey everyone!

Sorry, it's been a long time, but not much exciting has happened. Mostly, I've been doing paperwork. I have a work visa! Woot woot! My ARC is in, I got it yesterday.

Ok so, I had to travel to Taichung to apply for a visa with my boss. He didn't seem to know anything about the process and it felt a bit sketch. Matthew and I were in the city earlier that day looking to buy a helmet for myself (for our future means of transportation). We go to the government buidling to meet my employer, who was late because his car couldn't start. Apparently he had left the lights on so his battery was dead. Matthew and I were at a cafe across the street waiting, and he finally shows, but he doesn't want to turn off his car, so Matthew had to sit in it and wait. The coffee shop owner didn't understand me when I explained I wanted my coffee to go (I'm not sure if that was even an option as I didn't see take out cups anywhere). My employer wanted me to sit and drink my coffee. I pretty much poured it straight down my throat because I thought I should be at the visa office in person for the application process.

I'll admit, I have some serious trust issues and I essentially don't trust anyone and I get super annoyed when people expect me to hand over my passport to them. Anyway, I finished the coffee and ran into the building looking for him. There was some online form we were supposed to fill out prior to going to the office and it was just ridiculous. Luckily I have a lot of useless information stored in my memory bank or I would have been screwed. Some of the questions they asedk in the online form is just so pointless and something that I am sure most people would need to contact a third party to get.

We fill the online form out, they print it out for us, I fork over a ton of cash and they kept my passport. This came as a surprise to me becuase I have never in my life had to give my passport to someone else. My employer thinks it's totally fine, but he also told me that they would keep my passport for the whole year. I pretty much told him if that was the law I am quitting the job and leaving. I am not giving my passport to someone for a year; that would mean that I would not be allowed to leave this country for the whole year. I don't trust anyone, not even governments. He tried to explain to me that they need to keep my passport to issue my work visa (which is a sticker). It just came as a surprise because other places I have dealt with just mails it to you or you pick it up at the office; I have never been asked to fork over my passport. When it was ready, they even let my employer pick it up; they will just hand over your passport to someone else apparently. I'm not saying I don't trust my employer (I do have my passport after all), but it seems like it would be pretty easy to steal passports from foreigners working here.

Anyway, my work visa and ARC is finally here, but the headache isn't over yet. After you receive your ARC, you must apply for your health card, which is another annoying paperwork nightmare. The reason this is all a nightmare is because Matthew and I have put some money down on a motorcycle. People here like to be very helpful, but it gets to the point where they just end up medling in your business, and I'm someone who really doesn't like help.

Matthew saw a motorcycle he fell in love with. You cannot own a vehicle in Taiwan unless you are a resident, which with my ARC gives me that status. The motorcycle we have our eyes on is on cosignment. We talked to the employees one night and they told us to put some money down to reserve it. The owner wasn't around and this turned out to be a mistake. Matthew wanted to give him all the cash for the motorcycle and just wait to trransfer the paperwork in our name. I thought this was a horrible idea (never trust a Chinaman they say). Thankfully, other locals told us the same thing and Matthew changed his mind. The owner has been harrassing us, and my employer got involved and gave his number to the shop owner, and everyone is calling everyone and everyone else is telling us what to do; it's just ridiculous.

Now that my ARC is here things can finally get done. Actually, the ARC got to the office, and people here like to open my mail, my employer took my ARC card and gave it to the shop owner. So, hopefully no government officials come by asking for any proof of my legal status because I don't have any. A work visa isn't good enough here, it needs to be used in conjunction with the ARC as proof.

My employer was also convinced that we can't get a motorcycle without a health card, but to be honest, most of his 'information' has been wrong. Nowhere that I read, nor any foreigners I know have confirmed any of his knowledge. The shop owner said that we should be able to pick up the bike and my ARC either Thursday or Friday night, and I don't have a health card so I guess it isn't necessary. It's too bad it's the monsoon season now, because a great escape from this little town would be nice.