Malaysian getting Taiwanese Driving License

Getting your driving license in Taiwan is simple, just as long as you had verified all the necessary documents.

It is always good to email Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center to ensure the documents required. They will send you a template on how to translate your driving license (yes, you may do it yourself).

Document to prepare before heading to Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center:

1. Malaysian driving license (original) and 2 copies (front and back on the same page)

2. Translation to English (2 copies)

3. Taiwan ARC (original)

4. Malaysian Passport (original)

5. Malaysian IC (original)

It takes 2 working days to complete. If you do not live in Taipei, you may prepare and envelope with sufficient paid postal (recommend registered mail) and they will mail the documents back to you. 

It is advised that you should visit Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center to submit the application as they will want to view the original ARC, passport, IC and driving license, it is not advisable to do it via mail, unless you have a third party whom you trust to assist you with the procedures.

Once you have the stamped document from Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center, you would need to have a Driving Test Body Checkup at a REGCONIZED hospital by Taiwan 監理所 (similar to JPJ). You may visit their website to see which hospital is near your area for you. The test is simple, colour blind check, visual test, audio test, so no worries and it cost around NTD150.

Next, with your stamped Translated Malaysian driving license and Driving Test Body Checkup, you may head to the nearest 監理所's 國際駕照辦事處 with:

1. Malaysian Passport (original) and photocopy a copy of the detail page of the passport and the page of you recent arrival stamp to Taiwan

2. Taiwan ARC (original) and a copy of both side on the same page

3. Three (3) passport size photograph (blue or white background, it does not matter)

4. Malaysian Driving License (original) and the translated copy from Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center

5. Driving Test Body Checkup (passed)

6. NTD200 for the application

You can collect it on that day itself. I had it done on a Saturday (please check which Saturdays does the 監理所 is opened and whether 國際駕照辦事處 is operating), hence it only took me less than half an hour, there was no one.

Working in Taiwan - My First Job in TW

After getting married to Taiwan and settled down, looking into future career would seem to be the next step.

There are numerous websites for job seeking, like 104.com.tw etc. With English as my only advantage here, I took it to the max in exploring career options. It seems that companies (small or medium) often have vacancies. It could be due to the turnover rate or people leaving for better opportunities in Taipei or even China, who knows.

Looking for a job here in Taiwan, especially when you are not living in or near Taipei could be tricky, not in terms of getting the job, that is the simple part, it is adapting and accepting the Taiwanese working culture that is tricky and difficult at some times.

Introduction to my first job

My first job was working as an English secretary for a medium sized, Taiwanese owned private company. It was a good introduction to the local work culture and practice. Don't be fooled by the job title, it was not a secretarial job, nothing close to it. After accepting the job offer, with a salary I find to be lower than what I expected (okay, I accepted the job because I was totally new to Subrogation or Maritime Law, I will explain later), I find that I actually do more than I was expecting to do. 

To begin with, it appears that I was not working for the company which the office sign states to be. There was a smaller company formed to cover the main company's subrogation portion and a law firm which covers Maritime law. Confusing? I was lost the first month I was there. I was actually working for three (3) companies, sometimes four (4), including some assignment task from the main company. The three companies that I mainly work for, one is a subrogation company, one is a local law firm, handling maritime cases, and another is a law firm registered overseas. (Wow! That's a mouth full, glad that is done.)

Employee benefits

Since it is my first job, it is also the first time I have to learn about National Health Insurance, Labour Insurance, Income Tax as a Foreigner, Local Labour Law and Bank Accounts.

National Health Insurance and Labour Insurance

From what I understand so far, the National Health Insurance and Labour Insurance is paid partially by your employer and partially will be deducted from your monthly salary. It is advised that employees are to monitor closely on the amount deducted every month by your employer and also to cross check using your Postal Bank Account (yes, Taiwan postal is also a bank). It is important to ensure that these payments are made accordingly, else you would have to pay for health insurance on your own. It is "rumoured" that employers (especially small and medium companies) will report  to the relevant department that you are receiving minimal wage (revised annually by the government), so that they would only pay the minimal amount for your insurance. Some employees prefer that, as that also means a minimal deduction in your monthly salary. However (yes, of course there is a bad side to this), when it come to make a claim to the insurance company, the employee would only receive the minimal as well. For example, pregnant employees will have maternity leave for 3 months, and for this three month, the insurance pay you a compensation for your leaves. Since a minimal salary was reported, a minimal compensation will be received.

Income Tax as a Foreigner

It should not be a shocker to pay income tax, this is practised globally. Well, income tax as a foreigner is slightly different. "Foreigners working with an ARC in Taiwan will have their wages taxed at a rate of 18% until they have stayed more than 183 days during a tax year. After 183 days, the government reduces your rate from 18% back to 5%. As for the 183 days that you paid 18%, which is 13% more than the normal rate, you will get this difference back when you file your taxes. Please note that the 183 days being from January 1 of each year."

So as you can see, for foreigner, it depends on how long have you resided in the country to indicate the tax rate of you income. So, do make an effort to stay in the country for more than 183 days a year if you are working.

Local Labour Law

The labour law, how can I put this in a good way? Most small and medium companies follows the laobour law strictly, you may think that it is something to celebrate for. But sadly no, as Taiwan Labour law, to my humble opinion, does not protects employees much. For instance, during the first year on the job, you are not entitled to any annual leaves. Only after the first year, you are entitled for 7 days of annual leaves. 

Pregnant employee are eligible for three months maternity. It was "rumoured" that there are employers who would let go of employees who are pregnant, as after the three month maternity leave, employees could apply for another 6 months of no salary leave to take care of your child.

These are some of the legal law of the country. It is common that companies or even government departments would require you to sign an employment "contract" with regulations that are just absurd. For example, 

(1) If you are one minute late from work, it would be recorded, and if you are late for 3 days for the month, you are requested to come back to work on a Saturday. If you do not comply, one day salary would be deducted. (There was even one from another company that states if you are late for one minute to work, it would be considered that you took the day off, you might as well go home.)

(2) You are not allowed to leave the company within one year, as it costs the company money to train you. (There are no training provided, they will throw you in deep sea and you better start swimming.)

(3) Overtime could only be claimed after 6pm. For every full half an hour, you are entitled to NTD40. No excuse to one minute less, or even if you are called back during the weekend to work. (Oh, they do not inform you that you need to fill in a form for this, else, too bad, no overtime payment.)

(4) You have to do cleaning as arranged in the duty roaster everyday, including sweeping, wiping, vacuuming. (Just like in school.)

(5) If you did anything wrong in your work, you are required to filled up a correction form which clearly states what you did wrong, how you should do it better and how you plan to improve it. This will be put up on a notice board for all to see.

Doesn't working in Taiwan sounds awesome? 

Bank Accounts

Banks have an image of being safe and secure, it is a place where you can trust to put your money in. Since I am working, I would need to have an account for my salary, so the usual, I went to the bank to open my bank account. Here, they do not recognize "signature", usually when you see "signature" here, it literally means, "Please WRITE your mandarin name clearly so that I can read." Not just that, they would require that you get a traditional square stamp of your mandarin name, as this is actually another important identification tool. Well, I personally don't mind the protocol in getting an account opened. But what was surprising is that, someone else with my account passbook, my ID and my stamp is actually allowed to withdraw money from my account. (Note to self, do not keep three items together.)

My Experience

Well, as for my first job, I won't say it exceed my expectation in a good way, but it seriously was an eye opener on the working environment and culture here. It was a stressful and tough job with a boss who is a business person, and no where near a human person. In her view, she paid you your salary, so you are to work as she told and instructed, getting to most out of you with minimal salary.

Besides the horrible boss encounter, colleagues were friendly and helpful, especially when you are a foreigner in a new country, you would depend on that. It was a tiring and demanding job, but I did learnt a lot and gained a whole new perspective of a new field (or, fields, since I do work for several companies).

I left the company as I do not think I could see myself in there for a long time, with lack of growth, acknowledgement and professionalism respect. You would have to let go and move on. 

So I did, with no regrets.

Life as a Foreigner in Disguise

I am in a a country where I am a foreigner, but I don't look like one.

Living in Taiwan is nice, it takes time to adapt, different variety of food, the language, the culture and the people.

Food

Food wise, it is not very hard to adapt to Taiwanese food, just that coming from a country rich with different cultures and vast selection of cuisines, it would be hard not to miss home. Your taste buds will start to feel so bland that somehow you are not interested with the local food no more. So to resolve this we have to start cooking.

Cooking for two is never easy, it is hard to get the right portion of ingredients and you will tend to over cook for two. Not just the portion, there are still ingredients that you would not be able to find in the market or supermarket. For example, it is difficult to find a whole garlic at the market, they usually sell them after they are pealed. Nevertheless, you may try looking harder into different supermarket for the ingredients you want, they may be slightly overpriced.

I remember that last summer, I was craving for chocolate ice cream, so much so that I went to all ice cream shops to get them, but non of them were similar to Baskin Robins or Ben & Jerry's. The painful part of this is, living through the unfulfilled craving.

Language

I won't say I have serious difficulties in the language, as I know the language, Mandarin. However, Mandarin was not my mother tongue, it is English, or Malaysian language (meaning a mixture of all languages). So there are moments that I have the word in English or Malay or Cantonese, but just somehow can't get the Mandarin word of it. Besides that, there are terms used in Taiwanese that were different from the ones used in Malaysia, for example, the straw(水草->吸管) and plaster (膠布->ok棒). There are moments that I can't understand Taiwanese's accent, especially when they Taiwan-lise English words. You would think that it is another term that you didn't know, but it is actually an English word pronounced with a Taiwanese accent. It is rude to correct them, so you would have to bear with it and just used to it.

Another language is Taiwanese (台語). I am not a Hokkien, hence I can't make up one word of Taiwanese. It is said that Hokkien and Taiwanese share some similarities. My grandmother in law only speaks Taiwanese, so there are times that we can't really communicate as there is this language barrier.

Culture

There are cultures in Taiwan that I love. The people here are more responsible in keeping their surrounding clean, and are more polite to a certain sense. They are proud of their nationality, I mean very proud, as they dislike it when I say I am Malaysian, as to them, I am married to a Taiwanese, hence I have to be Taiwanese. Sorry to disappoint you, but does not necessary work that way.

In terms of traditional culture, there are similarities and difference between Malaysian Chinese and Taiwanese Chinese. For example, lanterns are for the Mid-Autumn festival in Malaysia but in Taiwan, it is for the 15th Day of Chinese New Year.

People

The people here felt more down to earth and have less stress in their life. They appreciate knowledge and art, as there are bookstores everywhere and art galleries are always packed. I especially loved how they hope to preserve the Hakka culture by setting up museums and parks explaining the Hakka culture.


I think I can live here for some time. Till we found another place to settle down, Taiwan will do for now.

Registering your Marriage in Malaysia

My husband (Taiwanese) and I had registered our marriage in Taiwan and it is more like a re-registration in Malaysia (required to apply for Taiwan residence visa).

We planned to register in Taiwan first then re-register our marriage in Malaysia, as at the time registering in Malaysia requires my husband to reside in Malaysia for a period of time excluding the period of time required for the notice of our marriage. Hence, for convenience sake, we completed registration in Taiwan and return back to Malaysia.

Documents to prepare:
1. MyKad
2. Original Malaysian Passport and Foreign Passport of your spouse, and a copy of the page with your details of each and the page with the arrival date to Malaysia.
3. Passport size photo of each
4. Foreign Marriage certificate (Please have it (1) translated to English, (2) notarized and (3) authenticated by Taiwanese Foreign Affairs Department, you maybe do it in Malaysia if it is convenient to you)
5. 戶籍謄本 (prove of Nationality - translated, notarized and authenticated)

With all the documents required, you may just head to JPN in Putrajaya, and have some documents signed. It is advised that a confirmation of all the documents required are checked, translated, notarised or authenticated, as for us, we did not had our 戶籍謄本 done, and it was a nightmare.

Application for the Certificate of Good Conduct

As I am about to get married to my future Taiwanese husband, I am hoping to stay there in Taiwan with my husband. I am planning to get the Joining Family Residence Visa (JFRV) for me to stay and work in Taiwan. This visa requires me to be married with a Taiwanese, which I will be soon. There is one document which they require, the Certificate of Good Conduct.

I had applied mine via online through the department's website. http://www.kln.gov.my/web/guest/online. It requires a password which you have to register for it. After registering, you may login and click on Application of Certificate of Good Conduct. Read through the article and after understanding, you may start to fill in the form. One thing that you will need to prepare, they requires you to attach along a passport photo, so just make sure you have a digital copy.

After filling in everything and submitting the form, you will be able to check on the status of your application. Although they state that they will require 1-2 months to complete the application, mine was ready to be collected within one week, very impressive. But then, do note that, they will not notify you, well, I was not notified in any way. I only got to know mine was ready because I was anxious, so it's better that you check the status of your application from time to time.

To collect the certificate, you have to go to Ministry of Foreign Affair in Putrajaya. The collection is quite straight forward, get a number, wait for your turn and pay RM20 for it, and it's done. Nice and simple.

Application of Single Status Certificate

I'm about to get married January next year in Taiwan, yes, my future husband is a Taiwanese, and yes, I will be living there, will save that for the next blog.

So, one of the document required for my registration of marriage in Taiwan is the Single Status Certificate from Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara (JPN), Malaysia. For this, I went to JPN in Putrajaya.

Things to prepare for the application of the Single Status Certificate.

1. If you are doing this personally at Putrajaya (which is what I did), all you need to prepare is your IC, detail information of your spouse, which includes his/her name and passport number, and you will be good to go.

2. However, if you are planning to pass this over to someone else to help you prepare this, you may need to refer to their website for more information. http://www.jpn.gov.my/en/servicesmarriageordivorce
and click on the Single Status tab.

First, I walked in to the counter requesting for the form. From the website, it states that we are required to prepare a letter stating the purpose of this application, and also a Statutory Declaration. Don't worry, there are templates of these document prepared by the department which comes along with the form.

The letter is a simple letter where you will have to fill in your name and details, stating that you are applying this certificate for marriage oversea. As for the Statutory Declaration, after filling up the template, you will have to go to a Commissioner of Oath, which they have one in the building. Just go to the office and get the commissioner to sign this paper and you will be good to go. This cost me RM4, and it took less than 5 minutes to process.

Then with this letter stating your purpose of application, the Statutory Declaration and the form all filled up, all there is to be done is submit them and pay up RM5. The certificate will be ready within 10 minutes. As mentioned earlier that you will need some details of your future foreign spouse, like name and ID/passport number. They will state in the certificate that this certificate is applied to be used for the marriage with your spouse from which country, with the ID/passport number as given, so make sure you have the correct details.

I am indeed impressed with how fast this whole process can be, although there are some waiting and some running up and down, all in all, it's all pretty good.

The Procrastinator

I had been a procrastinator at work ever since I resigned. I am sure of that cause I had not been doing anything productive here. And after reading this article in http://www.waitbutwhy.com I confirmed myself to be a procrastinator.

pro-cras-ti-na-tion |prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən, prō-|

the action of delaying or postponing something: your first tip is to avoid procrastination.

I find this writer very interesting as he is able to describe out things that we know we are so well that after reading you will understand the state that you are in.

http://www.waitbutwhy.com/2013/10/why-procrastinators-procrastinate.html

I like the part where he describe that our Rational Decision-Maker owns a Instant Gratification Monkey who tends to take control of our minds, bringing us around wonderland before we actually start doing any work. Last time it used to be the fridge exercise, where we tend to open the fridge to check it out over and over again for what so ever reason. But nowadays we have Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to replace it. 

I can imagine the Dark Playground that the writer mentioned, I have the exact same playground in my mind, and it's actually not fun, as what he shared. We always thought that by doing so, we are actually enjoying ourselves, but once it's over, we are not much more happier than we expect we will be. Instead, sometimes we get disappointed as we failed to complete some tasks that we expected ourselves to complete within a time frame. More of the times, we will feel guilty for 'playing' around the Dark Playground, as said to be unearned leisure.

And when I read about the Panic Monster and how the Instant Gratification Monkey is afraid of it, oooo... I can so relate to that. Reading that part reminds me on all the memories I had on rushing assignments on the last hour, studying for examination on the night before, rushing through the past year paper early in the morning before the examination. Gosh.. Brings back memories. 

There is another article by the writer on how to beat procrastination. 

pro-cras-ti-na-tion |prəˌkrastəˈnāSHən, prō-|

noun

the action of ruining your own life for no apparent reason

http://www.waitbutwhy.com/2013/11/how-to-beat-procrastination.html

The procrastinator is in the bad habit, bordering on addiction, of letting the monkey win. He continues to have the intention to control the monkey, but he puts forth a hapless effort, using the same proven-not-to-work methods he's used for years, and deep down, he knows the monkey will win. He vows to change, but the patterns just stay the same. So why would an otherwise capable person put forth such a lame and futile effort again and again? 

The answer is that he has incredibly low confidence when it comes to this part of his life, allowing himself to become enslaved by a self-defeating, self-fulfilling prophecy.

A part which I liked on how the writer describes why a procrastinator's mind works the way it does.

How to beat procrastination:

1. Effective planning

This involves serious planning, and breaking you ideas into details, and start will steps. The writer pictured it in a way that procrastinators are visionaries who fantasize in building a house. However, for one to start building a house they will need to start will piling up the bricks one by one, day by day, without giving up, till the whole house is completed. This means that the objective of the plan may sound far more exciting compared to the actual procedure to start executing the steps to move towards achieving it. And the core of this plan is the bricks used to build the house. Hence, to start executing a plan, one should always start from the bricks, scheduling the tasks, draw down till the details of the each steps.

2. Doing

For me, I like planning, I can plan things out to the fine details, but when the start "doing" part hits, yes, my monkey will start to come out to play. The most important part here is "Get Started". This part is one of the hardest part as when we are about to start something hard, there are so many distractions around us, so many "fun" things to do. After getting started, we will come to the part where we have to continue on with the project to work till it is completed. This part is where distractions starts to look so tempting, especially when you encounter a problem and you need to Google the solution out, and hey, Facebook is just a click away. This is the part which I always end up getting stuck in. And the writer shares that, we have to be strong, and 

making progress in the task will help us stay focus on the task that we are involved in as it raises our self-esteem. At the point that you are about to complete your task, you will feel a positive drive in you which motivates you in completing your task. There are times when you reach a point, feeling that your task is actually more fun and interesting compared to the leisure activities that you were involved in. However, once you reach this stage, it is not permanent, you will fall back to procrastinating if one do not have persistence.

I need to show myself that I can do it.

I like what the writer had shared, it's personal and easy to be related to myself. Like what he said, 

Because defeating procrastination is the same thing as gaining control over your own life. So much of what makes people happy or unhappy—their level of fulfillment and satisfaction, their self-esteem, the regrets they carry with them, the amount of free time they have to dedicate to their relationships—is severely affected by procrastination. So it's worthy of being taken dead seriously, and the time to start improving is now.

Have to start now..!