Telephone

A special subject when you are in Taiwan. As a foreigner, it's not possible to obtain our own telephone number with a conventional subscription. I mean an unique telephone number that can be kept for the entire duration of your stay.

If you don’t have an ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) or APRC (Alien Permanent Resident Certificate) it will be really difficult to get a contract with a mobile phone company. Indeed, they will almost systematically ask from you a valid identification number (like an ID card number) in order to benefit from it. However, you won’t have a "valid ID number" with a WHV. The number provided on this type of visa is almost always problematic in relation to such procedures.

There are special cases, lucky people, less demanding companies, but most of the time you will have to change your number regularly (each month). These same companies will offer weekly or monthly packages, and you will have to subscribe again and again at each ends. If you know local people, have friends or a special person there, you can ask them – on a purely INFORMAL basis – to vouch for you and sign a conventional contract on THEIR behalf. So understand that you need to trust that person, and that person also has to put her trust in you. On my side I was able to count on my friend (special person mentioned), who agreed to vouch for me

To give an idea of prices :

• Monthly subscription, unlimited internet = 1000NTD (33€)

• Subscription with conventional contract, for a period of 1 year, unlimited internet = 500 NTD (15€)/month

As you can see in the example, I chose the unlimited internet option. There are cheaper rates. However, the reason for my choice is simple, do you know Facebook Messenger ? So imagine a country that has its own instant messaging system, based on the same model, and uses it automatically for all kinds of exchanges (personal, professional, payments, etc.). You’re going to need internet much more than phone credit!