APRC 2 year leave - should I stay or should I go now

Legal Visa & Residency
1

Has anyone successfully applied for the two year leave (and retained their APRC)?
If I stayed in Taiwan for 163 days of 2015, then went somewhere else for the rest of the year, could I apply for the two year leave remotely?
Can you have several two year leaves back to back?
Any word on the rumored legislation for a five year leave or an APRC for life situation?

I’m getting a bit restless and trying to figure out what my options are. I love Taiwan and don’t want to give up my permanent residency, but I’m feeling the need for new scenery and broadened horizons!

2

[quote=“NonTocareLeTete”]Has anyone successfully applied for the two year leave (and retained their APRC)?
If I stayed in Taiwan for 163 days of 2015, then went somewhere else for the rest of the year, could I apply for the two year leave remotely?
Can you have several two year leaves back to back?
Any word on the rumored legislation for a five year leave or an APRC for life situation?

I’m getting a bit restless and trying to figure out what my options are. I love Taiwan and don’t want to give up my permanent residency, but I’m feeling the need for new scenery and broadened horizons![/quote]
There is an application form online, but after applying I don’t know what they do.

3

Yes, I applied and received a notice a few weeks later that it was accepted. According to the MOI there is no reason not to be accepted. The application is just a formality. I have until the end of 2015.

I don’t know about back to back applications. I will try again next year if they haven’t changed legislation.

I do know that I have not stayed in the country 183 days this year and was still able to use my APRC at the airport to go through immigration last month.

[quote]您好
您提出的線上申辦【外僑永久居留證出國報備線上申請(Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders)】已結案
案號回函註記：
准予保留永久居留資格： 自 2014_ 年 1_ 月 1_ 日 至 2015_ 年 12___ 月 31_____ 日止 Your APRC is hereby approved to remain valid： from：2014___ Y 1_ M 1 D to ：2015__ Y 12___ M 31___ D
此信為系統自動發送，請勿回覆此信件[/quote]

4

Thanks Mucha Man, for sharing your personal experience with it and thanks Belgiam for letting me know the application is available online.

I’m considering making a break for it this spring, and I hope I can apply for the 2 year leave from abroad, depending on how things go for me :wink:

5

Oh and I applied out of the country so that shouldn’t be a problem. However if they see you left in January and you apply in June as I did they will start from the beginning of the year and not from when you apply. Or perhaps they always start at the beginning in the year.

Here is the link. Bookmark:

immigration.gov.tw/ct_cert. … 31456&mp=1

6

[quote=“Mucha Man”]Oh and I applied out of the country so that shouldn’t be a problem. However if they see you left in January and you apply in June as I did they will start from the beginning of the year and not from when you apply. Or perhaps they always start at the beginning in the year.

Here is the link. Bookmark:

immigration.gov.tw/ct_cert. … 31456&mp=1[/quote]
Thank you so much for letting me know you applied from outside the country- it really informs my plans. I’m always afraid to do these sorts of things from overseas. I’ve had too many experiences where I’m reassured over the phone that everything’s fine when it actually isn’t.

Knowing that someone else successfully did it through the website gives me a little more faith in the system and freedom to leave when I want.

Woooooo the future is wide open!!! I’m so grateful to have two countries that I can live in freely. I’m working on 100% location independence (most of my work is over the web these days) and having the option to live in a much cheaper place is great. Thanks Taiwan!

7

I just applied online yesterday. Will post an update when I hear something from them.

8

Seems like the two years is a bit of a grey area. Are there any specifics?

I’m planning on spending about 1-2 month in Taiwan per year for the next 2 years. Will this put my APRC at risk? Would be handy to know how flexible the authorities will be.

9

Does anyone have any more information about back to back leave for 2 years? I have already received Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders which expires end of Dec 2015. Do I have to return to Taiwan to extend for another 2 years? Is there a minimum amount of time I need to be in Taiwan before requesting another 2 year Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders? Is a back to back leave possible? or has legislation extended this to 5 years? permanant?

Thanks for any further information on this.

10

[quote=“Snowdragon”]Does anyone have any more information about back to back leave for 2 years? I have already received Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders which expires end of Dec 2015. Do I have to return to Taiwan to extend for another 2 years? Is there a minimum amount of time I need to be in Taiwan before requesting another 2 year Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders? Is a back to back leave possible? or has legislation extended this to 5 years? permanant?

Thanks for any further information on this.[/quote]
You may be the first on here to be able to offer us some experience, so please, whatever happens with you, keep us updated!

11

1-2 months a year? No problem. You only need to apply for leave if you will be out of Taiwan 183 days or more in a calendar year.

12

I think he’s saying he will only be in Taiwan for 1-2 months, abroad for 10-11 months, which would be a problem.

13

ok NonTo, I will be happy to do so…
I have read through the thread and have had similar experience to Mucha man. I applied for 2 year extension online and was granted 21 months ending at end of Dec 2015. The application extension was amazingly simple and easy. Now I have some things that bring me back to Taiwan earlier than expected, but I also have some things that I have to return to outside of Taiwan. IF anyone has further information about the below questions this will help me also.

Do I have to return to Taiwan to extend for another 2 years?
Is there a minimum amount of time I need to be in Taiwan before requesting another 2 year Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders?
Is a back to back leave possible?
Has legislation extended this to 5 years? permanantly?
If I return to Taiwan for one or two months, and then leave, is the Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders that expires end of Dec 2015 still valid? Or do I need to apply for another Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders? If so, is this an extension of the first Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders or a new Exemption Approval Filing of APRC Holders?

14

Hey Snowdragon,
Did you apply for back to back leaves? If so, how did it go?
I’m slated to go back to Taiwan in Jan, but alas, there’s this guy here in the states (isn’t there always some guy?) and I’m not entirely sure I want to go back. Wonder if they’d let me have another 2 years?

15

You can apply for another 2 year extension online, search around a bit it’s been discussed recently.

16

Thanks, I’ll look for that!

17

Found it! Now, where’s the online application? I had a link but the one I had doesn’t work anymore.

Again, thank you thank you thank you!

18

I believe this is it:
https://ncp.immigration.gov.tw/NIA_OnlineApply_inter/onlineExitCase/onlineExitCaseForm.action

19

Thank you! I filled it out.
And now, we wait.

20

Just wanted to let ya’ll know, I applied for a two year aprc leave before I left Taiwan (July 2015 I believe) and then applied for another, from America, in Sept of 2017 (see last post). I got an approval for the second one through email a couple of months ago - and don’t have to be back in Taiwan until 2020.

So it is possible to apply for two 2-year leaves, back to back, without having to go back to Taiwan. See you in 2020!!! I’ll update then to tell you if they still recognized my aprc as valid upon entering the country.

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