If all you need is the two stamps (showing that you have left the country and that you have returned), it would, indeed, be as you say.
For some reason i was under the impression that there was more to a visa run, such as seeing an officer in one of Taiwan’s representative offices and doing some paperwork there. (But i may have misunderstood this matter.)[/quote]
I still cant believe you mean taiwan dollars 500 (not 5000?) round trip? That cant be right?
for people who hold mulitiple entry visa like i used to , all we had to do was leave the country and come back in. No stamps (other then the one showing having left taiwan) is needed. SO yeah that would be a fast visa run. But Id rather stay a few days though and not HAVE to fly right back.
And for people entering under the visa free scheme, same thing, just fly out and back and it resets your clock. Americans get 30 days (sure hope this goes to 90 days soon) and Euros get 90 days. Japanese too get 90 days. The list of 90 day getters is long.
It is. (First hand experience report: On Sunday afternoon, 3 of us who had come to Ishigaki on Thursday went to the airport, and while we had a drink there with a few local friends, 2 additional adults and 5 children came on the flight from Hualien to join us for a meal, and 40 minutes later we 5 adults and 5 children got back on the flight to Hualian. )
The fares right now are as follows:
[ul][li]NT$500 if you return the same day (this only applies to Hualien not Songshan)[/li]
[li]NT$8500 if you return on the flight 3 days later (Songshan or Hualien)[/li]
[li]NT$9800 if you return on the flight 3 days later, with 3 nights at a business hotel included (Songshan or Hualien)[/li][/ul]
Last chance until the end of June): go on May 5 and return same day or May 8; go an May 8 and return same day
Those stamps in the passport are the ones i was referring to - yes in that case you could do a visa run for NT$500.
Well, if bookings pick up again and TransAsia decides to schedule flights again from July onward, there should be plenty of opportunities to go to Ishigaki for less than NT$10,000. (Hotel rates, on the other hand, are usually higher in the summer, so you might be looking at NT$ 1300 a night rather than the current NT$400 a night.)
If all you need is the two stamps (showing that you have left the country and that you have returned), it would, indeed, be as you say.
For some reason I was under the impression that there was more to a visa run, such as seeing an officer in one of Taiwan’s representative offices and doing some paperwork there. (But i may have misunderstood this matter.)[/quote]
So some people need new visas, some don’t. Thus, there are different types of visa runs.
Well, what happened is that they had planned two flights a week from last week onward and had to cancel most of them since they haven’t seen enough bookings. In fact, not only TransAsia Air but also Star Cruise Lines, the company that operates the weekly cruise ship trips from Keelung to Ishigaki and Okinawa, has seen substantial cancellations on already booked trips after March 12 and reduced bookings for new trips since then. As a consequence, TransAsia has cancelled all flights for May and June, except the two last week and the two this week, and their promotional offer seems a creative way to fill the many empty seat in a meaningful way.
I wonder whether it will ever be possible to ascertain the reason(s) for the cancellations and the steep drop off in bookings. My own hypothesis is that people reason (illogically) along these lines:
Premiss 1: “Fukushima (the place where that nuclear power plant has been spitting out bad stuff since March) is in Japan”
Premiss 2: “Ishigaki is in Japan”
Conclusion: “It is dangerous to go to Ishigaki”
TransAisa has said that they will consider flights from July onward (and we can count on it that those flights will only happen if the bookings warrant that) - and i don’t know whether they will continue to offer those extra cheap seats at that time (i imagine they might, since it is some creative advertising that does not cost them anything).
Anyway, those special tickets are only available to people who come directly to the airport and, obviously, only if there are unbooked seats left, so for anybody who needs to do a visa run from Taipei (probably the vast majority of people who need to make such a trip), the realistic approach would be to make a regular booking: at less than NT$10,000 from Songshan (or from Hualien) that seems still a good deal.
Well since visa runs mean a certain day to get off the wan, having an airline that cancels the flight wouldnt be one to count on when the moment comes. But if one happened to be at the airport in hualian and it was close to visa run time, one certainly could “fly by nite” on a lark with the 500 dollars for sure.
I bet if they advertised “visa run specials” at 3000nt it may fill up a charter a day and could be a whole new “industry” for ishigaki?
I could see that work this way:
[ol][li]The airline would offer standby return tickets from Songshan to Ishigaki for NT$500 higher than the regular Taipei-Hualien fare and from Hualian to Ishigaki for NT$500[/li]
[li]People who need to make a visa run (of the turnaround kind) could call the airline on any flight day, say two weeks before their visa deadline, to see whether the flight on that day is fully booked or not - if not they could take their chance by showing up at Songshan airport 30 minutes before departure and possibly get one of those tickets. If it turns out that several flights in a row are booked full or there are too many people lining up for the standby tickets, people with their deadline getting close would likely bite the bullet and buy a regular ticket for the next flight (3 or 4 days later) rather than taking the chance of not getting out of the country in time.[/li][/ol]
I doubt that anybody in the industry has an idea of how many people per week or per month are doing visa runs and how many of them would be served by a same-day return flight, but in order to set up a charter flight just for people who need a visa run, bookings would probably have to be made several weeks in advance - and if those tickets were, say, NT$4000, which is just a bit under half of the price of a regular ticket, then the plane would have to be about 90% full (close to 60 passengers) to make the whole thing worthwhile for the airline. Perhaps such a service, say once a month, is not too far-fetched an idea…
PS: I also wonder what the percentage is of people making visa runs of this sort who are being rejected when attempting to get back into Taiwan, and what happens to them then?
If I was running TransAsia I would consider a once a week visa run special at a price that is attractive enough to get passengers and obviously workable enough to make it work.
Dont know if this figure is 3000nt or 4000nt but if it got more then that people will opt for HongKong as theres lots to do in the kong.
And i would put packages available as well including hotels and stuff. There are day tripper types who would be fine with flying over there and back straight away but there are others who would like packages.
I did quite a few visa runs to the kong with CathayPacific on their 2 nite 3 day tour specials which included a flight there and back to the wan plus 2 nites hotel. Price determined by which hotel you picked and they had dozens to choose from.
They were good deals. Included pickup and drop off in the kong as well.
I think most people on visa runs are allowed back. They either have valid visa good until a certain date for sixty day stays on the wan or they are allowed any number of visa free entries.
If they were wanted by the law they would be nabbed at the airport on departure. And if they were not, i doubt those peeps would want to get back in?
[quote=“tommy525”]If I was running TransAsia I would consider a once a week visa run special at a price that is attractive enough to get passengers and obviously workable enough to make it work.
Dont know if this figure is 3000nt or 4000nt but if it got more then that people will opt for HongKong as theres lots to do in the kong.[/quote]
Well, some realistic market research has to be done to show that the numbers of "wanna-fly"s is large enough to warrant such a program…
Oh, they have those package deals already: they come with the tickets that cost around NT$10,000 for a 3 or 4-day stay (the transportation ticket alone - attractive to me, since i have a place to stay - is only NT$8600).
I have to admit that i don’t really have a clear understanding of the reasons why people make visa runs - am i mistaken in the assumption that most people who do visa runs are engaged in, uh, activities in Taiwan that are, uh, not officially sanctioned? If that is the case, the idea of a whole planeload of visa-run customers lined up at Hualien airport’s immigration counter makes me wonder whether such an approach (causing a concentration of such people) might not be counterproductive… Any clarifying thoughts on this matter?
Did you not read the link I already provided in answer to your question?[/quote]
You mean this information, don’t you? (I have seen it, thanks for the link!)
[quote][…] people do visa runs for different reasons:
[…]
(1) those who […] arrive in Taiwan using visa-free entry and want to continue to rely on visa-free entry – they have to leave Taiwan but don’t have to pick up a new visa while abroad.
(2) those who arrive in Taiwan on a non-extendable visa (because that’s what the Taiwan visa-issuing office gave them, for whatever reason) – they have to leave Taiwan and get a new visa abroad if they want to stay longer than 90 60 days (or perhaps six months – see below).
(3) those who arrive in Taiwan on a single-entry visa – they have to leave Taiwan and get a new visa abroad.
(4) those who arrive in Taiwan on a multiple-entry visitor’s visa – they do not have to leave for a new visa. The reason for this is that they already have a valid visa (usually for a year, but sometimes for longer) and so don’t need a new one (unless they change their visa from a visitor’s to a resident visa, and this can be done without having to leave Taiwan). Rather, they’re just using again the visa they already have. But it’s supposed to be just for visiting Taiwan, not living here.[/quote]
That only explains the reasons on the surface, meaning, from reading this one cannot get any information as to the reasons people have for doing any of those things. But there are many things one can imagine or suspect - and i wonder, if i can imagine or suspect something, would the authorities not do the same? That’s what is behind the question at the end of my previous post…
Taiwan allows you to stay indefinitely as long as you leave as required, you can come back. They dont ask too many questions how you can live in taiwan. Some people have the means to do this for lengthy periods of time.
For me before it was because you could work on a tourist visa (not officially but nobody minded back then) long as you paid your taxes and left the island on time you were good to go (and come back).
IF you had independent means you could get a tourist visa (if American) and stay up to sixty days per time for five years (if you got the five year multiple visa many do). Or do 30 days at a stretch on visa free. Europeans and Canadians , and Uk-ians and a few others now have 90 days visa free. Very convenient.
Another reason taiwan overlooked the working on a tourist visa part was that there were many liaison offices of major companies operating in taiwan and often overseas managers would even be stationed in taiwan and spend quite some time on the wan as well as travel around. My manager was just the such. Lived in tienmou and worked half the month on the wan and half the month outside the wan. He never paid any taxes.
There are also many businessmen making biz trips lasting a few days to a week . For these people Visa Free entry is great. They used to have to get tourist visas but now can just go into taiwan and do their biz trip and get back out with ease.
Taiwan overlooks people making biz trips , although technically they are “working” while they are on the rock. And taiwan didnt want to make liaison offices unworkable because a lot of these liaison offices enable a lot of business for many taiwan firms. Many of them are suppliers of raw material or components or are Buying Offices enabling a lot of export (dollar earning) from Taiwan.
I have to admit that i still don’t understand the matter (especially since there are also older threads on this BBS -
like one even from 2006 - that explain why visa runs are no longer necessary), but since i don’t want to clog up
this thread with that tangent i’ve taken this topic to a different thread:
I’ve just received information that 2 direct flights from Hualien to Ishigaki have been scheduled for July
Thu 07-07
GE6812 dep Hualien 16:25 arr Ishigaki 18:40 (J time)
GE6811 dep Ishigaki 19:30 (J time) arr Hualien 19:50
Sun 07-10
GE6812 dep Hualien 16:25 arr Ishigaki 18:40 (J time)
GE6811 dep Ishigaki 19:30 (J time) arr Hualien 19:50
There are also connecting flights from/to Taipei on those days.
Possibly of interest to people who need to do a visa run: recently it has been possible to fly and return on the same day for a reduced fare (this works like a standby ticket, i.e., there is no advance sale and tickets can only be had at the airport shortly before the flight) - you will get your passport stamped leaving Taiwan and entering Japan and then again leaving Japan and entering Taiwan.
For tickets please contact one of the following agencies:
According to what has happened to someone, it might be possible that depending on when you call and who you talk to an agent may tell you that you cannot buy a transportation ticket (i.e., a ticket for transportation only, not one that includes accommodation, etc.) but will have to buy a tour ticket (package) - but closer to the departure date it should be possible to get a transportation ticket provided there are seats left (in the past i have bought such tickets from 3 weeks in advance to 3 days in advance).
I don’ t know what the fare for air transportation tickets will be, but in April it was NT$8500 for a regular return flight and NT$500 (five hundred) for a same-day return flight.
[quote=“yuli”]I’ve just received information that 2 direct flights from Hualien to Ishigaki have been scheduled for July
Thu 07-07
GE6812 dep Hualien 16:25 arr Ishigaki 18:40 (J time)
GE6811 dep Ishigaki 19:30 (J time) arr Hualien 19:50
Sun 07-10
GE6812 dep Hualien 16:25 arr Ishigaki 18:40 (J time)
GE6811 dep Ishigaki 19:30 (J time) arr Hualien 19:50[/quote]
And yet another update…
Likewise 2 flights for June:
Thu 06-23
Sun 06/26
as well as 2 additional flights for July:
Thu 07-14
Sun 07-17
(all flights with the same times)
The connecting flights are:
GE011 dep Songshan 1500 arr Hualien 1535
GE016 dep Hualien 2030 arr Songshan 2110
although the airline reserves the right to change those
The June flights make it possible to attend the music festival that is scheduled for June 25 in Ishigaki - more about that in the next post.
)
. Hopefully they’ll set up more flights in Jul/Aug.
