[quote=“Jefferson”]An important point about the APRC needs to be emphasized.
It’s not just living in Taiwan for 5 (married) or 7 (otherwise) consecutive years. You must have held an ARC during that period of time. Furthermore, if your ARC has lapsed for even ONE DAY at any time during that 5 or 7 year period, for whatever reason (maybe you changed jobs, for example, and the paperwork didn’t get through in time), then you are INELIGIBLE for an APRC.
They used to have a 10 year rule that allowed you to apply for an APRC if you lived here (no ARC requirement) for 10 years (cumulatively) over the previous 20 years, but that rule is gone. For now, the 5 or 7 year tracks are pretty much it for 99.9% of applicants, along with all the other requirements needed to qualify.
Caveat: By the time anyone reads this, the rules may have changed again, so for the most up to date info, head to the main police station near Xi Men Ding.[/quote]
This indeed how several police stations interpret the law. However, this can be and has been sucessfully appealed. Unfortunately, it appears that it has to be appealed on an individual basis.
The interpretation of the two years to apply is ambiguous and has never been tested AFAIK.
The APRC situation is a mess. It’s on the books, but it’s been harder and harder to get one. Currently, it’s pretty damn near well impossible due to the utterly ridiculouos interpretation of the consecutive residence rule. But if it wasn’t that, it would be something else. They just don’t want to give APRCs out and they use every excuse possible to avoid doing so.