[quote=“tairus”]According to Taiwanese Laws if i married on Taiwanese i have to live in Taiwan 5 years before apply for APRC. From what time these 5 years will be started to count?
From begining of my working visa?
From date of our marriage?
From starting of JFRV visa?
by other words, will working time before JFRV included in these 5 years?[/quote]
There is not a good answer for this. The usual interpretation is 5 years from the start of your JFRV. However, for those who have been on a different ARC prior to marriage you can use the normal 7 years qualification period but only need follow the marriage qualifications otherwise. There have been those who have argued that having an ARC prior to marriage should count towards to five years or that the time between marriage and converting to a JFRV should count, but this is a grey area. What is clear is that time on visitor visas does not count towards legal residence for APRC qualifcation.
It would be in your best interest to convert to JFRV sooner than later if you intend to apply for an APRC to avoid arguing over the interpretation of when the five years starts. I still think you should be able to get your documents together and apply for a JFRV without waiting a year to go back home. You should be able to get your criminal record documents without going home, and if your country won’t register your marriage then you shouldn’t need the registration certificate. Your local representative office should be able to tell you how to satisfy those two requirements. I still don’t think they can force you to apply for the resident visa overseas.
from one point of view i want to get JFRV as soon as possible because i will able to apply for APRC without thinking will i able to apply it one year or another. That’s why i fighted these days with boca. But from other point of view i think it’s better to wait when all things will be as all parties want. i already feel myself not well. to much nerves i spent already. yesterday i started to feel strange pain in my leg which looks like nerve based. I can not work normally because of depression. I think this fight doesn’t cost my health. Who need JFRV just before several days to die (and i think it will be my case)? Fight with organization which can made/change rules at any time will be lost. Taiwanese law wrote that procedure/documents to apply for visa should be decided by BOCA.
I’m working here 1 year 10 months by working visa. If they will count from date of JFRV then i will able to get APRC after 6 years from now by both reasons: family(5) and general (7).
If they count from marriage then after 5 years i will try, or wait one more year if will fail.
My wife called boca - they said that time is counted from marriage, which is actually should be right. Who knows what they will decide after 5 years.
So, in my case APRC should be available after 5 or 6 years… no big deal to break my health…
a little flame:
I found strange way of working of Taiwanese people. They don’t want to do anything RIGHT without additional push. If you order conditioner setup - they will spoil walls and will mount pipes very ugly, brake window’s glass. If you order furniture then they will deliver by such way that it will be spoiled at the end. If you ask to attach screen protection for PDA - they will do this as augly as possible. and many other similar behaviour in my life here and at my work. It looks like phrase “how many killograms of our service you need”. The same things hapenning in BOCA. Formally they do their job, but the way is very ugly. And if in other places i can refuse to pay money or ask money back and they will fix it, then in case of boca i have no such “threads” to affect…
Updating this, since reading this thread got me all nervous, and things may have changed in the past decade.
IT CAN BE REALLY EASY!
I currently have a work-based ARC, and Taiwanese husband and I got married in Taipei in October. Got myself added to his household registration, with my Chinese name now on the back of his ID.
He and I went to the Nat’l Immigration Agency, with both of our ID’s (his ID, my ARC & passport), plus $1000NT. Filled out the form, ticking “Change of Purpose” at the top.
Done. Just like that. It’ll be ready for pickup in 2 weeks. They even let me keep my current ARC, because we’ll be leaving the country and I’ll need it when I return.
I have no idea why it was so simple… perhaps because my ARC doesn’t expire until April 2017? So I didn’t need to reapply for the ARC itself (yet)?
No cancelling work permits, doing crazy visa runs, getting RCMP background checks, etc. Phew!
The date printed on your ARC is there for cosmetic reasons. When your reason for having the visa -whether work or marriage- is over, the ARC becomes invalid.
But you said it was just a Change of Purpose form? I wonder if the time you have been here still counts. Same number and all? Maybe like switching bosses/enterprises?
You see, depending on the time you have been here, it would have been better to hold on to the work ARC and then switch to marriage one, as if you already have been here 5 years, you can apply to a Permanent ARC, which is better than the JFRV because you will not depend on being married to have the open work permit or live here, for example.
