I recently did a one day visa run to Hong Kong and may do another in March. Great opportunity to see some sights, eat something different and pick-up some items that are too expensive or not available in Taiwan.
Ignore the airline warnings about an onward ticket. If you fit the profile it won’t be asked for at immigration. You can always purchase via an app on the spot anyway.
Its the airlines that are supposed to ensure you have an onward ticket before issuing a boarding pass. Immigration rarely asks.
I’ve bought a ticket more than once on the spot before the airline would give me my boarding pass both leaving Taiwan for another country that requires it and coming to Taiwan.
I shared in some other thread my recent experience of having another foreigner in the immigration line being specifically asked for proof of onward ticket, while I next in line wasn’t. EVA has asked for an onward ticket once but let me board when I signed a waiver.
Immigration doesn’t ask because they’ve already got the airlines dealing with it. Apparently the airline can get fined if they don’t check. It’s worth buying a refundable ticket just to avoid the potential hassle: if you buy one on the spot (which I had to do, once, when I forgot) you invariably end up with an higher-priced, non-refundable one.
Park&Shop has some good stuff, it belongs to the same group as Wellcome in Taiwan.
Or there might be strict conditions to qualify for a refund.
You can find tickets to Manila Philippines for cheap as NT$2500 so at least that could end up being a throwaway ticket if you cannot use it.
Well, usually what you do is buy a high-priced ticket which has no (or low) penalties for refund. Point being, it doesn’t matter how much the ticket costs because the only bit you actually pay is the refund charge (typically US$20).
Why does everyone insist on staying in/around the HK airport? If you don’t like the city hustle, you can stay in Stanley or on Lantau Island.
I’m planning to buy a return ticket to HK (from HK), dated 3 months ahead, so then I can use it for the pretty much inevitable next run. This way I am avoiding the “refund” dilemma (well, I think I am).
Being a Serbian citizen would be handy, you could do visa runs via the ferry to Xiamen and back, cheaper than flying.
Eva cancellation for basic ticket is NT$1000.
Say what?
Serbians can enter China visa-free.
Holders of ordinary Serbian passports have visa-free access to Mainland China. So you just hop on the ferry, then go back to Taiwan on your US, Canadian, Australian, British or whatever passport.
This is an outrage.
They recently signed an agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovnia too.
The real outrage is that San Marinoans (?) get 90 days visa-free.
But Serbia’s the only country on the list of visa free access where an ordinary person could reasonably attain citizenship in 5 years and not have to give up any former nationality.