What exactly is a JFRV?

A residence permit is issued to the foreign spouse in accordance with art. 23 sub-paragraph 1 of the Immigration Act [reference]. Article 31 of the Immigration Act states that the NIA shall revoke the residence permit of an alien if the alien’s reasons for residence disappear within the period of the residence. However, in case the ROC spouse has died or the alien has assumed legal guardianship over his ROC children, the residence shall not revoked [reference] Article 31 also lists several other reasons, such as domestic violence or mental illness. Therefore, the foreigner will continue to hold a residence permit under Art. 23 sub-paragraph 1 and therefore be exempt from the requirement of applying for a work permit. Hence the rights associated with an ARC based on marriage to a ROC national with household registration equally apply to the ARC issued to the foreign spouse of a deceased ROC national, as the original purpose of residence is assumed to continue indefinitely despite the death of the ROC spouse.

[quote=“BiggusDickus, post:50, topic:161494”]
We’ll need to describe the word reside in some way. Oh, and we’ll need some word that suggests permission to enter a country. I don’t know, maybe visa?
[/quote

Depending on circumstances, a foreigner may enter Taiwan visa-exempt, with a visitor visa, with a resident visa, with a landing visa or with a residence permit (which could be either ARC or APRC).

Just call it ARC. If you need to be specific, call it “ARC based on marriage to a local”. You may also call it “ARC according to art. 23 (1) of the Immigration Act” if you want to be extremely precise. People might at first ask you questions or even reiterate their wrong assumption that foreign spouses of Taiwanese do not hold ARCs but “JFRV”, but slowly the nomenclature used on this forum will change. And that is very important as people come here to look for help in immigration matters. If they wanted factually incorrect half-truths, they might as well go to Carnegies on a Wednesday night and ask.

If everyone here would consistently use JFRV to refer to an ARC based on marriage to a local, then I would not even care (despite this still not being a term in the Immigration Act). The problem is that a number of people here mean resident visa when they say JFRV, others mean ARC based on marriage to a local. Others say resident visa, but they actually mean ARC based on marriage to a local. That is all very inaccurate and very confusing.

ARC =/= visa =/= ARC.

I am once more attaching an ARC with the purpose of joining a local spouse to this post. This image is pulled from the NIA website. You will notice how it clearly says “ARC” on the card. What makes this different from an ARC issued for work is the stated purpose as well as the annotation that the holder does not need to apply for a work permit to legally engage in work.

[quote=“hsinhai78, post:54, topic:161494, full:true”]
If everyone here would consistently use JFRV to refer to an ARC based on marriage to a local[/quote]

Then the confusion would continue because the V stands for visa, and that means the JFR V itself is not an ARC, though a JFRV holder will under normal circumstances also obtain an ARC based on the family (usually marriage) relationship.

Exactly! :slight_smile:

How about we call it a JFRV-ARC?

(“JFARC” would probably make people wonder what Colombian guerrillas have to do with all this…)

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Shouldn’t be the “relationship (marriage) to a local person” mentioned explicitly? A family member of an enployment-based ARC holder also get a JFRV, then an ARC based on the family relationship. This might cause a confusion when people look for information for the first time.

What makes the ARC special is not the “family relationship” part but “to an ROC citizen” part.

Wouldn’t “___________ Dependent ARC” be the clearest description? So, I have a “Marriage Dependent ARC”.

If the term JFRV is wrong and the government doesn’t officially use it, where did the term come from? Did a couple of foreigners make it up? It seems a little odd that a non-term is used by, pretty much, everyone and has been for ages.

For an ARC on the basis of joining a family member who happens to be your spouse, I suppose “spousal ARC” makes the most sense. Hsinhai’s sample just calls it an “ARC” and “MULTIPLE RE-ENTRY PERMIT” in English (the latter not being included in the Chinese text), but if you just call it an ARC, that leaves out the important fact that it indicates permission to work (which is stated clearly in Chinese).

If the other family-based ARC’s also indicate permission to work, then I suppose it also makes sense to call all of them “family-based ARC’s”, and then we can say if you have a family-based ARC you have open work rights. However, looking at the ESA again it’s occurred to me that a foreigner joining “lineal relatives” is in the same category as a PR (Art. 51 not Art. 48), so if a PR needs an open work permit, someone with a family-but-not-spouse-based ARC also should. :ponder: Can anyone confirm this?


If the term JFRV is wrong and the government doesn’t officially use it, where did the term come from? Did a couple of foreigners make it up?

The current version of BOCA’s English list of resident visas does not mention “joining family” at all, but it does mention “RESIDENT VISAS FOR FOREIGN SPOUSES OF R.O.C.(TAIWAN) CITIZENS HAVING HOUSEHOLD REGISTRATION”, and when you click on that link you also see “Resident Visa on the ground of joining R.O.C. (Taiwan) spouse” in the fine print. If you click on “Information on Republic of China Resident Visas” you get “for the purpose of join family” (sic) among other things.

Thus the term joining family resident visa makes sense, for the visa itself, even if it isn’t (currently) officially used in those exact words in English.

Again, a working holiday visa is technically a visitor visa, but it doesn’t make sense to call it that because a normal visitor visa doesn’t indicate permission to work. The official term (in employment law) is entry visa held by a foreign worker granted on the basis of an international written agreement specifying the foreign work permit, the number of people and the period of residence (stay) although the primary purpose of such agreement is not to enter the Republic of China to work. Now that is a mouthful.

Off topic.

I’m not sure what is the normal visitor visa, but visitor visa is issued for the purpose of a short-term employment, and the visitor visa holder with a work permit can legally work here.

With a WHV you don’t need a work permit.

Yes, no objection to the post, just wanted to clarify.

To add some clarity, when someone changes a work based ARC to a marriage based ARC, the person never has a “JFRV” (visa).

A person who already resides here (having an ARC except for blue collar worker), does not get any visa when he/she changes a reason of residence. What should be done is just to modify the reason of the already having ARC and renew it.

How does a foreigner renew or apply for an ARC?(Serial No. 0902)
http://www.immigration.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1090287&ctNode=30085&mp=2

A passport with resident visa.( A foreign national applying for modifications in the reasons for residency pursuant to Paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Act, is exempt from being examined for an entry visa)

Paragraph 2 of Article 23 of the Immigration Act
Where an alien enters the State with a residence visa meets any of the circumstances mentioned in the preceding Paragraph due to the change of the reasons for residence, he/she shall apply to National Immigration Agency for modification of reasons for residence. An alien who falls under the exceptions provided under Subparagraph 1 of the preceding Paragraph shall not apply.

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Hi,

I have been reading your replies on different forums and I think you have good points about ARC and all. (signed up just so i can message you)

My situation: American citizen in Taiwan on Visa-Exempt. Wants to register for marriage with a Taiwanese Citizen. We will go to the Household registration office.

So after I register, can I obtain an ARC even though I’m still on Visa-Exempt? I read it here that I can.
Do I need to tell them that I will be dependent on my Taiwanese spouse to be able to get it?

If I live in Taichung, can I go to Tainan/Kaohsiong NHI office to get my ARC? maybe the people are more expert.

What if I’m in a process of finding jobs online (better for my lifestyle. Want to spend more time with my future wife), can I get an ARC even if I don’t work?

P.S. I really don’t want to go back to U.S. to do the criminal check and finger print, too much!

Thanks a lot! I know it’s a lot of questions.

Information in this post/thread may be helpful.

Iirc, if you are on visa exempt, you need to get a visitor visa for 60 d or more at HK,SP, or anywhere out of taiwan, to get an ARC based on marriage. To get an ARC based on a white collar job, you don’t need to go out of taiwan.

To get an ARC based on your marriage, you do not necessarily need to be a dependant of your spouse.

You mean NIA, right? Yes, you will get more certain answers there.

To get an ARC based on marriage, you don’t need to work.

I’m resurrecting this thread as I think it’s the most suitable one I could find in Forumosa.

My friend lives and works in Taiwan and she’s planning to stay here for longer. She’s about to get her APRC and she plans to bring her retired parents to live with her in Taiwan.

Questions:

  1. Is it possible for her parents to get residency for being her dependents?
  2. If so, is the JFRV the way to go?
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