American getting married to Taiwanese, JFRV process?

Legal Legal - Marriage
1

I’m an American planning to get married soon to my girlfriend who is Taiwanese. We plan to stay in Taiwan so I’ve been researching what is necessary to obtain an ARC through marriage. I am currently in Taiwan on a visa exempt status and we plan to get married in Taiwan.

A lot of information I’m finding seems to be from many years ago and I can’t tell if stuff is outdated or not, so I’m just hoping to check if the information I have is correct. I would love to hear from anyone else who has done this recently.

For the marriage:

  1. Get a sworn statement of single status (an Affidavit notarized by AIT)
    edit: 1b. get statement authenticated by taiwan mofa
  2. Go to a Household Registration Bureau Office with passport and a written marriage agreement signed by two adult witnesses. (Can’t find any information about needing to go to a court to get married? Seems like registering at the Household registration office constitutes the legal marriage?)

For the JFRV:

  1. Get a clean criminal record document. Americans need to get a criminal check from the FBI. (The website says the average wait time is 14-16 weeks, not including mail delivery time.) I think recently the FBI check has added an electronic submission option. Wondering if anyone has done that recently and if it is an acceptable option? (If it’s the electronic option can I just print out the results? or do I need to have them mail me the hard copies?) Also are you supposed to just print out the required fingerprint form and fingerprint it by yourself?

1b. I’m not too sure about this step but the FBI check then needs to be authenticated by TECRO? If I understand this correctly I need to mail the stuff I get from the FBI check back to the states to the TECRO office for this authentication?

  1. Get a health check from a local hospital.

  2. Get together the other required documents on this page: https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-166-280-9f808-2.html

  3. I am currently in Taiwan on a visa exempt status, and I don’t have an ARC so I have to go to HK or Macau and apply for a JFRV at a TECO office. And then after I get back to Taiwan with my JFRV I can then use that to apply for a marriage ARC.

Is this all correct? I’m feeling quite stressed by all of this, would love to hear from anyone who has experience with this process. Thanks!

2

the sworn statement of single status notarized by AIT needs to be authenticated by Taiwanese mofa.

https://www.ait.org.tw/u-s-citizen-services/local-resources-of-u-s-citizens/marriage/

3

Thanks! I missed that part.

4

Do not marry while on visa exempt status! Visa exempt can not be changed to another visa.

Get a visitor visa for the purpose of marriage first (in HK or US).
After you marry you can do everything without leaving Taiwan.

After we married AIT said my visa could not be changed from visa exempt to JFRV.
The requirements to get JFRV while out of the country were ridiculous. The marriage had to be registered in both home countries of me and my wife. Had to go to Germany and register our marriage. Only then I was able to get JFRV providing both German and Taiwanese marriage certificates.

5

Thanks for the advice, sorry you had to deal with that the hard way.

Just to clarify does it matter if I get married while visa exempt or is it mainly for the JFRV process? For example would it work if I got married first while on a visa exempt, then went to HK to get a visitor visa, and came back to Taiwan to then apply for JFRV?

I think most likely I will do what you said though and just go get a visitor visa before the marriage.

6

To clarify. The problem is that it was for me impossible to get JFRV in HK because I could only register and get German marriage certificate in my home country in person, which was a required document.

If you marry while on a visitor visa for marriage purpose in Taiwan, then you just change your visa to JFRV at AIT. Visa exempt can not be changed (No JFRV no ARC) and you have to leave Taiwan before expiry (90 days).

7

You may check the marriage registration and getting resident visa parts on this flowchart for naturalization.

8

Thanks, that flowchart is quite helpful!