Because of work commitments my joining family resident visa needs to be renewed 3 months before it expires. Does anyone know if this is a problem?
Many thanks
Richard Hartzell said somewhere else here —
“Normally they do not accept renewal applications more than 1 month in advance” (but I suppose there might be exceptions on occasion…)
Or something like that
So, if the Police Station goes by the rulebook you are a prisoner in Taiwan on the anniversary of your ARC.
The options are (as I understand it):
Be prepared to start all over by applying for a joining family resident visa (your previous one was cancelled when the ARC was issued). This process requires, among other things, the police clearance from your “home country” and may take more than 60 days – so be prepared for a “visa run”.
There also seems to be an issue that you may have to prove your marriage is recognised in your country of citizenship, even if you got married in Taiwan, or
Have someone apply on your behalf, while you are away. They will need your passport, your ARC and a recent(less than 3 months old) print out of your family book from the court. Personally, I get pretty nervous every time my passport is out of my control, and if you are travelling and need your passport this could be difficult.
THKS ALOT
I recently renewed my ARC card three and a half months early!
My ARC would have expired on October 17th last year (three months ago), but I had to go to Australia from July 15th until November 1st. So during the first week of July, I went to the Foreign Affairs Police Station and told them my situation, and then they asked me how many years I wanted to renew my ARC for. I told them three years (the maximum), and they said that it would be NO PROBLEM at all to renew my ARC three and a half months early as long as I had NT$3000 in cash to pay them, and as long as I filled out the renewal form and give them the certified copy of my household registration (hu4 kou3 teng2 ben3).
So then I filled out the form and gave them the NT$3000, my passport, my ARC card, and the certified copy of my household registration. Then they immediately gave me a new white sticker in my passport which says “Re-Entry Permit” and then they stamped the sticker “Multiple” and then it says “Valid until October 17, 2004”! Then they also stamped the back of my ARC card “2004.10.17” where it says “Date of Expiry”. Then they handed me back my passport and ARC card and said “Have a good time in Australia!”
The whole process only took five minutes! And they never asked any questions! I had expected that they would just say “mei2 ban4 fa3”, but instead they said “mei2 you3 wen4 ti2”!
Mark
three and a half months early