Just a follow up to my earlier post, make sure your visa does not say non extendable. We nearly had to fly out this week. I had a little concern about our Visas and the response we got, so we went to the NIA yesterday morning to confirm what we had been told, we went to another branch in Hsinchu, and this time a very professional and helpful officer, after checking everything, came back and said, nope these do not qualify. Wow, imagine our panic, anyway, she contacted Foreign Affairs in Taipei, and they said we should go see them straight away. To cut a long story short, after a lot of explanations and pleading, we were allowed to submit an application via the e-visa system and the visas will be granted. We dont know how long they will be for yet. My Reps office is now registered and my work permit application went in last week, so we should be fine. Thanks to all for positive thoughts. 
Hello Pierre,
I saw that you received an extension from NIA. Can you share what information you had to provide to be granted the visa extension?
My husband, son and I also entered Taiwan in November 2020. My son and I were supposed to have left two weeks ago. However, a flight suspension was implemented by Saudi Arabia (where we currently live), hence our flight was canceled. My husband went back to Saudi last month.
I went to BOCA two weeks ago to apply for a visa extension since it our rescheduled flight would’ve been past our initial 90-day visa. Due to Chinese New Year holiday, our visa wasn’t ready until last week.
When I picked up our visa, we were only granted 15 days. Our flight is currently scheduled for March 3rd, but they only extended it until March 5th. Since flight suspension has not been lifted, we would most likely still not be able to fly next week.
Can you share how you were able to apply a visa extension through NIA rather than BOCA?
Much Appreciated,
Cindy
Why? i thought all foreigners were getting extended every month?
Only if you’ve been here over 180 days.
Hi Cindy,
When we collected the passports, they had only extended them to 105 days from Date of arrival, which in effect was about 15 days (up to 3rd March). We then booked the return flight for the 25th February, then this flight was cancelled by the airline, The airline issued a notice that no flights until 10 March, (my wife is booked on this flight) so yesterday we were back at BOCA and had to resubmit the e-visa application, for this you need proof that the airline has cancelled their flights and you have no way of leaving the country before your visa expires. You also need 2 passport sized photographs and cash to pay for the new application. I did write to the NIA but they are unable to assist with non extendable visas. From what I understood, the extension for some reason cannot be more than 15 days on the non extendable visa, something to do with the law here. We asked that if the airline cancelled flights again, what we should do, answer was reapply with proof of the cancelation. It’s been a very tiresome and difficult process but you just have to be patient with everyone. They are trying very hard to assist.
That’s what we were first told, BUT that is only for people that arrived before 20th March 2020 with valid long term visas, non extendable ones are not included in this extension
No. It’s only if you entered Taiwan on or before March 2020. Even though I explained to BOCA that our flight will most likely not be able to fly on March 3rd, they still only extend it until March 5th which gives us no flexibility to make any changes.
Agreed, they don’t give enough time in case the flights are cancelled or delayed. You are expected to keep applying for an extension until you can fly out.
Thank you! Really appreciate your quick response.