I’ve heard that only UK passport holders can do this? Which seems a bit unfair but as a Brit I wont turn it down.
I basically have around 20 days left on this visa(exempt), have a job contract lined up (Not a teaching job, which is the reason I don’t have to leave taiwan or something), what are my next steps doing this in Taiwan?
Do i change to visitor visa myself, and then my company applies for my work permit? Or do I get the work permit before I get the visitor visa?.. which they turn into the work visa? :neutral:
I’m getting really confused trying to work this all out having not done it before, I’d really appreciate some help
I’m not sure what or how they would reject it if you have a work permit (the key to everything) and they accept the paperwork. Once you have the work permit the last hurdle is making sure you have all of the forms needed. If they accept it I think it would be an extremely rare case that the resident visa was denied.
I applied for my resident visa the day before my visitor visa (not visa exempt) ended. Just like you I wondered what would happen if there was a problem.
[quote=“Abacus”]I’m not sure what or how they would reject it if you have a work permit (the key to everything) and they accept the paperwork. Once you have the work permit the last hurdle is making sure you have all of the forms needed. If they accept it I think it would be an extremely rare case that the resident visa was denied.
I applied for my resident visa the day before my visitor visa (not visa exempt) ended. Just like you I wondered what would happen if there was a problem.[/quote]
Agreed, the work visa must come first in order for the residency card to go swiftly.
I was not in the situation where I had only a handful of days left on my visa-exempt, but I do know that as long as your work visa has been received, you should be ok.
Do keep in mind that the residency card does take awhile to process! However, if you are eager to start work, during your residency card waiting period, you are legally allowed to work. Just not able to get paid since you may not be able to open a bank account without an ARC, in most banks.
I’m going to have all of my documentation ready to change my exempt to a ‘Visitor visa’ just incase the work permit takes too long and gets too close to the exempt visa expires. So it will give me another 60 days.
[quote=“Jaffa cake”]Thanks for the info and responses guys.
I’m going to have all of my documentation ready to change my exempt to a ‘Visitor visa’ just incase the work permit takes too long and gets too close to the exempt visa expires. So it will give me another 60 days.[/quote]
Make sure you keep the receipt so your company can reimburse you. The visitor visa is expensive and is required for the residency card, so your company should be paying the fees! At least I know mine did!
[quote=“Jaffa cake”]Thanks for the info and responses guys.
I’m going to have all of my documentation ready to change my exempt to a ‘Visitor visa’ just incase the work permit takes too long and gets too close to the exempt visa expires. So it will give me another 60 days.[/quote]
You can’t change from visa exempt to visitors visa within Taiwan w/o a work permit AFAIK. If your work permit takes too long then you will be doing a visa run to reset the clock.
Oh, you’re still on your first 90 days? I thought you were on Day ~160! You’re allowed 180 days without a visa (due to the reciprocal agreement with the UK), but they give you 90 days to begin with, and you have to go and ask them to add the other 90 days on the end (and possibly show them a few “completely legitimate” print-outs of your plans to continue travelling around Taiwan). Why do they only give you 90 days and require you to visit their office to get the other 90? Welcome to Taiwan!
Thanks for the welcome! I’ve already been here a little over a year though (working holiday visa)… So i can extend the visa exempt if the working permit takes longer than expected?.
[quote=“Abacus”][quote=“Jaffa cake”]Thanks for the info and responses guys.
I’m going to have all of my documentation ready to change my exempt to a ‘Visitor visa’ just incase the work permit takes too long and gets too close to the exempt visa expires. So it will give me another 60 days.[/quote]
You can’t change from visa exempt to visitors visa within Taiwan w/o a work permit AFAIK. If your work permit takes too long then you will be doing a visa run to reset the clock.[/quote]
The woman at the visa place office said I could? - I hope she knew what she was talking about. She didn’t seem 100% herself.
In your place, I would just take a couple of printouts of hotel pages in English to the Thingy Office this week and get those extra 90 days. I can’t think of a reason why it would be a bad thing, but I can think of bad results if you don’t do it, and then your work permit doesn’t arrive in time, and then you’re hit by a scooter and spend two days in hospital and can’t get to the immigration office in time, and then have a one-year ban from Taiwan on your record. For example.
Or if your last day is September 8th and your work permit hasn’t arrived so you mosey on down to the office on September 8th to get your extension and find out it’s a public holiday and you’re boned.
Why take the risk? You’re on days 61-90 now. You can go and do it today.
If she was talking about converting visa exempt to visitor visa to resident visa then yes. If she was talking about visa exempt to visitor visa then I think no but who knows. Taiwan immigration is not a place where logic exists.
I was however unaware of the visa exempt extension (just for Brits). I thought that visa exempt was no extensions period but perhaps that is for Americans and I didn’t pay attention to other nationality rules.
[quote=“PenguinJim”]In your place, I would just take a couple of printouts of hotel pages in English to the Thingy Office this week and get those extra 90 days. I can’t think of a reason why it would be a bad thing, but I can think of bad results if you don’t do it, and then your work permit doesn’t arrive in time, and then you’re hit by a scooter and spend two days in hospital and can’t get to the immigration office in time, and then have a one-year ban from Taiwan on your record. For example.
Or if your last day is September 8th and your work permit hasn’t arrived so you mosey on down to the office on September 8th to get your extension and find out it’s a public holiday and you’re boned.
Why take the risk? You’re on days 61-90 now. You can go and do it today.[/quote]
Ok I’ll do this tomorrow - the hotel printouts though? What documentation do I need exactly for the extension
Nothing really, but you’ll need to be ready to explain how you’re just getting the extension to travel around Taiwan a bit more on holiday. NOT just to give your work permit time to come through.
They may ask for details of your travel plans. At the very least, it may be a good idea to know some touristy place names (Sun Moon Lake, Lanyu, or something). If you speak Chinese, don’t speak Chinese and they shouldn’t ask too many questions. If you’ve got the time and a printer, you can bring some tourist information printouts with you to completely sell the fact that you’re definitely only touristing, and you’ll be leaving before the end of the full 180 days.
You shouldn’t need passport photos, but you’ll be needing lots of them in future anyway, so you might want to bring some just in case. I’ve started carrying a couple around in my wallet, just in case it comes up. Government offices here do like their passport photos.
for the proof of funds over 10k needed for the extension, can I just take in cash? and show it to them? i have a bank account here from my old job when I was on my working holiday Visa, but as I’m here on visa free won’t that look weird and ring alarm bells for them that I have a bank account here?
How about a couple of credit card statements? I think I just used a UK credit card statement with a £3,000 limit? Or possibly an Australian card with a similar limit. I think I’m reaching the end of my usefulness here, as it was a few years ago and I’m not Captain Memory!
I applied for a visitor visa (in HK) and took all of the required info. They weren’t interested in the bank account info. Didn’t even look at it. I also don’t think it matters if it’s your Taiwanese bank account. Just say that most of the money is a transfer from your personal account at home.
