Changing visa status (Visitor visa -> Resident visa) in Taiwan

Hi,

Is it possible to change the visa status from visitor to resident without leaving Taiwan? My boyfriend would not get work permit issued on time before we go to Taiwan so he applied for the visitor visa. I asked foreign affair office, they said it would be ok for he to switch later. However, he is only getting the visitor visa for two months and visa extension is not allowed. Does anyone have experience with this? Would he get into troubles because the visitor visa is not extendable?

Thanks for the help.

[quote=“chialintsai”]Hi,

Is it possible to change the visa status from visitor to resident without leaving Taiwan? My boyfriend would not get work permit issued on time before we go to Taiwan so he applied for the visitor visa. I asked foreign affair office, they said it would be ok for he to switch later. However, he is only getting the visitor visa for two months and visa extension is allowed. Does anyone have experience with this? Would he get into troubles because the visitor visa is not extendable?

Thanks for the help.[/quote]

Yes, it is rather routine. Just begin processing the paperwork with his employer when he gets here. It should be done within a month. No need for a visa hop.

Make sure your bf goes to the hospital to get a health exam right away, he will have to wait 7-10 days for the results to come back.

If he has an extendable visitor visa, and can’t get that work permit in time he can get his company to write an extension letter and have the gov’t ministry stamp it and he could get his visitor visa extended for one month.

also as a backup plan he could just enroll in one month of chinese school somewhere and get an extension that way.

Thanks. I nearly forgot about the health exam stuff. Well, his visa is not extendable so we will try to get it done within two months.

Chialin