šŸ˜· COVID | Traveling during Covid-19

The LA TECO may be closed. Employees may be working from home, or the office may only be open part of the week.

I was stranded in the US in late March and April. My Taiwanese wife contacted BOFA and learned about (what was then) the new special entry visa. I was in Texas and when I called Houston TECO I got no answer. Left a voicemail, but that evening I emailed the Houston and Chicago TECO offices with questions about the SEV.

I was surprised to get a phone call from Houston TECO the next morning. Found out that TECO had shut down all offices in the US except Washington, DC, and Houston. I would not have learned that easily if Houston hadnā€™t called me (might have taken 3-4 weeks).

Iā€™d advise blasting an email addressed to all known TECO offices in the US. I think a lot of them have resumed office hours (at least in part), but you should get a response from the nearest TECO soon.

Good luck.

I corresponded with them by phone initially, though it wasnā€™t easy because they kept giving me conflicting information about what I needed and what visa I needed to apply for. I would imagine itā€™s a bit easier now since theyā€™ve opened up the permit applications a bit. I had to go in to the office (in Denver) to submit the application, though they mentioned they were accepting applications by mail as well. If youā€™re not able to get through to the LA TECO by phone and theyā€™re not posting any information on their site, you might try calling the DC office for advice?

Iā€™m flying back in 2 weeks. What can I expect besides 2 weeks of quarantine?

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What do you mean? Weather? Life style? Stimulus vouchers?

Anything different with customs? Do they call me everyday?

You can read these threads:

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But answering your questions,

Long process to do regarding the coronavirus and quarantine (where you come from, where will you be staying, etc). Details in the threads linked above.
I donā€™t think thereā€™s anything different regarding baggage claim or prohibited items.

They will message you. If you donā€™t reply, they will call you. If you donā€™t answer, they will visit you. If you are not at home, they will fine you.

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Thank you for pointing me to this thread! It was very helpful.

Bring snacks and books and a plan. Which movies to watch, which exercise drills you can do with limited space, etc.

No meat though. You canā€™t bring any meat products.

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I sympathize with these poor Japanese. If I was unable to travel to Taiwan, I would also have a case of Taiwan Rossu. In fact, the last few weeks I have started to feel symptoms of mild Nippon Rossu and I fear the cure is still a pretty long ways off.

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A phone call from local police officer on day of arrival to the cell # you provided to the on-line registration form before boarding plane. Just informal chat and you can ask any question, concern you have.
He/she will ask if you have LINE account with that #. You might as well set up a LINE account if you do not. That way, CDCā€™s LINE account will auto-add you for daily uplifting messages. He/she may ask to add your LINE to their LINE account. Just a friendly gesture.
They will send, if you want, a thermometer that is the size of a credit card that you press to your forehead. It is for taking your temperature every morning.
You will receive a text message from CDC at 10am asking to answer ā€œ1ā€, ā€œ2ā€, or ā€œ3ā€, depending on how you ā€œfeelā€.
You will receive auto-LINE message at the same exact time, asking you to fill out a form in which you type in your temperature.
Thatā€™s about all.
This is the test if you can handle being in prison for a while. :slight_smile:
For exercise, do lots of pushups, walking in place with knees lifted up to hip-height.
Your family can deliver food to you (fruits, etc.); otherwise, ubereats or food panda.

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Thereā€™s a flow chart hiding in here somewhere.

The new arrivals have to download an app for further info/communication at the airport.

Please note Chinese phones like Huawei have trouble with this app.

So do Safari on iPhones (have trouble with government website)

Iā€™m kind of in the same boat. Iā€™m an APRC holder and my husband wants to come to Taiwan in late September. I sent emails to the Houston and DC offices with no response yet. We never bothered with getting him an ARC because he never wanted to stay in Taiwan for more than a few months. I think Iā€™ll try the email blast.

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I found this with google for the teco offices. Itā€™s going to be my email list.

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Hope it works.

Some complicating factors - factors that affected me only - were that I worked with a single official in Houston. I think that like most people this person was frightened of covid19, and they may have overreacted a bit. That overreaction may also be responsible for delays in responding, at least in part.

Hereā€™s what I mean by ā€œoverreact.ā€ I was contacted by the official assigned to my case on, iirc, a Thursday, which was the day after sending an email to Houston and Chicago TECO offices.

The official encouraged me to get my application submitted by the next day (Friday), explaining that beginning the next week the Houston office would be open only on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 9am to noon. Officials would be working from home, but visas could only be issued those six hours.

The next week the official assigned to my case developed a fever on Tuesday and didnā€™t report to the office all that week. The following week my official developed sore shoulders, and didnā€™t report to the office all that week. The next week the office was closed entirely because someone not with TECO but within the building developed covid19. Etc, etc.

I hope things have opened up by now, but in late March and in April the gears of TECO ground very slowly indeed.

Best of luck!

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Better call.

Which airline has been successfully flying out of Taiwan? Eva? I also so saw Emirates but idk if they will cancel on me in September. I need to get to the UK for university.

I know people who flew China air to Narita.

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