I recently have my gold card/arc approved and collected in Taiwan.
My dependents have arrived in Taiwan on visa exemption. I have heard it is possible that they process their arc straight away in NIA(national immigration agency) instead of applying for a resident visa in Boca(bureau of consular affairs) first? I don’t want to queue up in NIA if this is not possible as I heard the queue can take hours, and this would also save 2 weeks of processing time.
Has anyone already been through this process before and can confirm that this is possible please?
It seems there have been a lot of changes in the last couple of years and I cant find much official information about this process.
I don’t know what NIA you go to… but mine I only have to wait 2-3 minutes when they’re busy…
I’m unsure how it works but generally Taiwan is easier towards those with the 3 months waivers compared to those on the 14 days. Those on 14 days are generally expected to go to TECO in their country.
Best way is to go there yourself. Hopefully someone with experience will chime in.
I haven’t done this but from what I know, you are supposed to have your supporting document verified with TECO in your home country, e.g. marriage certificate, birth certificate of your children. You mail the original files to TECO with application/request forms. They send something back to you saying that the files are legitimate, something like that.
If you haven’t done that but have the original certificates with you in Taiwan, maybe there is a way to do it in Taiwan? I don’t know. Please report back if you find out.
I went to the Taipei office for other things. It was only a few minutes of wait. Maybe its’ a different queue.