Attention all American JFRV applicants: Important News!!
It was just confirmed on 6-27-2012 that the NIA will no longer accept a State criminal background check for any JFRV applications. The effective date of this change was April 1, 2012. Of course there were/are no official announcements for this newest change, per standard Taiwanese operating procedures. However, I just got off the phone with the Taipei NIA office and also the Panchiao NIA office. Both have independently confirmed to me that all American JFRV applicants must use the FBI background check and that the State background checks are no longer acceptable effective April 1, 2012. And no, this is not an April Fool’s Day joke.
Criminal Background Check Requirements for Americans
My wife is an american citizen working here in Taiwan with an ARC. We got married here in Taiwan and I would like to go under her ARC. I’ve heard mixed stories here on what you have to do from different people including different agencies. My friend says that him and his wife were told they needed a background check and in the end they did not. I know getting the background check here and finshed is a pain and takes a long time. One agency told us we couldn’t even get married here; that was a lie. They do not even know their own laws. I also would like to know if misdameanors will be a problem on the background check if it turns out I do need to get one? Any information would be amazing! Thank you!
For the U.S. it can take months for the process. I ended up using this company to expedite the fingerprint background process. It was done to teach in South Korea, but I don’t think you have to do it for China. Anyway, all you have to do is go to the police station, take your fingerprints and mail the fingerprints on the FD 258 card, FBI application to Apostille Pros. They will send it to the FBI and the CBC go back to them (for faster process). Then they apostille the docs once they receive it. All in all, it was done faster than me doing it.
It takes the FBI 3 months to do the background check and they don’t necessarily get it right (like if they have trouble reading the prints). In Taiwan a background check takes 3 days and 100nt… how’s that for a “developed country”?
I don’t see how going to another company will expedite things unless that company is closely connected with the FBI so applications from them receive a little more priority.
I am an American working in Taiwan and my American husband has tickets to join me in two weeks. In Korea he applied for a dependant visa. I can’t find anything on the TECO consulate websites that references any kind of dependant visa… but isn’t the JFRV only for individuals trying to join their native Taiwanese spouses?
We’ve been thrown for a loop because the office he’s called twice before had never mentioned needing a FBI check UNTIL his latest (third) call to them. Now she says FBI background check but no healthcheck. Just to see, he called another office a few hours away and they mentioned he needed a healthcheck but not FBI background. Okay great, we’ll do that except… he doesn’t have healthcare at the moment so a healthcheck would probably be quite pricey…
Can someone confirm that the JFRV is not what we need?
@Yoda-- what ended up happening in your situation?
[quote=“globalgourmand”]I am an American working in Taiwan and my American husband has tickets to join me in two weeks. In Korea he applied for a dependant visa. I can’t find anything on the TECO consulate websites that references any kind of dependant visa… but isn’t the JFRV only for individuals trying to join their native Taiwanese spouses?
We’ve been thrown for a loop because the office he’s called twice before had never mentioned needing a FBI check UNTIL his latest (third) call to them. Now she says FBI background check but no healthcheck. Just to see, he called another office a few hours away and they mentioned he needed a healthcheck but not FBI background. Okay great, we’ll do that except… he doesn’t have healthcare at the moment so a healthcheck would probably be quite pricey…
Can someone confirm that the JFRV is not what we need?
@Yoda-- what ended up happening in your situation?[/quote]
Print out a fingerprinting form online from FBI, go to the national immigration agency to get yoru fingerprint, fill out any pertanent info, mail the completed form back to the FBI with a check for the fee, wait 3 months
I don’t know, it took 3 months for me, and always assume that they’ll take longer than they should… even though the FBI is fairly efficient, it isn’t something the US government is known for. US immigration agencies are even worse in this regard, takes years to do anything with them.
Printed a copy of the FBI form and got my finger printed at the Immigration center in Taipei. Pay a small fee for NIA.
Mailed the FBI form directly from Taiwan to Washington D.C. with payment form to mail results to my American address. (Have a friend or family member mail it for you if you are in Taiwan)
Got my FBI results and mailed that to a TECO in West Virginia (to authenticate document, TECO location based on document’s letterhead address) with a request to mail authenticated document to my Taipei address. $15 fee, plus $38 mail fee to Taiwan.
Got my TECO authenticated document in Taiwan, then hand translated that sucker word for word. Found a Taiwan notary service to notarize original document and create 2 notarized copies.
Submitted notarized copies to NIA.
The results of the FBI check took about a month or so, after I mailed it from Taipei to reach my American address. It took another week or so for the TECO document to arrive in Taiwan. The translation is tricky, get a native Mandarin speaker with excellent English skills to help you. The notarization in Taiwan is fast and quick, you can get it done in 15-20 minutes as you wait. The process is tedious but it can be done.
Is it possible to have the translation authenticated by the TECRO office in Washington DC?
My plan had been to get the FBI check and the translated version and send them both to TECRO for authentication. If the translation can just be notarized here, I may just take that route instead. Maybe I need to give the NIA another call.
Yes, of course it’s possible. However, you must meet the following TECRO requirements in order to get them to authenticate the Chinese translation of the FBI background check.
You must appear in person at the TECRO in Washington DC and you must also bring the person who made the Chinese translation if you didn’t translate it yourself. The translator will be quizzed by the TECRO staff to ensure that they were the one who actually translated it.
or
You must have an official translation agency in the Washington DC area translate the background check into Chinese. Then you can have the translation agency send the original and the Chinese translation back to you. Afterward, you can take both in person or send them by mail to the TECRO for authentication of both the original FBI background check and the Chinese translation.
Yes. Good plan. Last year. But now the TECRO has changed their requirements and according to them it must be done as illustrated above. It’s now much easier to simply get the TECRO in DC to authenticate the original FBI background check and have them send it to you back here in Taiwan. Then go to a translation agency and have them translate it and also get it notorized.
Thank you for the response. I just want to update my current situation though… and this might seem strange.
I called the NIA in Taipei and I asked about changing my work ARC to the JFRV and they told me that I did not require the health check or the criminal background check.
I then called the Taoyuan office and they told me the same thing. So I went down there with a copy of the household registration, our marriage certificates, my current ARC, my passport and a passport photo.
They took all of my documents and 1000NT and told me that my new JFRV should be ready by January 11th. At first there was a little confusion as to the possibility of me missing some documents but then after he confirmed with someone else, he said that they had just changed the process.
I am not sure if there is a possibility of them rejecting it somehow during the process but I will update this when I go pick up my new ARC on January 11th.
[quote=“nrubio”]Thank you for the response. I just want to update my current situation though… and this might seem strange.
I called the NIA in Taipei and I asked about changing my work ARC to the JRFV and they told me that I did not require the health check or the criminal background check.
I then called the Taoyuan office and they told me the same thing. So I went down there with a copy of the household registration, our marriage certificates, my current ARC, my passport and a passport photo.
They took all of my documents and 1000NT and told me that my new JRFV should be ready by January 11th. At first there was a little confusion as to the possibility of me missing some documents but then after he confirmed with someone else, he said that they had just changed the process.
I am not sure if there is a possibility of them rejecting it somehow during the process but I will update this when I go pick up my new ARC on January 11th.[/quote]
WOW!!!
Thank you for making such a detailed posting regarding your situation. I’m amazed. Truly amazed. This should not be possible. However, I recently made another posting detailing a similar situation to yours. It’s about an American guy on a student visa, decided he didn’t want to study anymore, dropped out of school, married his Taiwanese girlfriend, went to the NIA and they gave him a happy lappy JFRV without a health check or an FBI background check. He only gave the NIA his marriage certificate and household registration and that was good enough.
I was wondering if the NIA had made a mistake or if they had changed the policy of a health check and criminal record check for the JFRV. Looks like you are another example.
Yeah, I saw that post as well and when I called the NIA (Taipei) I did not mention any of that. I just asked them what documents I needed to get the JFRV. When she gave me the list of documents she did not include the FBI criminal background check or health check in the list. I asked her about them and she put me on hold for a few minutes and came back with the response that I did not need them.
I called the Taoyuan office just to double check (many times I get different answers from different places, including different answers when I am at the office as opposed to being on the phone) and she confirmed it. Even when I went in to submit my documents I was afraid they would say something different about what documents I needed but they did not.
It’s all rather confusing to be honest. I wish there was a more clear cut answer to all of these different situations and how the NIA and BOCA handle them. My best recommendation is just to call the different offices (Taipei and whatever office is closest to you) and ask them about your particular case.
Some of these changes may have something to do with the recent changes that allow Taiwanese citizens to get a 90 day landing visa in the US. I know that Taiwan has adjusted the US landing visa to 90 days from 60 days, so these changes for the JFRV may also have something to do with this reciprocity. Not sure.
Yes. However, you would need to already have an ARC based on employment or being a student first. After you have your ARC, then you can take your marriage documents to the NIA and simply change your employment based ARC or student based ARC to a JFRV ARC without doing the criminal record check.
Do you currently reside in Taiwan on either an employment based ARC or a student based ARC?
I’m assuming that you are concerned about your past criminal convictions? If so, here is the way to get your JFRV without letting Taiwan know that you are a criminal.
Come to Taiwan as a tourist.
Find employment as an English teacher. (You need a 4 year college degree)
Any school which can provide legal employment (ARC) will do. I recommend a large chain school like Kojen.
After you get your work-permit based ARC, get married to your girlfriend. If you’re already married, then register your marriage at the household registration office, etc.
Once everything is registered, take your documents to the NIA and change your ARC from your work-permit based ARC to a JFRV ARC based on your marriage.
After you get your JFRV ARC, quit your job and do whatever you wish.
After you’ve lived in Taiwan for 5 years, you can then apply for permanent residency. You won’t have to provide a criminal record check for the APRC as long as during those 5 years of residency you didn’t leave Taiwan for over 3 months on any single trip.
So, there you go. Employment to JFRV to APRC…all without providing a criminal record check from your home country!
