Exit permission with an ARC?!

Does anyone have any leads on this one?

I’m currently in the US finishing some grad school business. My ARC (through a TW spouse)expiration was a few days ago. Spouses are allowed to take care of the paperwork for you, so I mailed my passport and ARC to my wife, but when she took everything in, the Foreign Affairs Police said since I wasn’t physically present in the country, they couldn’t renew my ARC. They suggested I call TECO here in the US.

Los Angeles TECO asked me, “Did you get exit permission before you left? If so, we could renew your ARC; if not, you have to apply for a tourist visa.” What? weren’t exit permissions done away with back in the '90s? (Anyone in TW back then remembers the visits to the tax office before you could leave the country.) Maybe this person at TECO didn’t get the memo?

Anyway, just wondering if I would have to start from scratch to get another ARC (health check, fresh application, etc etc) or if there is some way to pay a fine and get the ARC renewed once I’m back in TW in a couple of weeks. (I’ve had a spouse ARC for abt 10 years–I hope that it couldn’t evaporate just like that. But I have braced myself, too.)

I also remember reading some new regulation that bank accounts would be canceled if a foreigner’s ARC expired or was canceled. Does anyone know if this is really being put into effect?

Anyof you who have been through the trenches will probably be more informative than the xiaojie at TECO–Thanks for any info.

No more exit permission … re-entry goes with an ARC … it shows that some Tecos don’t even know their own rules …

Start from scratch indeed …

BTW, it’s not longer the FAP that handles ARC’s it’s the immigration office now …

I’ve never heard of renewing an ARC at a TECO office, so already I think you got bad advice. I think your best course of action now is for your wife to go back in to the NIA and raise some hell asking why they rejected the original renewal, why they gave you incorrect advice to renew through TECO, why TECO refused to renew it without ‘exit permission’ even though you have a valid re-rentry permit, and now because of their incompetence she won’t be able to see her sweet husband, etc. There’s a small chance if she raises enough hell that she can get the renewal forced through.

If not, the rules say that if the ARC expires, you have to start all over from scratch to apply for a JFRV. Sorry.