Last month, my girlfriend applied for and received an ARC for the purposes of studying Mandarin. However, even though she had already paid tuition through the end of August, the validity on the ARC was only to June 30 because this is when the contract for our apartment ends.
This seemed a bit crazy to me, as no one said anything about having to provide an apartment contract in order to get an ARC. But that’s another point.
We currently live in Fengyuan, so we applied for the ARC at the office in Fengyuan. However, we found a new apartment in Taichung City which we will move to on July 1st after our current apartment contract expires. When we go to extend her ARC and update the address (bringing the new contract), will we have to go to Fengyuan, or should we go to the office in Taichung City since that’s where we’ll be moving?
I discovered the answer to my own question today. Ordinarily, an ARC extension and address change can be completed with the same application form. My situation was a bit unusual, and at first they didn’t want to help. But eventually, they allowed us to extend the ARC through September (as it should have been the first time), at the office in Fengyuan. But we were advised that after moving to Taichung City, we will have 15 days to file a change of address with immigration there.
I really don’t understand why they didn’t just give her the ARC through September in the first place. By following their silly bureaucratic rules and failing to use their brains, they created this ridiculous situation in the first place. It seems like things will work out, but their short-sightedness and unnecessary following of imaginary, arbitrary rules have caused us at least one extra trip to immigration (two hours today) and a pretty big headache.
Man have I been in those situations :loco:
Even the Foreigner Complaint Hotline hung up on me when I called for aid when five cops escorted me out from the driver’s license test office because I disputed the factual, grammar and spelling errors in the test
I do have a question. Me and my (Taiwanese) wife are registered in Yun-Lin and I’m about to extend my ARC. So we decided to register our address to our apartment in Taichung at the same time.
But where do I go for that? MOFA’s site sends me in circles and not even my wife can find info on where to go or what form to fill in.
If you are from Hong Kong or mainland China you can do it online.
So we decided to register our address to our apartment in Taichung at the same time.
But where do I go for that? MOFA’s site sends me in circles and not even my wife can find info on where to go or what form to fill in.
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You can use the same form to extend the ARC and change your address. MOFA has a big complex in Taichung City. The building to extend an ARC and change an address is in the back, behind the tennis courts. This map is pretty useful:
They were surprisingly helpful when I went in to update my address two weeks ago.
