Will we have to go the FAP office and trade our old ones for the new ones? I ain’t taking a day off work to update my ARC so “Big Brother” can keep a better eye on me.
Hopefully, they will send the new ones in the mail.
Another issue is what about us foreign spouses? All the news stories I’ve read say that the CLA is paying for foreign workers’ ID replacement. Foreign spouses don’t have anything to do with the CLA and no word on whether we’ll be upgraded as well.
Frankly I’m kinda glad they are upgrading the card. The old ones are quite flimsy and easily damaged.
i love how the emphasis of this article keeps harping on how these cards will protect taiwan from the evil, contract breaking, overstaying, criminal foreigners …
From little blue books, to oversized pink slips, to laminated cards, to IC cards. They spend a lot of time redesigning these damn ARCs. Will they finally make them credit-card sized??
Gotta keep tabs on them furriners, who by virtue of their foreign birth are naturally prone to criminal behavior… And gotta protect our angelic local employers, who would never dream of exploiting foreign workers… 
Couple of interesting stats for you, courtesy of the Justice Department:
Number of incidents in 2004
Violent crime: 12,706
Number committed by foreigners: 31
Larceny: 113,144
Committed by foreigners: 91
So, foreigners make up about 2% of the population of Taiwan. That means they are statistically eight times less likely to commit a violent crime than a Taiwanese person and twenty-five times less likely to commit robbery or buglary. I’m sure if you compared relevant age groups (most of the foreigners here are between the ages of 20 and 40) you’d find that ratio was even higher.
I think we should start tagging these Taiwanese - they seem to be causing all the trouble. 
certainly don’t give them furrannoyers a credit card…whadda ya want - them to put money into the local economy?
And mortgages. No way. Houses can be run off with ya know.
Ah. The close relative of someone in government has just bought an IC card factory. Cool. I bet A Close Relative Of Someone In Government has just bought an IC card reader factory too.
Let’s go back to the huge pinky-orange ones in their attractive plastic covers. I pulled one out to show a HK policeman once and his eyes nearly popped out of his head.
I zink zis ist gut idea, ja. But ve can put dem ont zee outer clothings. A big pinky-orange star (my brudder ist ein textileisch factory managereren), mit zee chips, zof course.
HG
Think modern, my man. Just slap an RFID chip in the ID and put up RFID readers all over.
[quote=“Taffy”][quote=“Chris”]Gotta keep tabs on them furriners, who by virtue of their foreign birth are naturally prone to criminal behavior… And gotta protect our angelic local employers, who would never dream of exploiting foreign workers… [/quote]Couple of interesting stats for you, courtesy of the Justice Department:
Number of incidents in 2004
Violent crime: 12,706
Number committed by foreigners: 31
Larceny: 113,144
Committed by foreigners: 91
So, foreigners make up about 2% of the population of Taiwan. That means they are statistically eight times less likely to commit a violent crime than a Taiwanese person and twenty-five times less likely to commit robbery or buglary. I’m sure if you compared relevant age groups (most of the foreigners here are between the ages of 20 and 40) you’d find that ratio was even higher.
I think we should start tagging these Taiwanese - they seem to be causing all the trouble. 
[/quote]Taffy -
:bravo: :bravo:
Well said.
:bravo: :bravo:
[quote=“Lord Lucan”]Ah. The close relative of someone in government has just bought an IC card factory. Cool. I bet A Close Relative Of Someone In Government has just bought an IC card reader factory too.[/quote]That was the first thing that came to mind when the cops starting offering to ‘theft-proof’ your motorcycle with those numbered stamps. Someone close to the NPA must have started making those hot foil stamping machines. 
I think we’ve been here too long!
Any news on the new ARCs?
Ok, so back in the summer I read in The Taipei Times and China Post that all foreigners needed to get a new ARC (with an ID chip), but when I went today to my local FAP they looked at me like I was speaking French. Luckily I had my girlfriend and through her I learned that nothing has been finalized.
Does anyone know what is going on? Has anyone got a new ARC?
Thanks!
I got mine last week and it is no different from before.
p.s. Do as the Taiwanese do and carry a photocopy of your ID. Losing the original is a lot of trouble.
The smart card ARCs were originally planned to be out by the end of this year. And the high speed rail was supposed to be operational a year ago…
What can I say other than… well said, mate! :bravo: :bravo: :bravo:
I guess uncle/nephew/son/colleague Ah Chan’s IC card printing factory didn’t make as much money as expected from the changeover to chip and pin for credit cards. I see IC cards for driving licences, library cards, car registration, MRT tickets, and so on on the horizon very shortly.