I’m in the queue to get my Gold ARC card. I will be applying outside of Taiwan and planning to pick up my card while outside before traveling to Taiwan. My question is about getting my spouse into Taiwan. I know she needs to start the ARC process once in country, but what does she need to travel to Taiwan during the current situation? A Visitor Visa or ???
Special visa
Notice on Mar 18 in this page.
https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-220-5081-c06dc-2.html
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Thanks for pointing me the right direction here. I will work with the local Taiwan Office to make proper arrangements.
My guess is that the relevant Taiwanese consulate will first have to verify your marriage cerificate. This can be a different consulate from where she applies for the visa. In case of the US, if married in state A but spouse lives in state B, consulate in state A (if there is one) will verify the marriage certificate and the consulate in state B (if there is one) will process the visa application.
I’m in the process of doing this right now, and that’s what we were told initially at least, but not sure how it will play out yet.
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Thanks for advise on the marriage certificate. We are already living out of the USA where we were married. I hope that between a marriage certificate as well as the fact that we both have held ARC’s in the past, we are good.
Do you have an update on getting your Spouse ARC? I have now been asked to have my passport verified here in London and will take off to Taiwan in August. We just sent our marriage certificate to Hawaii to have is authenticated. I assume we will need this again for her ARC. Any other paper work or form issues you can share?
Yes, we got the marriage cerficate authenticated. Then the LA TECO did not answer my wife’s calls for 2 weeks. Once they finally did, they said they cannot issue a visa since their printer is broken. Make of that what you will. In any case, she is still in LA.
Hi everyone.
My wife and are currently in Taiwan until mid-October under a visa-exempt visa. I started the Gold Card ARC application process for myself and I am hopeful to be approved by early September. We would then need to follow the required step for my wife to be able to also stay in Taiwan under my Gold Card.
Can someone that has successfully be able to go through this process provide us with the steps they have done to complete it along with a brought timeline? Since we are already in Taiwan, can this be done within the country?
Regarding the authentication of the marriage certificate, since our original is in California, is there a way to do this within Taiwan so we can save the round trip and having to wait for the SF TECO to have the bandwidth to process it?
Thank you in advance!
Did you receive your physical gold card before you submitted the marriage certificate for authentication?
We are currently under gold card passport verification stage. I just wanted to see if we can speed up the application process. Thank you.
Did you end up going to SF TECO?
LA TECO called me again to tell me to pick up my passport but did not have information on whether we needed the actual gold card to get special entry permits for family. She said she would look into it and call back.
@daoxiaomian, any luck yet?
My husband is dropping off his passport today. I ask him to ask them if we need the physical gold card to apply the special entry permit when he is in the office. I will keep you posted.
So my husband just text me and told me he wish he can speak Mandarin. Probably because of language barrier, they want him to contact the immigration office and they gave him the phone number with extension. It’s the exact same phone number I called last time and I was told we need the physical gold card for special entry permit.
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according to this Amend Gold Card Location of Selection
looks like you can download it from the portal?
Sorry for the late reply! After stalling, the Los Angeles office suddenly changed their attitude (might have been a policy decision) and issued a visa to my wife. She’s now here and out of quarantine!
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Hello, very sorry if this has been asked before. Has anyone applied for a dependent resident visa with their spouse’s gold card? My husband is waiting for his gold card right now. We are both British. I have called the London office twice but received mixed messages on what’s needed for resident visa. The consular officer said that I would need a police report, a health check and etc for resident visa. Is that true? Very different than what she said the first time. Upon reading further document supports, it only required several things.
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Has anyone entered with a visa visitor, then applied for the resident visa (then ARC) inside Taiwan? Is that easier? But I read somewhere that you must leave Taiwan to apply for the resident visa. A mix bag of information!
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Has anyone simply apply for the resident visa from outside of Taiwan - no covid test needed (as a bonus)? It said you must apply for the ARC within 30 days of arrival in Taiwan. Did you needed the Acro police report or health certificate as mentioned?
Here’s what it said on the supporting documents. I think UK is exempt from the health certificate but I might be wrong!
Thanks again for reading this long message! Any tips or experience would be much appreciated.
**Update: I called the Edinburgh office, a nice informative gent told me that you can apply for the resident visa after entering Taiwan with a visitor visa, no need to exit Taiwan to do that. The health certificate is not exempt for UK citizen, but only certain test such as stool and hansen test. Still debating whether I should just apply the resident visa instead of the visitor visa since I have to get the covid test anyway. Ahhhh, must they make the spouse part so difficult, unlike the easy process for the primary gold card visa applicant.
**Further Update edit: Upon further research, it seems that process for spouse of a gold card holder (foreigner) is much simpler than the spouse of a Taiwan citizen. If anyone is interested, you can see this link from the UK. I don’t know if I’m correct but hope so! Health certificate looks like it’s exempt from the visa waiver country list, and an ACRO report was not listed as a document list. It seems consistent with the information from BOCA website.
I applied for a Special Entry permit under the spouse visa category (with household registration) in the UK (TECRO was very helpful). I had to provide the items below - including the health certificate. I applied from inside Taiwan (arrived in March prior to lockdown). Received the Special Entry Permit Visa in about 10 days (didn’t pay for expedited service). Completed everything via internet/DHL/supportive family in UK.
Online Application
Two Colour UK Passport Standard size Photos
Original Passport with One Photocopy
Flight Ticket Reservation
Proof of Financial Support - 3 months bank statements - including transaction details
Health Certificate
Police Certificate - ACRO Criminal Records
Taiwanese citizen’s household registration document (戶籍謄本) issued within 3 months with marriage registration information
A photocopy of Taiwanese citizen’s TW passport (ID page only)
Taiwan quarantine address
Invitation letter (from my wife)
UK ACRO Police Certificate legalized by Foreign and Commonwealth
Original Signed Authentication Application Form – to authenticate the ARCO Police Certificate which was previously legalized by the FCO (Foreign/Commonwealth Office) in the UK
Postal orders for the Visa and the Authentication of the ACRO certificate
Thank you @Shaokilai! That’s great you went in there before the lockdown. I did further research, it seems like spouse of gold card holder (foreigner) is a little simpler - hope I’m correct anyway. The only pain so far was getting marriage certificated authenticated from oversea embassy so far. We’ll see! *crossing fingers. Stay well and healthy!
@daoxiaomian how did you actually apply for the Visa for your wife?
I just got confirmation that my Gold Card was approved (it just went from “IC Card in progress” to “Completed” status, so I assume the physical card is now en route to the LA TECO office).
I assume I need to fill out the General Visa Application form on the BOCA website, but I wasn’t sure what to put for “Purpose of Travel” — if I select “Joining Family (Foreign Spouses)”, I get a popup that says I need a Taiwan Household Registration certificate.
Otherwise, I’m not sure which other Purpose to select?
If you could let me know whenever you get a chance, that’d be greatly appreciated!!!
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Ignore the popup. It was meant for “foreign spouses of Taiwan citizens”. Your gold card ARC can be used. Btw, you need your ARC number, which you can see when you get your card, or case status check on the gold card application website.
As you are applying resident visas for your family, prepare your marriage and children’s birth certificates to be authenticated as well. Authentication needs to be done from TECO where the certificates were produced. If it is other than LA, you need to complete the authentication first.
You will need the authenticated certs to convert the resident visas to ARC in Taiwan (within 30 days of arrival).
Call the TECO office(s) to check the required docs and procedures. Be prepared to make copies and also notarizing copied documents.
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