My children’s passports are up for renewal. This time I am trying to avoid having to shell out twice for the “Declaration in Lieu of Guarantor” form.
Not having much success convincing my kids’ doctor and dentist that signing the guarantor form won’t come back to haunt them one day.They seem to be of the opinion that they are attesting to something far more complicated than merely stating that a photo is a true likeness of a passport applicant.
I am trying also to avoid the massive tongue-wagging I had to endure from the desk-jockeys at the trade office the last time I renewed my own passport without a guarantor. I tried to explain the reluctance I had encountered in trying to obtain my own guarantor, but the clerk’s and her supervisor’s eyes both glazed over and they just droned on endlessly about the following:
Has anyone had any success getting a Taiwanese guarantor? What arguments/inducements did one use to overcome reluctance?
I didn’t have a guarantor the last time I got a passport in Taiwan at the Canadian Trade Office. I don’t recall having to pay more for that service though. Has something changed?
We had good luck in Taoyuan - our dentist on Chen Kung Road and our doctor on Da Yo Road (Mitsukoshi Road) both were willing to sign, although the guy on Da Yo was more willing. You may want to go by there and see if he would do it anyways - Comray Clinic.
He’s also a good doctor with decent English skills - don’t know how far this is from your current abode.
We had good luck in Taoyuan - our dentist on Chen Kung Road and our doctor on Da Yo Road (Mitsukoshi Road) both were willing to sign, although the guy on Da Yo was more willing. You may want to go by there and see if he would do it anyways - Comray Clinic.
He’s also a good doctor with decent English skills - don’t know how far this is from your current abode.[/quote]
Ahem, isn’t the guarantor supposed to know the applicant for at least 2 years? But, if the right chap was willing to embellish… well.
Actually, our former dentist looks like he’s willing to do it. Maybe it’s the same chap: That pedestrian area bisecting Chen Kung Rd.
Very drole! Why, yes, in point of fact I am. Though not of the flag waving variety. I’ve experienced rather too much of that masquerade.
Actually, my use of the Canadian passport is only a small part of an absolutely devilishly cunning plan to bring about the long overdue liberation of Cascadia from the perverted malfeasance of the imperialist tyrants in Ottawa and D.C.
Huzzah!
[quote]Are you an able-bodied Sasquatch aged 10 to 150 who loves his or her country? If so, The Republic of Cascadia needs YOU to enlist in the Sasquatch Militia and defend our homeland against our many enemies, including such nefarious evildoers as:
Canadians
Southern Californians
Geoduck & Tree Octopus Poachers
Paraterrestrials
Americans
International Organized Crime Syndicates
Nosey Cryptozoologists
Besides serving your country, you will also be improving yourself. Sasquatch Militia will teach you many valuable skills that today’s employers are looking for in Sasquatch. You will gain a sense of determination and confidence that will help you succeed. And you will also experience compatriotship with your fellow Sasquatch as you work together to secure the freedom of the Republic of Cascadia. zapatopi.net/bsa/militia/[/quote]
We had good luck in Taoyuan - our dentist on Chen Kung Road and our doctor on Da Yo Road (Mitsukoshi Road) both were willing to sign, although the guy on Da Yo was more willing. You may want to go by there and see if he would do it anyways - Comray Clinic.
He’s also a good doctor with decent English skills - don’t know how far this is from your current abode.[/quote]
Ahem, isn’t the guarantor supposed to know the applicant for at least 2 years? But, if the right chap was willing to embellish… well.
Actually, our former dentist looks like he’s willing to do it. Maybe it’s the same chap: That pedestrian area bisecting Chen Kung Rd.[/quote]
Its not the same guy - if yours says no, go to mine and claim to be me.
I think he just realizes the hassle of the whole ordeal - yet on second thought, he may turn you down!
Best of luck.
I got the same reaction as the OP from both my dentist and my doctor. The clerk at the Canadian trade office told me that if I give them the number (of a potential guarantor), they often have success in convincing the person to sign.
What frustrates me is that I know lots of people who qualify as guarantors, but they all live in Canada. Since that is not in the Taipei area, they don’t qualify for me to renew here (unless I applied for the new passport IN Canada, in which case I wouldn’t need a guarantor anyway…). Grumble…
People from other countries laugh at us for this. Never mind we are one of the few whose passport is valid for only 5 years, not 10.
You gotta be kiddin’. Are there really loads of foreigners, living outside of Canada, trying to pass themselves off as Canadians? Why in the world all this silly hassle?
If you bring in your old passport to the Canadian trade office, or whatever, can the Canadian citizen working there not see you, holding a Canadian passport with your photo in it–and maybe another form of ID just for giggles–and recognize a Canadian document and that the person holding it looks a lot like the guy in the photo on the damn thing? And every five years. Whoever thought up these regs must have been drunk.
[quote=“housecat”]You gotta be kiddin’. Are there really loads of foreigners, living outside of Canada, trying to pass themselves off as Canadians? Why in the world all this silly hassle?
If you bring in your old passport to the Canadian trade office, or whatever, can the Canadian citizen working there not see you, holding a Canadian passport with your photo in it–and maybe another form of ID just for giggles–and recognize a Canadian document and that the person holding it looks a lot like the guy in the photo on the damn thing? And every five years. Whoever thought up these regs must have been drunk.
Oh . . . . Canada, eh?[/quote]
The same rules apply in Canada - it doesn’t make any difference if you’re outside of the country or not.
[quote=“Maoman”][quote=“housecat”]You gotta be kiddin’. Are there really loads of foreigners, living outside of Canada, trying to pass themselves off as Canadians? Why in the world all this silly hassle?
If you bring in your old passport to the Canadian trade office, or whatever, can the Canadian citizen working there not see you, holding a Canadian passport with your photo in it–and maybe another form of ID just for giggles–and recognize a Canadian document and that the person holding it looks a lot like the guy in the photo on the damn thing? And every five years. Whoever thought up these regs must have been drunk.
Oh . . . . Canada, eh?[/quote]
The same rules apply in Canada - it doesn’t make any difference if you’re outside of the country or not.[/quote]
That makes even less sense. My condolences. As an American, however, I can’t say too much because at least you guys have health coverage.
We’re really fortunate to know a local doctor who has signed for me twice. I just went in and renewed on Wednesday morning, and it all went smoothly. It’s really a hassle for me to come in in person as I live out in the sticks, though.
I don’t know what happened to the poor chap who came in in front of me - he really seemed upset about something going on there.
I also have a greencard for the US - F*ck me, dealing with the American Immigration Services is a full-on nightmare.
When a friend of mine got his Canadian passport renewed last year, he asked me if the trade office could call me and ask me questions about how I know him. The phone call was quick, and the questions seemed pointless (e.g. how long have you known him). He got his passport renewed.
[quote=“merge”]
I also have a greencard for the US - F*ck me, dealing with the American Immigration Services is a full-on nightmare.[/quote]
I’m a Canadian with a US greencard. How do you maintain your greencard? I heard after a year abroad, you have to actually make a case that you have not abandoned your permanent residency.
As for the whole guarantor thing. That’s piss. It’s generally been a pain in the ass to get a guarantor to sign the form even in the US because it has to be a dentist, doctor, etc. Yeah, I do have a doctor who’s known me for long enough but having to go to the doctor for a form is no fun.
Now, if in Taiwan the doctors won’t sign the darn form…
[quote=“lemur”][quote=“merge”]
I also have a greencard for the US - F*ck me, dealing with the American Immigration Services is a full-on nightmare.[/quote]
I’m a Canadian with a US greencard. How do you maintain your greencard? I heard after a year abroad, you have to actually make a case that you have not abandoned your permanent residency.
As for the whole guarantor thing. That’s piss. It’s generally been a pain in the ass to get a guarantor to sign the form even in the US because it has to be a dentist, doctor, etc. Yeah, I do have a doctor who’s known me for long enough but having to go to the doctor for a form is no fun.
Now, if in Taiwan the doctors won’t sign the darn form… [/quote]
How is it proven that the guy/gal who signs the form is who or what he says he is?
I was thinking the same thing as housecat. Do the Canadian Trade Office guys in-charge of processing the passport renewals actually call the guarantors to confirm the information? I am lukcy that I have a friend who is a police officer so he signs for me every time I renew. But he told me no one has ever called him, and in both cases I got my new passport without a hitch. Hmmm… so you could just make up someone as a guarantor and hope they don’t double check the info.
All it needs is some private enterprise to take advantage of a captive market.
In Canada, alert security guards at some passport offices will produce handy business cards of nearby lawyers that will sign the declaration speedily.
In Taipei the security guard merely squawks “Form PPT 132! You need form PPT 132!”
In any event, I did finally get a dentist to sign the forms. But it was more by chance than any initial persuasion. He finally relented only after it became apparent that his daughter attended the same buxiban where once I taught.
Housecat: See you were trying to apply logic - surely that was shaken out of you on the rock. I think you got it right on the last line (of page one), though!
Maoman: Not anymore. Rules changed recently. If you live in Canada and are not a first time applicant, you no longer need a guarantor.
Merge: Be really careful with the green card - my was taken because I was out of the States for just over a year.
me: “Hey, that’s mine!”
guy who just interrogated me: “Not anymore. But you’re free to travel.”
me: “Who are you to tell me I’m free to tra- uh, never mind. Thank you, Sir.”
And they (Canadian Trade Office) did call my references - right in front of me. Simple questions, but it took me by surprise that they did it so fast.
Not ten, like the US?
