I’m due on my first visa run mid-october and was wondering if anyone had any recommendations. I have a multiple entry so its just a matter of leaving and coming back.
With Hong Kong running at 10K for the day I was wondering if anyone had ever taken one of the package deals mentioned in the papers
i.e. 9000 nt 4 days/3 nights in Puhket.
Is there really a cruise to nowhere ?? arctor@hotmail.com
Cruise to nowhere - search for “visa keelung cruise” in all forums
I have spent some time in Phuket and can recommend it. Tour packages including flights and accomodations are available at bargain prices.
Depending on where (hotel location) you end up in Phuket, and what activities you want to do, there could be additional expenses while you were there of course.
it costs 6500 for one, 8000 for two people (total) and it’s legit. you get a stamp and everything. i think now it’s fri and sat. haven’t done it in several months.
it’s boring, but it’s one night and cheap. you can gamble, if you like. i’d bring a book. Personally, i like listening to the mainlanders on the boat with their quaint “sounds like Chinese 1 listening tape” retroflexin’ Chinese.
i know some chump who does it because he wants to avoid his home country and the military. works for him, too.
If you have a multiple entry visa, can’t you just go to the airport, pass through immigration (i.e. emigrate), walk around and immigrate again?
The reason why I ask this is because of the following bizarre situation:
Someone I know from Indonesia was invited by a Taiwanese association to come to Taiwan and teach drama for a month. Because he had come to Taiwan once before with a 14-day visa and left in good time, the Taiwan office in Indonesia gave him a 30-day visa - not what they’d give to someone from a developed country, but enough for his purpose. So off he pops to the airport, but on getting there, he can’t find his passport anywhere. Oh dear, he misses the flight. Now he goes home and can’t find his passport there, either. Oh, well, better get a new passport. So he does get a new passport and takes it back to the Taiwan office to get another visa. Unfortunately the record of his previous timely exit was in the old passport - which he hasn’t got any more (are you following me?) - so this time they only give him a measly 14 days - not enough to fulfill the original mission, but he comes to Taiwan anyway to make the best use of the short time he has been given. Now get this…After arriving in Taiwan, he finds the old passport - complete with 30-day visa, in his inside jacket pocket. So now he has a 14-day visa with an entry stamp in one passport, and a 30-day visa with no entry stamp in the other. So now does he:
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Go back to Indonesia and come back using the other passport. (Expensive, especially if you are trying to survive on the average Indonesian income.)
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Go to the ministry of foreign affairs and see if they can allow him to stay 30 days instead of 14, since he did have a 30-day visa originally. The risk being that they might do something nasty like cancelling the 30-day visa on the grounds that he can’t have two visas at the same time, or something.
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Get on the plane to Hong Kong and get the next plane back to Taibei. (Cheaper than going to Indonesia, but still seems like a waste of money.)
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Take the above-mentioned boat trip to nowhere. (This option mentioned only for interest’s sake, because the boat trips are at the weekend and he has to be out before then.)
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Do the airport walk as I suggested above.
How do you do the airport walk without a ticket? Ok, so now you got a ticket and don’t intend to use it … but ever tried to pass security check and immigration without a boarding pass?
In that case you may well do the trip, upon re-entry the immigration may actually check how long you have been away.
Oh, right - the boarding pass. I knew there must be something. As you can see, I’m not a frequent flyer. How about the trip to nowhere?
I just overstayed. Went to the Taipei police and they gave me a chop making it OK - no charge. Perhaps talking to them would be a good idea?
I don’t think so. Didn’t they put a stamp in the back of your passport? That can make things difficult when you try to get another visa. This happened to me a few years back when I overstayed and gave the excuse that I had been bitten by a dog and needed hospital treatment. (True story, although that wasn’t the real reason why I overstayed.) The next time I applied for a visa in Hong Kong, they made a big fuss about it and eventually gave me a visa with a really short time - 20 days or something - although the Youth Hostels Association faxed them asking them to let me come.
I think my friend has decided to go back to Indonesia after all.
[quote=“Rascal”]How do you do the airport walk without a ticket? Ok, so now you got a ticket and don’t intend to use it … but ever tried to pass security check and immigration without a boarding pass?
In that case you may well do the trip, upon re-entry the immigration may actually check how long you have been away.[/quote]
A word of caution, even if you manage to exit w/o boarding pass, when re-entering, immigration officials will ask which flight you were taking for the arrival. If time and money is limited, as least do a one day return trip.
hey,
i’m planning on doing a visa run in a few weeks, and i’m thinking of doing the cruise route since i have a mult. entry - i went to the starcruises.com website but they wouldn’t do online reservations if i wasn’t from hongkong, malaysia or singapore. does anyone have a recommendation on a travel agent to use to set all this up?