I am currently studying in Taipei on a visitor visa and last week I had to go to Hong Kong for 2 days for a job interview. On applying for a visa in HK to let me back into Taiwan, I was charged the full sum (plus express service handling fee!) and then refused a visa, as my proof of address in the UK was too old. I did explain that I’d been living in Taipei for nearly 6 months so I had no more recent proof of address in the UK, but was not able to persuade them.
I’m now back in Taipei with no visa (UK citizens seem to be entitled to 30 days visa-free). What I need to know is: is there any way on earth to get the visitor visa here in Taiwan? Or, in the worst case scenario, if I have to leave the country again, where would be cheapest and fastest for me to go? If I miss more than 10 hours of class I lose my scholarship to study here!! Suggestions please - I am in despair! Thank you so much.
Try getting help from your school. My info is old but I don’t think you can turn the 30 day landing visa in Tw into any extended visa without an emergency.
I’m not sure if Naha is any better but I would gather as much documentation as you can and your school should provide you with help and letters confirming your status.
The guy in charge of the visa office in Hong Kong is an asshole. And he’s famous for it. He is quite well known for making up stuff and refusing visas to people who are clearly entitled to them. This proof of address shit is just something he’s made up because he doesn’t want to give you a visa.
For example, he refused my wife a visitor visa even though she’s been living in Taiwan for two years with me and I have an ARC. He just felt like it. “Fuck you”, he thought, “You’re not getting a visa. HAHAHA!”
I had to get the BTCO, a law firm, and a legislator involved before he would issue the visa. It cost my wife hundreds of US dollars to stay an extra three days in HK.
Avoid HK. The guy running the office is just another one of those nasty Taiwanese government xenophobes you meet once in a while. Why they put these people in jobs where they have to deal with foreigners I’ll never know.
Again the Taiwanese government is doing itself no favours with this shit. Who the hell would want to come to Taiwan to study Chinese and put up with this shit? No. Everyone’s going to China. Nice one Taiwanese “government”. Well done again. So you’ve driven out the Chinese students. Now you’re starting on the white collar workers, soon there’ll be nobody left, and that’s the way Chen Shuibian wants it. What an asshole.
I am thinking about writing a letter of complaint over my wife’s business. Perhaps I should start another thread. The other thread.
OK, well thanks for the suggestions everyone. Thankfully I have it all sorted out now (I think). After 4 hours of negotiations at the Wai Jiao Bu, they amazingly agreed to let me extend my 30-day visa-free status into a full ARC. Apparently they made a mistake originally in the UK when I applied for the visitor visa (and when I extended it twice in Taipei), as they should have given me an ARC straight away - students with scholarships from the Taiwan Ministry of Education are entitled to an ARC immediately. So basically they will temporarily change my visa-free status into a visitor visa, so that I can apply for the ARC (which I have now done). Won’t really believe it until I see the thing in my passport, but it seems to be ok…
I would LOVE to participate in a complaint about the HK visa office. They were APPALLINGLY rude and unhelpful and cost me a fortune in having to stay in HK.