Ideas to help me visit son? ARC maybe?

New law. From Monday on you can apply for a visiting visa. https://www.cdc.gov.tw/Bulletin/Detail/izG6u7nlQeGUtx46uSVhAw?typeid=9

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If you have provided any economic assistance to your son previously, bring receipts, show them to the office make a point to prove your son needs you.

Best of luck.

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Does she demand money from you?

Well demand not really.
We signed a divorce decree stating i pay her money and that she shares the child in the summer months each year.
Sharing the kid never happened but she sure took my money.
I have have stopped the money now because im in taiwan
I will gladly pay to see my son according to our agreement

Not in good old UK. We confirmed via symptoms first, then antibody tests, then PCR.

Honestly UK healthcare is so backwards. Even our late response to it all. Only talking towards the end about ā€œdo you think we should close borders??ā€.

When I come to Taiwan Iā€™m amazed at how good your health care is. Quick. Efficient. Really cheap actually. Same with eye care and dentistry. Always come back with new glasses or having my teeth done.

Update: spoken to and a couple emails back and forth with the Taipei representative office in Edinburgh.

The ARC ā€œjoining familyā€ route is for joining adult spouses etc. Knew this was a long shot. I can try and find a job that is willing to sponsor me later on for ARC.

The good news is I can apply for a special entry visa (visitor visa for visiting relatives) from the Edinburgh office. Doesnā€™t look too difficult, takes up to 14 days.

Told on the phone the negative Covid19 test within 3 days of flying is for the airline company, not to apply for visa. Wonā€™t be able to board without it. PCR based one.

Then itā€™s home quarantine for 14 days once I land.

One thing I was thinking is will a hotel accept me and allow me to quarantine there? Ex wife has a spare (empty) apartment close by to our son but isnā€™t interested in making visits easyā€¦

Overall very good news and Iā€™ll get cracking with the application. Iā€™ll email a few hotels locally and see how they feel about having a quarantine zombie staying.

Going to be tight getting a PCR test within 3 days of flight because some clinics are saying 48 to 72hrs turnaround time. Bit of a gamble to book flights and hotel before getting the test results :upside_down_face:

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just wanna say good luck man! Hope it works out!

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Thank you. Donā€™t often hear things like that. Itā€™s crap not being able to be there for him. Much appreciated :+1:

If your ex-wife allows you to stay at the empty apartment, it would be great, but you will need someone to deliver your meals (Uber Eats?). You have to make sure they can deliver to your door as leaving the apartment is breaking the quarantine.

There are government approved quarantine hotels (meals are included). This page has numbers you can call:
https://taiwan.taiwanstay.net.tw/covhotel/

Staying at a quarantine hotel in Taoyuan is probably the easiest, as quarantine hotels in other cities/counties, such as Taipei, and New Taipei can only accommodate residents of those cities. Here is the number to call for Taoyuan:
+886-3-3335107

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The 3-day Covid19 test result turnaround is very likeky doable, you just have some legwirk cut out for you to find one near where you live. It may cost a bit out of pocket, but there should be clinics that offer that. You can plan with them about test date and then base your departure date around them knowing thereā€™s seats available on plane. Try to get a 2-for-1 deal/discount just in case at last moment the planeā€™s departure is delayed/cancelled. Also, make sure of only direct flight. Donā€™t risk a flight that transits through another city, before landing in Taiwan.

In Taiwan there should be some quarantine hotels (somewhere deep in the main Taiwan Covid thread), but again just more legwork. Theyā€™re there somewhere. You might even be able to get quarantine voucher from government like NT$1000/day for spending, if memory serves correctly, as I think Taiwan government has/had been doing that.

Thereā€™s plenty of readers pulling for your success. :+1:

Non-resident foreigners are no longer eligible to receive the compensation.

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Thanks so much for the link. Really really helpful.

Blown away from the assistance and kindness from people on here.

Iā€™ll get cracking with the visitor visa application today.

And see if I can find a quick turnaround clinic for the COVID19 test.

Been a funny old year so far 2020 :upside_down_face:

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Thanks :blush:

Quite right too. Residents and nationals absolutely, but paying for foreigners is way too much.

Didnā€™t you have some foreigners last month complaining about quarantine hotel conditions? I think they were British too. I apologise on their behalf :upside_down_face::joy: should have just kicked them out tbh!

Can you try attaching a letter (will help if written in chinese) to the NIA to make an exception for you. donā€™t know if itā€™ll help, but why not try.

Sorry, could you rephrase that please? An exception for me for? The visitorā€™s visa? Or ?

Iā€™ll add a cover letter for sure, the immigration representative seemed to think Iā€™d be successful with the visitorā€™s visa application based on visiting a relative.

What I meant to say is: since you were married to a Taiwanese, maybe you could try and plead with them to treat you differently compared to tourists, whom they may deny entry.

Address a higher up directly, like a minister in the NIA (or equivalent).

Maybe you could write something like visiting your son is for his own good, for his mental health, upbringing etc. and that keeping you away from him is not good for the child. Maybe itā€™ll convince someone higher up to issue you whatever permission is needed to enter to country and see your son. Get the letter written in Chinese as well.

Attach some pics of you with your son to the letter. Needless to say, attach notarized copies of your marriage registration from Australia and may a UK equivalent if that exists. It helps hasten the process.

Ah ok I see what you mean now. And yes Iā€™ll put that all in the cover letter.

Reading what you wrote there about benefit to my son and his upbringing got me thinking ā€œwow, you really need to speak to my ex wifeā€ :upside_down_face:

I find it all very abstract now but even in UK court my ex wife was told by solicitors / health workers / court representatives that my son would grow up absolutely fine without his father. But btw we still need and court order the fatherā€™s money each month.

Itā€™s counterintuitive to every bone in every fathers body to hear that kids donā€™t need dadā€™s, yet this is how it is in modern divorce cases. I had to learn to float above it all and focus on small things like doing Skype with him. The ā€œDaddy is it ok for me to have 2 Dadā€™s?ā€ questions are difficult.

What on earth are we doing to families these days :flushed: Itā€™ll not end well for society, already very clearly going to the dogs.

Sorry to hear about this situation. Canā€™t offer advice, but this is such common shit, it boils my blood.

How many foreigners have a kid with a local, end up getting divorced, usually because the local wants it, and then lose their rights to their kids.

It seems like an unwritten rule of divorce here if you are foreign.

This is the main reason I wonā€™t allow my wife a divorce. We donā€™t have any real relationship, and I would really like a proper relationship with someone, but not at the expense of being cut off from my kid.