JFRV and Work Rights for Foreign Spouses

#61

I’m Canadian and my wife is Taiwanese. Currently I have an ARC from my school, but I’d rather have a JFRV because of the freedom to find other work that it would afford me.

My question is, do we need to be married in Canada for me to get a JFRV in Taiwan? We haven’t been to Canada together in the last few years. It’s hard to do the trip with two kids. We’ve been married in Taiwan for five years.

I heard somewhere that to get a JFRV you must be married in TW and also in the foreign spouse’s home country, but this doesn’t seem very practical. What if the foreign spouse’s home country is really, really far and the couple has limited financial means?

#62

You do not need to get married in the foreign spouse’s home country. Getting married in Taiwan will do provided you have all the required documentation needed to get married here.

#63

[quote=“wudjamahuh”]I’m Canadian and my wife is Taiwanese. Currently I have an ARC from my school, but I’d rather have a JFRV because of the freedom to find other work that it would afford me.

My question is, do we need to be married in Canada for me to get a JFRV in Taiwan? We haven’t been to Canada together in the last few years. It’s hard to do the trip with two kids. We’ve been married in Taiwan for five years.

I heard somewhere that to get a JFRV you must be married in TW and also in the foreign spouse’s home country, but this doesn’t seem very practical. What if the foreign spouse’s home country is really, really far and the couple has limited financial means?[/quote]

All you need to do is ask the Household Registration office to put your name in your SO’s Household Registration. It should only take a couple of minute to process this. Then bring that document to the Immigration Office and tell them you’d like your ARC to be based on marriage, not work. Good luck!

#64

Thanks for the info, folks! I’m relieved that it isn’t as complicated as I’ve been lead to believe.

#65

My wife (R.O.C. citizen) and I (U.S. citizen) took our NJ marriage certificate to the Coordination Council for North American Affairs office in New York to have it “certified”. Once that was done, we presented it at the Daan District Administration Office and had my name added to her household registration (hu kou). We then took the updated registration (print out) to the immigration office to apply for my ARC.

However, I needed additional documentation to complete my ARC application: background check, birth certificate and heath-check (all “certified” by the Coordination Council for North American Affairs in NY - could not get that done in Taiwan), plus an R.O.C. “Visitor Visa” in my US passport (again, from the NY R.O.C. office).

#66

Have anybody tried to get an ARC in the last 30 days of your visa? I read you are meant to have 60 days left, and I already cashed my 2 extensions, and finally I have my police records coming but I may only have 30 days left when they get here and I would love to stop doing visa runs.

#67

Now to answer myself, a 60 days unrestricted visa is a requirement, but you can start the process with 7 days remaining, and the guys at NIA (at least the one close to me) do as much as they can to speed the process.

#68

deleted, found answer.