I just found out that a US citizen marrying a Taiwanese could obtain a JFRV ARC or a JFRV APRC. Previously, I thought it was only one singular JFRV and not two different types.
Does anyone know what are the different rights and responsibilities between the two? Which one is preferable? Thanks in advance.
First of all, drop the term JFRV. It is not used by government and is misleading.
Saying spouse ARC might be more clear, but you might want to specify it’s a “spouse of Taiwanese with HHR” ARC because spouse ARCs based on marriage to another foreigner do not give open work rights.
After 5 years of residency on that ARC, you can apply to get an APRC, and it will be an APRC where the original residency was based on marriage to a Taiwanese with HHR. This kind of APRC has a few differences to one gained by different routes and there are a few threads here discussing this.
“Spouse of Taiwanese with HHR” ARC and an APRC roughly have the same benefits, namely open work rights. Main differences of the APRC is that you can maintain your residency even if you divorce, it’s a one time fee (of 10k) and you only need to update it (for free) every ten years (when your passport number changes). Main difference of the “Spouse of Taiwanese with HHR” ARC is that it can’t be cancelled if you leave Taiwan for more than 6 months (as long as you don’t let it expire). If you are on APRC and need to leave TW for longer than 6 months you can apply to leave for longer so it’s still probably worth getting the APRC. Plus, if you did lose the APRC because you left too long, worse case scenario you just apply for another “Spouse of Taiwanese with HHR” ARC.
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
I’m a US citizen. My wife’s household registry status is currently not active. Meaning she’s on the household registry but I think it states that she left the country.
Starting the middle of next year our plan is to live 3-6 months in Taiwan and 3-6 months back in the US. My wife will be going back to Taiwan in March and entering Taiwan using her Taiwan passport. She’s also going to try and get her national ID card. Do you know if she can go on the national health plan right away or is there a waiting period?
Her plan is register our US marriage license and my FBI background check to start the process in preparation for next year. Do you think that it’s too early to do that?
You can confirm she does actually have HHR by checking if she has an ID number section in her passport (in addition to passport number).
If she has the ID number, bus she is inactive due to leaving Taiwan for a long time, then all she has to do is reactivate it and you are eligible for the spouse ARC mentioned earlier.
Register the marriage in both the US and TW as soon as possible. For the background check just make sure it doesn’t expire by the time you apply. I’m not sure if Taiwan requires it to have been issued X number of months before ARC application.
I just checked her Taiwan passport and it does have her ID number. I’m guessing it should be pretty easy to reactivate once she gets to Taiwan in the spring.
Would you happen to know how long would it take for her to be able to get on National healthcare?