I went to Chung Hwa Travel in Hong Kong yesterday to apply for a 60-Day EXTENDABLE visa in order to “study Chinese” in Taiwan. They asked for:
A certificate from the school claiming I’m enrolled (it’s a private, government-approved language school, not a University)
A plane ticket out of Taiwan
A financial statement (I had a printout of my American bank credit union balances from the Internet. Sorry, they didn’t tell me how much they were looking for, but I assumed it had to be over $2500USD).
Two photos
Because I’m American, 920HK$ (about $130USD) for the visa fee and same-day processing.
I got 60 DAYS NON-EXTENDABLE, because I was only signed up for 2 months of classes. Crumbs!!! They said I can TRY to extend it with the foreign affairs police when I enroll for another term of Chinese classes. The people at my Chinese school said it shouldn’t be a problem, but then again, they also said I had a good chance of getting an EXTENDABLE visa.
I hope somebody finds this info useful. E-mail me with any questions.
I had the exact same situation happen to me, except I didn’t have a plane ticket showing the Chung Hwa travel agent I was leaving Taiwan anytime soon (as I explained to the cynical employee behind the desk, I had just LEFT there, and was going BACK there later that night, so why did I need a plane OUT of there again…anyway…)
I had only proof of 2 month study term. So they gave me a 60 day non-extendable visa. Arseholes. It freaked me out for a while too.
It’s not a problem though.
Just pay in advance your fee for the next semester after that. Bring all your above mentioned docs including most importantly your receipt for this advance payment and a cover letter stating your study plan for chinese( to “prove” that you really are studying chinese, a few sentences will do…just imagine you are ten years of age again and you need to show your teacher some words for the day…), study exam results/scores so far (school should print out official doc for you) to the foreign affairs department opposite the NTU University…
They will change your visa to an extendable one…then i forget if you need to go to the main municipal Taipei police office to get some more stamps, but you’re home and dry after that…
rog, thanks for the advice! Anything’s better than flying over to Hong Kong again.
One thing though, my school gave me a list of things to bring the FA police, and included was $4,000 USD in traveller’s cheques receipts, which I don’t have. I prefer getting cash advances through my credit card and paying it off online through my bank’s website. Will a bank statement from the U.S. be enough to satisfy them?
I got my first visa with nothing more than a printout of an online statement - easily edited if you know how, too. The second time around my employer put a ton of cash into my Chinatrust account, updated my bank book, and then withdrew the cash back again.
It’s probably all down to the person you deal with on the day.
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