Hello, hoping anyone can be of help. I will be going back home for a holiday over Chinese New Year the day I return is the exact day that my Arc expires (not smart, I know) but my school was supposed to have taken care of my new ARC before I was to leave but this isn’t looking good and as usual are taking their sweet ass time. I don’t want to have to rely on them to make sure that I’ll be able to reenter the country without any hassles. So long story short can I get my current ARC extended while my new one is being processed.
And also can someone give me the adress for the National Immigration Agency in Banqiao.
In the past if your employer had filed for a work permit but it was not yet approved you could usually get a short extension to your ARC, though it is unclear exactly how procedures will change with NIA handling things. I would still really push your employer to get the paperwork done before CNY. They should be aware that it’s always slow to get things done right after CNY. If not, I would suggest applying for the extension before you go on vacation.
Thought I’d bump this as i need the address for the agency in Banqiao and the search function isn’t working. Being an Eastsider I don’t get over that side of town often so best advice for getting there please.
Actually, the search function is working, despite notices to the contrary.
Address:
No. 168, Minzu Road
tel. 02-8964-7960
The building looks more like an ancient concrete dorm than the office of a national agency. It’s about equidistant from the Fuzhong and Banqiao MRT stations but probably easier to find from the Banqiao MRT station if you’re not familiar with the area.
Here’s a map I made, with some additional landmarks.
There’s a free bus that goes from some of the MRT stations (sorry, can’t remember which ones off-hand, but I think Jing’an might be one) to the Global Mall on Zhongshan Road in Zhonghe. From there it’s a short walk to the NIA - Minzu Rd (Banqiao) is the same street as Zhongshan Rd (Zhonghe), it just changes names as it crosses the city boundary. But from Costco it wouldn’t be much for a cab - by far the easier option.
I added Costco to my map, in case that would help. (Thanks to Taiwanease links.)
There’s a Jilong bus that goes from the agency to Costco, but I’m not sure about the reverse. (I take it from my house to Costco but always have too much stuff on the return trip to take a bus back.) But if its route is like that of most other buses it will go back along the same road. These buses are not very frequent, though (every 30-45 mins), so you might want to look for another bus or follow Taffy’s taxi advice.
Thanks for the info guys. I got to the place fine… actually almost walked past it it’s kind of small. Took the Global Mall bus to Global Mall and walked from there.
You can walk it in 10 minutes or it’s a 70nt cab ride from Banqiao MRT. I caught a cab the first time and walked it the rest it’s easy to find once you’ve been driven.
The 307 bus stops almost in front of the new Immigration Dept office and maybe 245 too. It used to be part of Chunghua telecom’s office but Chunghua didn’t need that part of it. We were surprized about how dingy it looked too, it’s almost in the basement. But the pepole in there were very helpful and solved my problem quickly, probably because my wife is taiwanese and could explain the problem to them. We have been there twice, once it was empty and the other time it was packed. There is a free FE-21 bus from the MRT station but I do not recall it going to the Immigration office.
Be careful when taking the 245, as there are three similar but nonetheless different 245 routes. The one that would stop near the new office would be the green one, not the blue or red – unless things have changed in the last year or two. It’s easy to get confused about this, so it’s best to avoid that bus unless you’re familiar with the differences.
You are so right about the 3 busses with 245 number. Once I wanted to go from Banciao to Taipei 101 and took the wrong 245 bus and did not realize it until the driver crossed back over the river. Another time I got on 245 and ended up at the end of the line above Banciao in the hills, with the driver yelling something to me in Chinese, I just laughed. That is why I mentioned the 307 first. It always goes the same route - right?
(Adding info because I was looking for it and couldn’t find it here.)
Opening hours for all offices: 8am to 5pm, with no break at lunch (but I still wouldn’t go there at lunch time!)
Chinese address and phone numbers for the Banqiao location:
地址：臺北縣板橋市民族路168之1號
電話：02-89647960、02-89646937、02-89648463、02-89647905
02-89648128、02-89647169
傳真：02-89647208、 02-89648373
Not sure about the bus, but it the office is actually on the same street that the Costco is. Just follow the same road into Banqiao. The office is on the left side. It would probably only be a couple hundred NT taxi ride from Costco.
Not sure about the bus, but it the office is actually on the same street that the Costco is. Just follow the same road into Banqiao. The office is on the left side. It would probably only be a couple hundred NT taxi ride from Costco.[/quote]
Yep, taxi is easier. Otherwise, you would have to go to Yinping Steet and get on Bus number 10 RED (now 1061 or something like that), going to Tucheng. That’ll take a while.
By taxi, instead, it’s a straight line, same road as Costco is, past the gas station, Global Mall, Lin Family Gardens and then you are there, next to Chungwha Telecom.
