dude (he)
i was saying what they offered me when i went to get my license. i take it you read it wrong, because i’m pretty sure i know what they offered me … 
while there may be 6 year licenses available, i was not offered one, nor was i privy to the knowledge b4 stumbling on to this thread … etc.
[quote=“Mr He”][quote=“Bassman”]The problem is this. You win an appeal now and get a licence for 6 years, but they told me that once that one expires you’d have to appeal yet again to get another six years. They were like, hey, it’s your money, do what you want. So, the cost of winning an appeal for 6 years only to have to do it again, or renew every three years, was a no brainer. To me it seemed like winning just for the sake of winning, but it costing so much and changing nothing.
All these people have won appeals but nothing has changed.[/quote]
If you win and win again, then sooner or later, well, you will get the rules changed. Enough cases on the table will make them change their ways - eventually.[/quote]
We are talking about the same Taiwan, right?
Perhaps when those in charge retire, but not now.
You win, and win again, and you’re still getting done by them. They really don’t give a damn, they just follow the instructions on the appeal court order and wait for the next foreigner. You should see the Taichung county attitude to an appeal, they don’t give a damn, they really do say something like, “it’s your money”.
Will there ever be enough cases on the table. Yeah, I know, with an attitude like mine there won’t, but I don’t have enough faith in the way things are done in Taiwan to really believe that anything will change. I am probably wrong, but nothing I have seen makes me believe any different.
Bassman, you are absolutely right! It’s about time someone said it! Wake up and smell the coffee, boys… 
Please see below my letter to Ministry of Transportation and Communications. Hope can get reply within 7 days. I will let all of you know results.
Dear Sir,
Your new rule requires a year- long ARC to exchange or test to legal drive in Taiwan seem unreasonable.
"Taipei City Motor Vehicles Office ( tcmvd.gov.tw/north/main/new_page_20.htm ) wrote:
Documents Required When Applying for Driving License Test
(1)Alien Residence Certificate [ARC] with validity of over
one year.( the issued day to expired day must be over one year.)
Example : date of issue : 2004.05.05 ~ date of expiry: 2005.05.04 "
A foreigner comes to Taiwan to work and get a one year contract.
For example, His contract is from 2004.05.01- 2005. 4.30.
Arrive Taiwan 2004.05.01
Apply ARC 2004.05.02
Date of issue ARC 2004.05.05
Date of expiry ARC 2005.04.30
He will never get a over one year’s ARC
Please consider this one year rule to drive legally.
Thanks and best regards,
Jason
what’s the ratio of replies to letters sent? i’ve written the MOE on occasion, in english, and never received a reply back. chung hwa actually did help me out once when i wrote to them, but that’s been about it.
guess what i’m saying is don’t hold your breath, on a response or a change. it might happen, but i figure it to be “entish” (read "slow), if it ever come about. it’s not affecting people who really matter (votes etc.)
[quote=“Mr He”][quote=“Bassman”]The problem is this. You win an appeal now and get a licence for 6 years, but they told me that once that one expires you’d have to appeal yet again to get another six years. They were like, hey, it’s your money, do what you want. So, the cost of winning an appeal for 6 years only to have to do it again, or renew every three years, was a no brainer. To me it seemed like winning just for the sake of winning, but it costing so much and changing nothing.
All these people have won appeals but nothing has changed.[/quote]
If you win and win again, then sooner or later, well, you will get the rules changed. Enough cases on the table will make them change their ways - eventually.[/quote]
Or then again, they could start enforcing some BS regulation, like this one, so that most foreigners can’t (or won’t bother to) get a license.
Just curious, this thread is titled new lisence requirement in Taipei City. So my question is whats the requirement in Taipei County and the rest of Taiwan. Is it the same as Taipei City or different?
Taipei county is the most backward of all. Here, if married to a taiwanese citizen, to get a 3 year ARC, you got to have children or the wife need to be pregnant.
Every year it’s the same B.S. at the police station in Banchiao.
Can I get a 3 years ARC? NO!
Then next I go to the MOT in Shulin. Can I get a six year license? NO!
Last year I spent about 2 hours argumenting at the MOT. Got the section chief directly, who could speak English. After 2 hours I got one license for car and one for scooter.
I asked him if I could get a license for a motorcycle over 250 cc . He said if you can proof on paper that your country’s license is valid for motorcycles over 250 cc you can.
I asked him if I could get a truck or bus license, no problem ( I have a licens for and can drive any vehicle legally in my home country) he said if a company hires you and requires you to have a license for these vehicles. So, a motorcycle license is a problem but a truck or bus license isn’t. Weird!
BTW my home license is valid for motorcycles from over 50 cc to whatever cc you can by. The same license is valid for any vehicle from car to havy truck and bus with trailer… So go figure the Taiwanese MOT.
According to Jeremy at bikefarm- foreigners with less than one year remaining on their arc are not allowed to take the test…this excludes the vast majority of us who are on a year to year arc…
what the fuck kind of rule is that?
[quote=“Southpaw”]According to Jeremy at bikefarm- foreigners with less than one year remaining on their arc are not allowed to take the test…this excludes the vast majority of us who are on a year to year arc…
what the fuck kind of rule is that?[/quote]
The web site says…
tcmvd.gov.tw/d2k/english/exchange.htm
So if the ARC is valid for a year then you should be able to get a license.
I renewed my license when I got a new ARC (for one year) with no problem.
As for what kind of rule is this…well maybe, just maybe they don’t to issue hundreds of licenses for students who come here to study for 1 month, two months, three months…oh, can guess where I am going.
Someone here less than a year can drive on an IDL in most cases if they are only here for sightseeing. Students normally attend schools in the larger cities so they have access to public transportation. Neither of these groups need a local driver’s license. By limiting the number of useless licenses issued they are actually using a little brain power for once. (Just for the record, many states in the U.S. will not issue licenses to international students; most will not issue a license to tourists – however, Mexico will issue one to anyone who can come up with a valid address in the country. No test required if you have a U.S. license)
Since most work contracts, thus ARCs, are for one year or more, I don’t see how this can be a problem especially since to renew it every year takes 15 minutes out of my busy 
schedule and is free.
I don’t get it. My ARC expires on Jan. 25. So I renew my ARC in Banqiao and then what? I have to renew my license that same day or else be ineligible – if I wait until even the following day, I’ll have less than a year on my ARC.
Wish I knew…I got a new ARC on the 18th and when to the DMV on the 19th and renewed my liscense…my ARC was good for one year from the 19th to the 20th of the following year.
But, for those of us thinking anally like we do, if your ARC expires on the 19th then your Driver’s license expires on the 19th…to wait until the 20th or 21st is too late you are already illegal…my company provides my paperwork a couple of days in advance, therefore I take care of the insurance, ARC, and license all before the 19th (or the day they expire).
[quote=“Southpaw”]According to Jeremy at bikefarm- foreigners with less than one year remaining on their arc are not allowed to take the test…this excludes the vast majority of us who are on a year to year arc…
what the fuck kind of rule is that?[/quote]I have moved this post and the ones after it to this thread where we we talking about the same thing.
If anyone has the chance, please ask Jeremy where he heard this. If he heard it on Forumosa then we are going in circles. Or if anyone has experience of the new rule in action please let us know.
Firstly, I think that the references on the Taipei City DMV website to an ARC of “over one year” duration are simply a slightly misleading translation and would be better read as “one year or over”. The fact that they give an example of “date of issue : 2004.05.05 ~ date of expiry: 2005.05.04” confirms this. I refer back to my post here: [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 772#257772](New license requirement in Taipei city
Secondly, I find it likely that all the above worry is due to this misunderstanding and that one can take the driving test and recieve one’s license at any time before one’s one year ARC has expired. Of course this would also mean that one could renew one’s license at any time before the ARC expired although as Vannyel points out one should not be riding/driving without a valid license.
I really hope somebody can prove me right on this and that the worries are unfounded. At least we need to know either way.
Sandman – you normally get your renewed ARC at least a few days before the “old ARC” runs out, right? So in any case you should have nothing to worry about; just renew your driver’s license before it expires, as normal.
[quote=“joesax”][quote=“Southpaw”]Or if anyone has experience of the new rule in action please let us know.
Firstly, I think that the references on the Taipei City DMV website to an ARC of “over one year” duration are simply a slightly misleading translation and would be better read as “one year or over”. The fact that they give an example of “date of issue : 2004.05.05 ~ date of expiry: 2005.05.04” confirms this. I refer back to my post here: [forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 772#257772](New license requirement in Taipei city
Secondly, I find it likely that all the above worry is due to this misunderstanding and that one can take the driving test and recieve one’s license at any time before one’s one year ARC has expired. Of course this would also mean that one could renew one’s license at any time before the ARC expired although as Vannyel points out one should not be riding/driving without a valid license.
I really hope somebody can prove me right on this and that the worries are unfounded. At least we need to know either way.
Sandman – you normally get your renewed ARC at least a few days before the “old ARC” runs out, right? So in any case you should have nothing to worry about; just renew your driver’s license before it expires, as normal.[/quote][/quote]
Well I consider my experience to be first hand, and as you said the translation is probably bad. My ARC is for exactly one year and I had no problems whatsoever.
Once again, much to do about nothing…but then I can always be wrong. 
No, I normally procrastinate until the last possible moment. 
[quote=“Vannyel”]Well I consider my experience to be first hand, and as you said the translation is probably bad. My ARC is for exactly one year and I had no problems whatsoever.
Once again, much to do about nothing…but then I can always be wrong. [/quote]So that puts paid to the “over one year” thing. The OP’s problems were due to his 11.5 month ARC, remember, so we can see that there has been a rule change, and that it is in effect. Don’t most university Chinese course students get 6-month ARCs? So that would mean they can’t get a driving license, at least in Taipei City.
Now we need to hear from a 1-year ARC holder who has tried to do the test recently, or who has tried to renew his/her licence when less than a year’s validity remained on the license.
Here’s my experience. Last June, 2004 I went to take the bike test and then was given a license valid to August 4, 2004 ONLY. That is the date my ARC expires each year. To renew they (DMV) told me that I have to show them my renewed ARC for August 4, 2004 - August 4, 2005. So then in July I renewed my ARC and brought it to the DMV, there they gave me a license valid to August 4, 2005. So now my ARC and license coincide with each other, expiring on the same dates. So next year I can renew them at the same time. What is for sure is that the license is only valid for the duration that your ARC is. Meaning if you took the test in June, and your ARC expires in July, the DMV would only issue a license valid for a month. And renew it for another year after you renew your ARC. Not sure about people with 6 month or 5 year ARCs.
[quote=“KawasakiRider”]Here’s my experience. Last June, 2004 I went to take the bike test and then was given a license valid to August 4, 2004 ONLY. That is the date my ARC expires each year…[/quote]OK but you took your test in June, before the rule change came into effect. The worry is that people in situations such as the one you had with only one month left on the ARC will no longer be able to do the license test. As I’ve said I don’t believe this is the case. But we need to hear people’s experiences under the new rules.
[quote=“KawasakiRider”]Not sure about people with 6 month or 5 year ARCs.[/quote]It seems likely that people with 6 month ARCs (issue to expiry date) can no longer get or renew a licence.
Presumably 5-year ARC holders get a licence that’s valid for the duration of their ARC.
As stated in another thread…whether you have a license or not doesn’t matter when placing fault for an accident (or by law it shouldn’t). There is a chance you would get a 6000 ticket. But if the damages are more than 6000 then you will still be ahead by settling with the police.
How do people think I stand?
My ARC was issued March 2004, and set to expire December 2004, because my passport ran out in that month. I have obviously got a new passport and extended the ARC to August 2005, the date my work contract ends.
My ARC ‘validity’ issue to expiriy is 17 months, but it is only valid for 7 more months.
If I can apply, that seems absurd. Why can someone with 7 months get a licence, but someone with 11.5 months not?
If I can’t that makes it practically impossible for someone to get a licence in the first year they come to Taiwan.
To get a visa you have to get a work permit, which means you have to sign a contract. Most contracts are for 1 year, so you sign and send off for your WP. You get that 2 or more weeks later and go get your visa. You come to Taiwan, and take another copy of the contract to get your ARC. Your ARC is issued a few days later and expires on the date that the work contract expires, i.e. 1 year - 2+ weeks to apply for WP - a few days to get a visa and come to Taiwan - a few days to get ARC.
The only way to do it would be to sign a contract for more than 1 year, which is unusual.
What happens if you loose your ARC? Does the reissued one get a new issue date excluding you from the 12 month limit.
What about ammendments? My ARC is already full on the back, correction of Chinese name, new passport number, change of empoyer. I need to change my address too, but guess that they will issue a new card, because there isn’t any more room. Does that mean I’d have to get my licence first?
So many questions, and I know nobody has the answers. This is Taiwan. :loco: