** Please see the last few paragraphs of this news article * *
Bureau offers alternative for renewing R.O.C. passports
2003-04-30 / Taiwan News, Staff Reporter / By Darcy Pan
Holders of Taiwan passports in areas affected by the severe acute respiratory syndrome can ask family members to apply for passport renewals if their travel documents expire between April 28 and May 12, according to Bureau of Consular Affairs.
At a routine press conference at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, BCA section chief Hsu Mei-hsin (
What if I need to go to Singapore and return to Taiwan as an ARC holder does that mean that I do not have the option as citizens do to select home quarantine? (Sorry, I don’t know what sub-fourum to put this in)
It sort of looks that way from the CDC online annoucements:
SCENARIO: I come back into the country as a legally working, tax-paying resident with household registration and tell my wife at home in xizhi that I’ll be a bit late tied up in some sleazy Taoyan joint for 10 days simply because I am a “foreigner”.
Taiwan shoud give those same at-home quarantine rights to legal residents, instead of getting their shorts torqued because I am “foreigner”. My legal residence is in Taiwan just like what they call “native” people on the CDC site …
This sounds good but I dont believe it. I was recently in the foreign police office. What sort of explanation can you give??? Maybe if you have a representative office in Taiwan you can get this stuff…makes me sick.
Does anyone whose visa is expiring have any experience with trying to get their visa extended without leaving the country (in light of not wanting to travel due to the risks associated with SARS)?
Having got my work permit cancelled by my ex-boss, I’m out of luck and have to do a visa run. There didn’t seem any way around it.
I have a friend who has just done six months as a student and was planning to go abroad this week. Apparently he can get an extension until the end of May. It’s not 30 days, but it’s not immediate execution. I expect if he goes in and asks again he’ll be told something else again.
My ARC is up at the beginning of July. My employer has told me I need to go to the hospital and get my tests done, so they can start the process of renewing it. However, with SARS being so rampant right now, and many of the cases seemingly being health care workers, etc… I’m not really happy with the idea of walking into a hospital if I don’t have to.
I read the article Richard originally posted, but I’m not sure if or how it answers the following questions.
1.) Is the government providing any kind of extension on ARCs, so that I don’t have to renew right now (go through the tests, etc…)? (Is this what was said in the article? Or was it talking about other types of visas?)
2.) If I still need to go, can I go somewhere other than a hospital, like a clinic? Or, am I required to go to a hospital? Also, would a clinic be any safer?
3.) If I have to go to a hospital, any suggestions on which would be the “healthiest”?
4.) Finally, how long does the ARC process take (this is my first time renewing it)? When is the latest I can get the tests done?