First, apology to moderators. I couldn’t find the right Forum, so this ended up in health.
I am a US passport holder. Got my ARC through my current bushiban.
My daughters are also US passport holders. After crazy travails, have theirs too.
My wife has a Mexican passport. It took us three months and much headache to get the quadrouple certified marriage certificate we supposedly needed to get her ARC.
And are now stressed out bc they told us the Visitor Visa she has cannot be converted to an ARC. Visa we went to the Philippines explicitly to aquire…
I called the MOFA in Kaohsiung and they told me the same thing as immigration here in Tainan. She needs to leave the country. Because the Visa she currently has cannot be converted to anything.
Why does she have the wrong visa? Who knows “different visa agents do things differently. We advise you call in advance to make sure you take the required documents”
So… I had called the KH Mofa Office several times before leaving. The lady I talked to said she could help me do the appropriate visa changes in order to get our ARCs without leaving the country. But my wife had overstayed, so she had to leave (she apparently needed to have extended her student visa twice, as Mexicans only get 60days I stead of our 90days) we paid the 6000NT fine and went to the Philippines. We went to the embassy in Manila 4 or 5 times. Even got to know the people there. To aply for our visas. And all had the wrong visas except mine! I had to pay an extra 3000NTD (each!) to change the girls visas to resident and than get the ARC. Not sure why
We were quite clear that we all needed ARCs and they needed to be my dependents. We were unable to process the whole family directly in Manila because the marriage certificate I had did not have all of the necessary certifications.
Even before we went, the different agents at the immigration office told us different things. Same office… And the different people I called and spoke to also told me different things… So… I am not wholly confident she really has to leave.
(Please understand, we have two little girls, so this would mean all of us doing a Visa run. Again .)
We finally have the crazy difficult to attain certified marriage certificate. I need to find the person I can present it to who will give her a dependent ARC with it without her having to leave the country. Again.
I have no idea why she has the Visa she has. It is a 90day no extension visa. Mexicans always have no extension. Probably due to médicos treaties with China and not Taiwan (they also get fewer, smaller, scholarships). And their visitor Visa is normally 60days… so I don’t know
The MOFA officer asked me to look up the letter under “comments” it says “P”. Apparently it needs to say “SF”
We are thinking we need to do a two day run to HK.
But I REALLY want to make sure it is necessary. And that if and when we go the CORRECT visa is given.
Any help or recommendations would be greatly appreciated