Who thinks that foreigners should all be entitled to six year drivers’ licenses?
I am having a Coordination Meeting with MOTC officials on the afternoon of October 1st Tuesday to get it ironed out (hopefully). I could possibly take one or two appropriately dressed, Chinese speaking foreigners along.
If anyone is interested, let me know. We will probably meet in the Legislative Yuan somewhere.
I’m game. 8)
Sorry Richard, my Chinese is boo how , but I agree about the six years . . . I had mine issued in Jan 97 and it expires on my birthday in 2003.
My driver’s license is only valid until the expiry date on my ARC (the joining family one.) It is a pain because I have to renew it every time I renew my ARC.
Six years would be great, and I also think the expiry date of the driver’s license should not be linked to the ARC expiry date – it’s a hassle for foreigners and more unnecessary paperwork for administration people.
… it’s the money!
I get so fed up having to drag myself up to the DMV to get new licenses every year or two and fork over as much cash as the locals do for a full term. Which brain donor decided to link the licenses to the ARC’s in the first place?
Good luck guys, and thanks for the effort.
I can make an effort to try to look more presentable, and I’m free on Tuesday if you need me. I’m definitely in agreement with you about the driver’s license issue.
Dead thread?
Bummer, just saw this tonight and I would have been up for it.
Hartzell what happened?
I do note that I got my scoot licence for 6 years, well past the expiry on my then ARC. Though this is clearly not true for all.
I took that damn riding test 3 times! 
I’d got all messed up with the Chinese - the chap kept saying don’t ‘ya’ the line, but I heard ‘kua’ - to cross over. I’ve had a motorcycle licence in my home country for years and ridden since I was a kid. The worst thing was watching people pass by wobbling around the track with both feet out and looking totally petrified.
I now need to take the car licence but I’m not game, reverse esses? Gawd! If they gave me a one year licence after that effort I’d not be a happy man.
HG
Well, I hope that the matter is settled before June 1, 2008, as the drivers license Richard helped me to get expires then.
Couldn’t agree more - my license expires with my ARC - next July - and I only got it last week! (scooter)
The scooter riding test is a horror - I’ve had a UK bike license 30 plus years - but I failed that one first time and only passed on the second attempt 2nd time on that narrow straight.
Made the mistake of trying to go too slow first time - trying to look at the clock counting down and the track at the same time.
Correct me if I am wrong, but if you have a APRC then you can get a 6 year licence. As my APRC card doesn’t even have an expiry date there’s not much the bureaucrat can do.
The small handful of people who have APRC will be happy to hear that! What about the rest of us?
How many people do have an APRC anyway? Surely it can’t be over 100?
The Coordination Meeting was attended by three segue.com.tw Moderators: Richard, Maoman (Anthony), and Ironlady (Terry): According to what we learned at the Meeting, the MOTC is revising the various rules and regulations, and those will come into effect in early 2003 at the latest.
For those resident foreigners who take the Taiwan driving test, they will all be given a six-year driver’s license, regardless of the expiry date of their ARC. This six-year rule will also apparently apply to those who renew their existing Taiwan driver’s license.
A British friend of mine wrote:
“I checked the International Driving Permit and apparently the law has
recently changed and it is valid for 1 year now (not all countries but the
UK is OK). I checked mine and it is dated until Oct 2003. Good news.”
Apparently he got his IDP stamped as valid for a year… I thought/read it was 30 days? If this is correct, you could go this route until the 6-year rule is changed and avoiding the renewal.
Good work on the 6-year license Richard. Hope it happens before my next renewal comes up in Jan '03!
Richard, when you say resident do you mean APRC holders or ARC holders?
Does that mean when we renew again we get our licenses for 6 years, if we have ARC?
oops, have to read more slowly… found the answer. I feel so stupid, I guess I need to invite the Moderator out for a coffee. An ARC holder and APRC holder are both residents.
hsiadogah wrote
[quote]A British friend of mine wrote:
“I checked the International Driving Permit and apparently the law has
recently changed and it is valid for 1 year now (not all countries but the
UK is OK). I checked mine and it is dated until Oct 2003. Good news.”
Apparently he got his IDP stamped as valid for a year… I thought/read it was 30 days? If this is correct, you could go this route until the 6-year rule is changed and avoiding the renewal.[/quote]
Do I understand you correctly?
Sure the IDP is valid for one year (it has been in the UK for as long as I can remember - 10-15 years), but the IDP was designed to allow visitors/ tourists to drive in other countries; it was not meant to be used by residents. This was certainly the regulation in Taiwan, where if you were in the country for over 30 days you were supposed to get a local Taiwanese licence. So, this has now changed and you can get your IDP endorsed by the authorities in Taiwan.
Did your British friend get his IDP stamped by the DMV in Taiwan?
Is there a fee?
Can you still register a car and get it insured?
[quote=“baobao”]
Do I understand you correctly?
Sure the IDP is valid for one year (it has been in the UK for as long as I can remember - 10-15 years), but the IDP was designed to allow visitors/ tourists to drive in other countries; it was not meant to be used by residents. This was certainly the regulation in Taiwan, where if you were in the country for over 30 days you were supposed to get a local Taiwanese licence. So, this has now changed and you can get your IDP endorsed by the authorities in Taiwan.
Did your British friend get his IDP stamped by the DMV in Taiwan?
Is there a fee?
Can you still register a car and get it insured?[/quote]
I have a Taiwan licence, so I haven’t jumped through this particular burning hoop. As I understand from this forum, you were required to have the IDP stamped in order to make it valid and yes, it was stamped as valid for period of 30 days. Presumably to prevent us residents driving on them permanently and never obtaining local licences.
My friend’s recent experience is as written, one year validity stamp. I’ll have a look at it myself this weekend and let you know who did the stamping and what it cost.
I don’t recall having to show my license to register or insure my cars, my ARC was required of course.
Well, just went into Taichung’s dvlc today to renew my driver’s licenese, and guess what, validity is at 2004 with my ARC. :x
So Richard, what’s the next step with the admin appeal? I’m ready for war. 
[quote=“Hartzell”]The Coordination Meeting was attended by three Segue (Now Forumosa).com.tw Moderators: Richard, Maoman (Anthony), and Ironlady (Terry): According to what we learned at the Meeting, the MOTC is revising the various rules and regulations, and those will come into effect in early 2003 at the latest.
For those resident foreigners who take the Taiwan driving test, they will all be given a six-year driver’s license, regardless of the expiry date of their ARC. This six-year rule will also apparently apply to those who renew their existing Taiwan driver’s license.[/quote]
Well that’s certainly not the case. I have recently (last month) been given a one year licence for a bike, and a one year licence for a car, despite having passed the bike test in Taiwan in 1995 (at which time I was given a full six-year licence). My original car licence for Taiwan was also six years.
So what’s happening ? How much does it cost to file an appeal ? Do you have to file two one for the bike licence and one for the car licence ? How long does it take ?
What if I do the big bike test ? Do you think they’ll give me a one year licence ? Not much for the NT$8000 test fee.
As far as I can see, my two licences under this new ridiculous “regulation” will cost me five renewals each at NT$300 a pop - that’s NT$3000 over the next six years. Pretty rich considering a Taiwanese in the UK who gets a UK licence gets ten years for GBP14 (NT$770)(and the motorbike and car entitlement are on the same document - why the hell do we need TWO licences anyway?!)
Hi Richard,
Do you know what the status is on this? Did the policy actually change for ARC and APRC-ers? My original six-year motorbike license is up for renewal this year.
Cheers,
Jeremy