[Overstay] Overstaying a visa: Just fines? other sanctions?

While at Police HQ in Taipei, I saw a board with a list of fines for overstaing a visa:

< 30 days = NT$1,000
31-90 days = NT$5,000

90 days = NT$10,000

These fines, particularly the lower ones, do not seem like a big deal to me, compared to the cost and hastle of a visa run.

I am wondering though if there are further sanctions, such as refusal of future visas. Does anyone know?

Naturally, if I am involved in a situation in Taiwan requiring me to show ID and visa status, then I suppose I’d have to settle my status right away at that time.

But the odds of that happening seem very unlikely to me, until it is time to hit the airport out of here. The way I see it, I’d be happy to pay NT$5,000 to stay 90 extra days.

I would appreciate any insight on this.

Of course you have to leave Taiwan. Technically you can be blacklisted for the amount of time that you overstayed your visa. Hence, if you overstayed 15 days, then they could forbid you from re-entering for another 15 days. If you were suspected to have been working illegally, they could double this day figure.

The Police have also been known to require a person returning to Taiwan (after blacklisting has expired) to sign a statement that he/she will never overstay again, or else be subject to certain other certain administrative penalties.

I would note that in the case of a child, an “overstay mandatory deportation order” should probably be challenged.

Thanks for the reply. It is certainly not an ideal option as it invites trouble.

However, it the fines are presented so matter-of-factly on a billboard at police HQ, that it seemed worth considering. If it is treated seriously, you wouldn’t know it by their sign, which doesn’t even bother putting a warning message up about it.

If I were to do it, it would be upon my final stay in Taiwan. While I might want to revisit one day, it wouldn’t be an immediate concern for the forceeable future.