Plans B, C, & D: HELP!

Legal Visa & Residency
1

Which plan is best to get in?

  • Plan B (A lil trip to Thailand)
  • Plan C (Incognito in California)
  • Plan D (The stake out - wait and see with TLI)

0 voters

[color=darkred]Time for evasive maneuvers![/color] :runaway:

[color=darkred]Plans B, C, & D[/color]

Ok, so TLI failed me and it has become painfully clear that I will not be able to obtain a visa through the Seattle TECO office. (Bitches) :grrr:

I have an alternative plan. But I would appreciate some opinions.

[color=darkred]Plan B:[/color]

[list]Buy a round-trip ticket from Taipei to Bangkok
Use Existing Air Ticket: May 11 to Oct 17 to arrive in Taipei using Visa Exempt 30-day.
Get a medical exam and apply for admittance at the CCU Language Center.
Leave Taiwan mid-May for Bangkok and spend some time seeing the site in Thailand.
Apply for Visa

2

Plan C is basically what I did to get my residency visa, since my employer couldn’t/wouldn’t send me a letter of employment while I was still in NZ. I don’t know if it’ll work for changing to student status, but it worked for me with employment.

3

Plan B or C. Plan D is asking for a whipping.

4

Agreed. I’d go with B or C. Also check into getting a modified “official” itinerary that shows a more acceptable departure date, even if the actual reservations are not changed. You could always change the reservations (although it would cost you something, most likely) if needed.

5

I would double check your fare rules and/or contact your airline for your trip to TPE. If I recall correctly, it’s changing the departure date that triggers the $100 penalty. Changing the return date shouldn’t be a problem. With time so short, you are going have to have everything just right.

6

[quote=“derek1978”]My visa was


[color=red]DENIED![/color]

:fume: :fume: :fume: :fume: :fume:

…

5 minutes later I was talkig to the 1st lady again. She said it was denied and that is final. NO REFUND! :fume:

…

I have since called SF TECO and LA TECO they both said that Kai Nan IS an approved school!!! But they can’t process my visa since I am out of their jurisdiction. I asked if they could contact Seattle and pass along the good news and they said no. Just to “keep trying”!!! WTF!!! :fume: :fume:

…

…I asked to talk to her boss. She said Taiwan is my boss. (What a Smart ASS!) at this point I was BOILING with anger, but calmly and firmly I told her I would be in direct contact with the MOE, KaiNan University, and BOCA and I would be calling back. We both hung up.

[color=red]This is BULL SHIT! Utter and complete BULL SHIT![/color]
[/size][/quote]

What’s this!?

You haven’t even arrived in Taiwan yet and already you are berating the Taiwan beauracracy…

Seems you’ve changed your tune from this:

[quote=“derek just the other day”][url=I'm embarrassed to live in Taiwan - #48 by Quarters know guys, all this bitching about Taiwan not being just like home is really getting to me. Enough already. If you don’t like it, leave. If you don’t like it and can’t leave, shut up, suck it up, and make the best out of your situation. Come on, be a man (woman)!

You are all beginning to sound like a bunch of pansies.

I always pictured expats, trekers, foreign exchange people, travelers, and the such to be people of high adventure. People daring to go to places that people only read about in travel magazines and see on the discovery channel. People willing to roll up their sleeves, get down and dirty with the locals, and take a big ass bite out of life. Instead all I am seeing is the equivelant of a cruise ship full of old farts who complain that their filet mingon is too cold, their room is a bit stuffy, and their depends are too tight.

I say to you…Jump Ship! Get a grip on your life and make something better of it, get a new hobby, find a new love, open your eyes a bit wider and look at how fortunate you are…most poor suckers never see what you have seen let alone live it. Better yet, look deep inside yourself and find out what is missing that you can fill to make your life a bit more meaningful and enjoyable.

Call me optomistic, call me a fool, call me what you will…but from now on I am steering clear of these negative forums that suck you in and destroy your positive state of mind.

Good luck to you all, i truly hope you can find what can make you happy.
[/url][/quote]

7

Derek,

You need to chill out. If these small minor inconveniences are irritating you, you might not adjust very well to the daily frustrations that people living abroad sometimes face.

My advice – go to TECO in Seattle and make this face in the window before mooning them:

8

Tigerman,

My post that addressed expats complaining about the living conditions in Taiwan is semi-irrelevant to this thread about visa problems.

I will admit, my posts were made while I was hot under the collar, just minutes after my unfortunate encounter with Seattle. Perhaps a bit hasty and perhaps a bit too much bold and red.

I have simmered down now and am thinking witha clear head. I have a plan and am not about to give up or let this experience get the better of me. In my own words, I will stand up and be a man, I will quit being a pansie and bitching too much and I will put my negative energy to good use and over come this obstacle.

I’m going to go with the Thailand option. I have been in contact with the CCU and SF TECO and BOFA. All have confirmed that all is well with the visa issuing powers of the CCU. I will arrive like I planned in May…be a tourist for a bit, get some medical exams done and apply to CCU, take a nice trip with my fiancee to Thailand, and return in June to start school.

Some might ask, Why am I posting all this about my troubles? Why am I airing my dirty laundry for all to see? Why am I voicing my frustrations with so much bold red font? Well…

In hopes that my mistakes, misfortunes, blunders, banana peel slips, and frustrations will help some poor sole down the road who might find himself facing the same decsission making quandries that I have faced. As for the red bold font…well, i got a bit carried away. I will refrain from using the bold, huge, red combinations except for life and death situations. :smiley:

9

I beg to differ. Its quite relevant.

The fact is, the beauracracy in Taiwan, as it relates to foreign nationals living here, is one of the many aspects that does affect the living conditions of those of us who do live here.

I was simply pointing out to you that you haven’t even arrived yet, and you are already somewhat exasperated by the Taiwan beauracracy.

Perhaps.

What makes you think that the folks who post about poor living conditions in Taiwan were not posting while “hot under the collar”?

Good for you.

Good luck. I wish you all the best.

10

Thanks for the good luck. :slight_smile:

11

:roflmao: :roflmao: :roflmao:

Tigerman’s right, Derek.

Welcome to Taiwan! :rainbow:

12

If he’s bitching about something as simple as a visa, then god knows what will happen once he has to deal with the taiwanese paper pushers ona regular basis here.

I see a culture shock in the making - and not a small one at that.

13

In my opinion as a former long-time Taiwan resident, you should feel free to use the big red font whenever it freakin’ makes you feel better. Everyone deals with the frustrations of life in Taiwan in different ways, and no one has the right to tell you your means of dealing with it is inappropriate (unless, perhaps, it involves traceable felonies or the like). Anyone who finds the big red font irritating can simply not read your post. It’s not like you’re slandering someone who is universally popular, now, is it?? :smiley:

In my case, personally, it was sarcasm in Chinese that saved the day – since Chinese don’t really understand the English variety of sarcasm, so saying something like “There is nothing in the world I’d rather do than to assemble a new batch of the same forms for you, sir” apparently comes across as sincere under the right conditions, while to a foreigner, of course, the sincerity level is suitably low.

14

I thought it was only us Saffers that had it hard at the visa offices (and Filipinos, Indo’s, etc).

There’s a rather nasty cow at the Johannesburg office. Been there years.

I’ll be heading to the Pretoria office when I head back - heard the lady there’s easier on visa applicants (take note if you’re applying for a visa in these parts of the world).

She actually advises you, carefully, what you will need, and what you can do, to up your chances of getting a visa.

She seems willing to give me a two month extendable visitor visa.

Fingers crossed…

15

You know derek,

You seem to be a nice fellow and all. Enjoy reading your life of derek on these boards. But, friendly advice here. The stuff you post about has already been posted ad infinitum. The problems you face and the answers to you seek are already here. Read this board first, then open your mouth about relevance and irrelevance.

[quote=“derek1978”]
My post that addressed expats complaining about the living conditions in Taiwan is semi-irrelevant to this thread about visa problems.[/quote]

:unamused:

I wouldn’t want to see you continue eating your Nike’s.

Carry on as you were.

16

Hey Derek, how about Plan E:

Come to Taiwan without a visa and get a two-week landing visa.

Get married within those two weeks.

Problem solved (I think)! :rainbow:

17

[quote=“Yellow Cartman”]You know derek,

You seem to be a nice fellow and all. Enjoy reading your life of derek on these boards. But, friendly advice here. The stuff you post about has already been posted ad infinitum. The problems you face and the answers to you seek are already here. Read this board first, then open your mouth about relevance and irrelevance.

[quote=“derek1978”]
My post that addressed expats complaining about the living conditions in Taiwan is semi-irrelevant to this thread about visa problems.[/quote]

:unamused:

I wouldn’t want to see you continue eating your Nike’s.

Carry on as you were.[/quote]

Don’t own a pair of nikes and don’t want to, thanks. Moving along now.

18

[quote=“Indiana”]Hey Derek, how about Plan E:

Come to Taiwan without a visa and get a two-week landing visa.

Get married within those two weeks.

Problem solved (I think)! :rainbow:[/quote]

US gets a 30 day landing visa.

Already decided to head out to Thailand. Will be my first time there. Looking forward to it. Thanks anyways.

19

I’d suggest against the Thailand route. Actually, if you enter Taiwan from Thailand, you will not be able to get an extendable visa. You’ll need to travel out of Taiwan, possibly to Hong Kong, to get an extendable visa. That’s the information for work visas, not marriage visas, but I don’t see any reason you should be able to extend a visa on the basis of marriage/study though you cannot extend it on the basis of work. Better check that Thailand is a true option before you try it. Or get a trip to Taiwan that stops off in Hong Kong on the way.