My wife is Taiwanese (resident in Taiwan) and I’m about to go to HK to apply for a visa that will allow me to come back to Taiwan and apply for an ARC.
When I filled the online visa application form I chose to apply for a Resident visa, but after the process was completed, on the printed form the system ticked Visitor visa.
Now, that wouldn’t make much a difference to me, were it not for the current COVID entry restrictions to Taiwan: according to the Q9 in the FAQ of the Taiwan Center for Disease control:
Q9: Do foreign nationals residents who hold a valid resident visa need to submit for inspection a certificate of a negative COVID-19 RT-PCR test result before boarding?
A9: Foreign nationals with a residence visa who wish to come to Taiwan may apply for an ARC at the National Immigration Agency after entry. Therefore, they may be exempt from providing such a certificate before boarding. However, they are still required to undergo home quarantine for 14 days after entering Taiwan.
Getting a Residence visa instead of a Visitor visa would save me more than 200usd at the current going rate for COVID tests in HK.
Dose anybody know if it’s possible to apply for a Resident visa at a TECO for joining spouse?
I think it is rare to get a resident visa at TECO. Most people arrive on a visitor visa and then apply for their ARC (residence status) after arriving in Taiwan.
My husband will be coming here on Friday
We had to get the single entry visitor visa.
It is important to have your marriage license that is checked by TECO.
Also needed for this special approval:
1)I wrote a short letter explaining why he needs to be here.
2) where you will quarantine (if at home, you need separate rooms with separate bathrooms)
3) your insurance coverage proof. his insurance company gave him a letter
4) RT PCR test within 3 days of boarding (not antigen - we learned this the hard way)
@aikaili Was your husband asked all the above at the Hong Kong TECO and is there any page in Chinese/English where they list these requirements?
Thanks for this, but I’m still a bit confused: I thought PRC test checked antigens, and for what I read it is performed by analyzing your saliva. The other type of test is done instead on your blood, and check for antibodies. Do you happen to know which one of the two is the one they want?
Luckily our house has two bathrooms, so no problem doing the quarantine at home. Coming back to Taiwan, I was wondering if they allow a relative to pick you up a the airport when you arrive or you are only allowed to take taxis. It would be cheaper to fly from HK to Taichung, but the transport to another city could get expensive if the only way is by taxi.
I also did not know there were two tests. My husband mistakenly got the antigen test that tests for antibodies. He needed the pcr test which tests for the virus.
Both are swab type tests.
I will be picking him up at the airport wearing a mask and plenty of alcohol wipes. He also will be wearing a mask.
antibody tests require drawing blood and will test if you’ve had COVID
Antigen test (aka rapid test) use saliva from nose or mouth and test the existence of COVID proteins that tells you if you have an active infection (but with high false negative rate)
RT-PCR which also use saliva from mouth or nose and are the only type of test accepted, but takes at least a day since the procedure must first incubate samples to amplify the RNA
The special pandemic taxis are great, at a fixed rate of $1000 NT, and give you peace of mind from possibly infecting a relative and forcing them to quarantine for 14+ days. Also, pandemic car service to southern parts of Taiwan are fixed to the rate of twice the official train fare.
We came home last week, used the car service south to Kaohsiung. NT2660, reception desk at airport, fill in form pay by CC and driver comes in. Sprays you all over with disinfectant and away we went. Big VW so plenty of room and a safe journey home.
Did you get the resident visa at TECO? I’m still confused about the visitor vs resident visa thing, because when I emailed the Hong Kong TECO for the documents they required, they pointed me to this page:
Yes, the TECO office gave me a resident visa, but I had to clarify a couple times that’s what I was doing. I followed all of the requirements, got all the documents authenticated by various TECO offices etc. And had to jump through various hoops like getting married again in my home country.
Great, thanks for confirming this. I’ll make sure to state clearly I want to apply for a resident visa.
I can also confirm the red tape nightmare involved in getting all the required documents, especially now that thanks to the virus the various offices open once or twice a week with luck. I started collecting documents at the end of June and I’m still waiting for the last one to be authenticated by the TECO in my home country.
Just a quick update on this topic I started: I asked and received a resident visa at the TECO office in HK. Even if the online application form didn’t tick “resident”, I ticked it myself with an old school pen and if you have all the documents required there should be no problem. It’s usually a next day affair, although I had to wait a bit more because there was the weekend in the middle.
Please note that every TECO is different, and what can be done (at the moment) at the TECO in Hong Kong, maybe cannot be done at a TECO elsewhere.
I can also confirm that with a resident visa the Covid test is not required.
By plane Relatively cheap flights from Taichung with HK Express (only Thursdays and Sundays at the moment). Of course you need to quarantine 14 days in a hotel at your own expenses, plus I was also asked a lot of questions at Immigration in HK, first time of all the times I went.
Travelers from Taiwan are allowed to come to HK provided they haven’t been to other countries in the previous 14 days, if memory serves me right.
Relatively cheap flights from Taichung with HK Express (only Thursdays and Sundays at the moment). Of course you need to quarantine 14 days in a hotel at your own expenses, plus I was also asked a lot of questions at Immigration in HK, first time of all the times I went.