I’m at the 180 day USA visa exempt limit mid August and I went to BOCA with my fall Chinese class admission letter today to apply for the visitor visa seeing if they would let me. They said I need to go to another country to apply, so I was planning on going to HK (I have the HKID card) to apply for the visitor visa for studying chinese (person said same as special entry visa) but online it says since June 29 cannot apply if studying (including studying Chinese refer to the Ministry of Education for dates on when foreign nationals can apply for studying Chinese). On the Chinese version of the Ministry of Education Website, it hasn’t specifically said when those that are coming to study chinese can apply, only those who are foreign degree students (bachelors and masters I’m assuming).
It says: “starting July 22, new foreign students from the first semester of the 109th academic year in low-risk and low-middle-risk countries/regions will be open to Taiwan. All colleges and universities will contact foreign degree freshmen to handle visa-related affairs and prepare related quarantine sites and epidemic prevention materials.”
chinese version (original)
translated version
Here is the FAQ from BOCA from June:
Blockquote
Q1. For what purposes may foreign nationals presently come to Taiwan?
A:
Starting June 29, individuals may apply for a special entry permit to come to Taiwan for purposes other than tourism (including social visits) and study, including studying Chinese. For the latter, the Ministry of Education will establish a separate schedule for opening up.
Blockquote
Q7. When will Taiwan open to foreign nationals coming to Taiwan for study or to learn Chinese?
A:
The timeframe for opening to foreign nationals for study or to learn Chinese will be announced separately by the Ministry of Education.
The BOCA person said to just stay in Taiwan until MOE (edu.tw) announces it or book a plane ticket hoping the flight will cancel so I can get get the 30 day past 180 extension at NIA (but can only get it if within 2 weeks from the 180 day deadline) but it’s getting close to the school starting (aug 21 registration and sept 1st class starting) since I would need to quarantine at HK and here (14+14 days + covid pcr test). I’m planning to go to MOE to ask about if studying Chinese applies to the special entry visa and NIA to ask about this too.