Hello,
I think I may know the answer to this question, but I would like to check with you all for confirmation. My parents are planning on coming to Taiwan in January for a visit, and will stay for approx. one month. Right now the plan is for them to stay in Taiwan for three weeks, then go to an undecided Asian country for one week, then come back to Taiwan for 2 or 3 days before they fly back home to Canada. What they are thinking is that from the time of their arrival in Taiwan until the time they fly back to Canada, they will have to be on a Taiwan 30 day landing visa status, and that this visa will not renew when we leave to our other Asian destination, so that when we return to Taiwan, they will still be on their original landing visa, with only a couple days left on it. So they are worried that time will be tight in Taiwan as they may overstay this 30 day period.
From what I believe, what will happen is that they will get a 30 day visa-exempt status when they enter Taiwan, and then when we leave for another country, this status will run out. When coming back one week later, showing their return ticket to Canada, they will be able to get another 30 day visa-exempt status, so that they won’t have to worry at all about any time restraints.
So can you help me out by telling me which would be the right option, the visa-exempt status or the landing visa, and whether or not this time period will be reset once we leave for our other Asian destination.
Thanks everyone for your help!
Rob
There is a lot of confusion between the terms “landing visa” and “visa exempt entry”. These two are NOT the same.
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Landing visa : cost MONEY, is not free and is generally on a special case by case basis for people whos passports have less then six months validity on it or people who are travelling on temporary passports.
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Visa Exempt entry: This is probably what you are talking about. This is free. Cost you NO money. And your length of stay is decided by what passport you hold. For example USA passport holders get 30 days PER VISIT. UK passport holders get 90 day PER VISIT and may be extendable by another 90 days without leaving the country.
I think Canadians get 30 days PER VISIT on Visa Exempt entry. And this is “re-set” each time you leave. So for example you could come in for 3 weeks , leave and go somewhere else for a week or so and come back in for ANOTHER 30 days.
Hope this makes it clear?
by the way, Landing Visa is not the same as a regular Tourist Visa that you applied for before entering TAiwan. This type of visa is for people who do NOT have a visa when they land and because they have less then six months validity left on their passport or they are holding a temporary passport they MAY be able to enter Taiwan but have to pay for it.
Make sure none in your party have passports with less then six months validity left on them.
Great, thanks Tommy! That just reaffirmed what I was thinking, now I can make my report back to the folks.