I’m a Filipino. I just got married to a Taiwanese citizen here in the Philippines this February. After all the requirements were completed, my wife came back from Taiwan to have the interview with me in applying for my resident visa.
The sad thing is that the consul in Manila allowed me to stay in Taiwan only for 60 days and told us that resident visa is impossible for me to get and added that emloyment for me is also illegal.
Is there any Taiwan law related to his decision? Any suggestions for getting a resident visa?
[quote=“dune”]I’m a Filipino. I just got married to a Taiwanese citizen here in the Philippines this February. After all the requirements were completed, my wife came back from Taiwan to have the interview with me in applying for my resident visa.
The sad thing is that the consul in Manila allowed me to stay in Taiwan only for 60 days and told us that resident visa is impossible for me to get and added that emloyment for me is also illegal.
Is there any Taiwan law related to his decision? Any suggestions for getting a resident visa?[/quote]
There are many Filipono’s married to locals here. There are also some Filipino spouses of foreign expats living here as well.
You need to have your wife contact the local immigration department in Taipei for advise.
I guess that once your wife has registered your marriage in Taiwan, got all your documents, you can apply for a JFRV, come to Taiwan and apply for a resident visa and ARC … I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to get one …
Thank you for the advice. I’m still waiting for the household certificate where my wife registered my name. Then go back to TECO for the promised 60 day stay.
Really stuck here in the Philippines and don’t know so many people who has knowledge of my situation except for TECO who is giving me a hard time.
I think what they mean is that TECO can’t give you a resident visa - they give you a visitor visa (try to get an extendable one) and you have to apply for your resident visa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taiwan and use it to get an alien resident certificate (ARC). You would not be allowed to work on your visitor visa but it would be OK once you have your resident visa as a foreign spouse.
Don’t take my word for it. I was compiling visa expertise when I was having visa troubles myself, but now I have my work-based ARC I am trying not to think about it any more.
You get your 60 day visitors visa, go to Taiwan and then apply for residency. This is called JFRV (Joining Family Residency Visa) and there is a lot of information about it on these forums. If you have the paperwork, you should be able to get this in 60 days, and then you will be able to stay and work in Taiwan.
Also during my interviwew for the visa application, all of the Filipino women come out of the room of the interviewing consul crying. I talked to one of them and found out that she was issued another visitor’s visa after she came back from Taiwan with a visitor’s visa to be with her Taiwanese husband. She’s been visiting TECO for two years now.
It’s really frustrating to hear that news since we are expecting that our request will be granted since all are documents are complete and authentic.
Rumour has it that the TECO in Manila is some kind of hell-hole. Nobody ever goes there for a visa trip. If Filipinos are suffering discrimination in the immigration process, please don’t take it lying down. You can report it to the media, and there are various NGO’s that would be willing to put pressure on the authorities.
My advice would be to come here on a visitors visa, and then apply for the residence visa here in Taiwan.
I was told in the Taiwan office in Copenhagen to do that, and it worked. My advice would be to get all the information you need together before leaving Manila, and then come here and apply when on the 60 day visa.
Is it legal or has anyone heard of a Taiwan consul to mark a visitor visa with “cannot change to JFRV”. Coz my wife is talking to some friends and she was told that her friend’s friend’s husband, also a Filipino had been given that.
And if it is so, can it still be possible to get a JFRV?
Your best chance to get that JFRV is to show that you’ve professional skills or are highly educated. If you’re just a regular bloke, your chances of getting into Taiwan with other than a visitor’s visa is next to nil. Filipino’s get royally shafted by the Taiwanese. I feel for you.
I would try to apply here in Taiwan and see what would happen. After all, it would appear that it is what the rest of us are doing.
As far as I know, the authority when it comes to JFRV’s is with the BOCA, and not with some representative office somewhere who would not even know what demands you should fulfill.
If they refuse it, launch an adminstrative appeal.
So, here is what you do:
Find out what documents you need prepared and how you get them certified. The best way is that you ask your Taiwanese wife to call the BOCA or the bureau of immigration and ask. Go ahead and get them prepared.
Arrive here and apply. Remember when you apply to bring your Taiwanese wife with you, and make sure that she’s in a bad mood, so she can shout at them if they try anything funny.
Once you get it, get an ARC,
I did not have to prove anything regarding my education back when I applied for my JFRV. I had to prove that we were married.
Also, the manila office would appear not to be processing JFRV’s however no representative offices do that, so that’s nothing special. They are passing out wrong advice.
I once in Korea had my visa application rejected, and had to ask the Danish ambassador to call the Taiwan office and ask why. (It helped). However, the asshats added using handwriting that I was not supposed to renew my visa. I applied for a renewal here anyways and got it.
so, my advice remains - apply here in taiwan, and get all the documents prepared in Manila. Make sure that you get them and get them certified properly.
Listen to Mr He, he’s giving sound advice. I’m convinced that the more you expect a bad outcome, the more likely you are to get stressed out and encounter one. Good luck!
I finally got my visitor’s visa and will be leaving on the third week of May. It is a 60 day non-extendable with a capital “P” underneath followed by chinese words.
I hope that you actually get ALL the documentation needed with you, certified, legalized and all. You then apply for the residence visa here.
Note that a residence visa is not an extension, it’s a new visa. Therefore, if you apply as soon as you can, you might be OK without having to leave. (I was in 2000, however things might have changed)
It’s been month since my last post. I’ve just finished my 60 day visitor visa and I’m now back in the Philippines. I failed to apply for the JFRV since we’ve had our second wedding in Taiwan which took my time for the preparation.
I applied again for a residence visa in Manila but they gave another 60 day visa. The consul insisted that I start a business here to show that I can support my wife requiring me to have a yearly income of at least 500,000 pesos in order for him to issue the JFRV.
I’m not a business minded individual and why will i start a business here if i want to be with my wife in Taiwan. And starting a business here will take some time or maybe never to grow. And if ever the business grew and he issue me the visa, then what will happen to the business?
He is just like saying that the business is my ticket to live in Taiwan then just forget about it when it’s done.
He showed us a record of a Taiwanese married to Filipina who started a business here that went bankcrupt and was imprisoned because he cannot pay the visa extension or maybe others. So he said that he is also doing this to me because of the treatment of our government to their citizen.
Anyway he gave me the 60 days, but “the cannot exchange to resident visa” (in chinese characters) was removed which was written on my first vv.
You apply in Taiwan, bring the documents and apply in Taipei. Back when I wanted to apply for a JFRV, I was told by the rep office in Copenhagen to enter on a 60 day visa, and apply once in Taiwan. Do that and I think they might give it to you.
With a marriage certificate and you entered into her household registration, they should at least give you extensions on your visitor visa as well, while you apply.
I have yet to hear about foreigners having to show proof of income for a JFRV, so the manila office staff is talking out of their arses. Don’t worry about them, if you apply next time, in Taiwan, you won’t need them. As I said before, bring your wife with you, and get all the papers you can get sorted out sorted and certified when you are in Manila.