Student returning after ARC expires?

Hello,

I was reading through as many sources as I could find but only to not find out the asnwer to the question I am seeking.

I am currently a student at NCKU and took a two semester leave of absence due to personal issues at home and will be returning to taiwan in a few months. However, my ARC expires before I will return and my Resident visa was issued here and has SINGLE for Entrys and *** for duration of stay. So , would I need to somehow apply for a new arc or a new visa, even though I am a student or can I enter Taiwan and reapply for a new one when I am there?

I think you need to present your case at the NIA and find out if they can help you.

If your ARC has expired or is going to expire before you enter Taiwan, then I don’t think you would be allowed back in…you will need to apply for a new Visa from a TECO overseas and re-enter. I’m guessing you took a “休學” for 2 Semesters, right? In that case, you should have a notice of a Leave of Absence from the University…If not, you can write to the University and ask them to issue you with the “休學” notice…with that, you can apply for the Visa and come back in.

Even if you have a valid ARC/resident visa, and you enter on something else for whatever reason (for example, if you had to get a new passport on an emergency basis because the old one was lost, and they end up stamping you in visa-exempt) it will mess up your residence time and maybe other things. This happened to me once in the past. I can’t remember exactly why it happened, but I ended up going back to the airport the next day and convincing Immigration to roll their date-stamp back one day and stamp me in “properly”. (I still regard this as my single greatest feat of convincing Taiwanese bureaucracy to do anything. YMMV.)

Much better to get the letter from the school and get a proper visa so as not to jeopardize your status now or in any possible future where the number of days/years might count.