:?:
It’s really just 3 small questions with lots of other details should an apt problem solver need them. Go to the asterik’s * and ** for the basic synopsis.
Had some problem with a job last year when I arrived. Promptly quit job in a rather naive manner. Went Student Visa route.
Now. It is a year and two months past the original issue date of my original and, to date, only ARC.
I found a school I'm happy with and they mentioned that they thought they could get an ARC for me if I wanted one. I thought that I was more comfortable with a student visa, but then thought it would work out well for me.
So I just made an ARC application and it was rejected and the school is waiting to get back the papers to find out the reason for the rejection.
((1)) I'm guessing that the Ministry of Education black list doesn't "lose ones name" until a year after the holder (that's me) cancels the ARC by doing a trip to a place like Hong Kong and getting a visitor visa...which would make my 'in the clear' deadline in February. Does anybody know about the rule on this????
** The school recommended my using the receipt from the Ministry of Education to extend my current stay here by a month or two…while they try to find out why the application was rejected and see if they can’t -somehow - push it through.
If I use the receipt (wich I know is for an application that has already been rejected) to extend my visa for another month and then discover that the school can’t push the ARC through, then I’m going to need to get the student visa again…the current student visa happens to expire in a week.
I’m wondering,
(((2))) if I’m going to have a problem getting a student visa (should I need it) because the ARC extension stamp (should I get it stamped) in my passport is a kind of evidence that I wanted to come to Taiwan to work and not study. Is it likely that Hong Kong would give me a problem over such a detail?
and…
The schools foreign teacher relations guy said it might be a problem getting a new ARC because I had had an ARC, then a Student Visa, and now wanted an ARC again. This sounded sort of wishy washy to me.
Either he doesn’t know what the hell he is talking about, or I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. Hm.
(((3))) So, on the flip side…If I were to lose faith in their ability to get me the ARC and make a Student Visa run would this somehow preclude me from attaining an ARC (through the ministry of education) in the future (assuming that I ever get off the little blacklist)?
The school seems to like me alright. Really. The only thing I could see them being upset about is that when originally asked about the ARC, I told them I might only want to stay for 6 months...and now have changed my mind. Which I have, but they've been screwed over by other foreigners before so...maybe they're suspicious of my sincerity.
I'm thinking I should have taken Hartzell's advice and sued the school who originally put me in this situation. Despite what is record against Taiwan courts might be.
Never mind going to HK and back, I was pulled up after a four month absence using a different country’s passport to enter the country. “Are you the same person as on this application?” the bloke in HK asked pulling out an old application. I had to give a reason for not using my Australian passport with a billion Taiwan visas in it, and instead using a brand new Irish passport. “Um… er…” I remember saying. People are tracked on surname and date of birth, according to a friend of mine who has another passport in a different name. Note to Irish Americans: it is perfectly acceptable to the Irish government if you get your Irish passport in the Irish spelling of your name.
I think that the only way to straighten out BartonFink’s problem is by having a Public Hearing. Short of that, I suppose a face to face meeting might suffice.
You can do that if you can produce evidence that you’ve used the Irish version of your name for two years or more. I think they will accept bank statements and that kind of thing. But Peter Kellycan’t just apply for a passport as Peadar O Ceallaigh if he has never called himself that ever before.
You can do that if you can produce evidence that you’ve used the Irish version of your name for two years or more. I think they will accept bank statements and that kind of thing. But Peter Kelly can’t just apply for a passport as Peadar O Ceallaigh if he has never called himself that ever before.
Don’t go to Hong Kong! I do not think that it will help and depending
on what country you are from, it is a real ripoff.
If you happen to be an American, you will have to pay a minimum of
HK$510.
If you are Canadian, etc., you probably will get the visa at a much
lower rate - about HK$230 or even free.
Why the difference? I do not really know. All I know is that when I
asked about the difference, the lady yelled at me in a very nasty voice,
“Because you are an American.”
AIT has ignored my inquiries as has the Foreign Ministry.
I would not go to HK unless you were absolutely certain this would help
and at this point you are not.
I’ve also heard about this recently that the Taiwan offices overseas are charging American’s more for visas, apparently it is something to do with the fact that every time America raises its prices for Visas Taiwan does the same thing to Americans applying for Taiwan visas. I find it very interesting.
The “reciprocal fee” for Americans is not just at the HK visa office, it is (as of my visit in Oct.) at the MOFA too. The resident visa was more expensive than ever - and just a year and a half ago it was free to Americans, right?
I’m pretty sure the resident visa fees don’t have anything to do with nationality (let me know if I am wrong), but they are damned expensive (NT$4,600 all told). I think the American reciprocity thing only applies to visas. The first time I had to pay that, I was so pissed off at the US. I wouldn’t be suprised if that continues to rise.
That date of birth thing is interesting - It is how one of Australia’s most famous Italian gangsters got out of OZ to go home to Sicily - He just wrote a wrong date of birth on his exit card.
I just got back from Hong Kong. The reciprocal fee for Americans is $780 HK, which is $100 U.S. because that’s what the U.S. charges Taiwanese for a visa to America. It used to be free, of course. It pissed me off having to throw away over 4000NT cash on a bloody visa. Can someone explain why the idiots in the U.S. government decided to start charging these fees in the past couple of years?
Oh, and the Visitor/Resident Visas come at the same price. An extra 140 HK for one-day “rush” processing. I hate that office in the Lippo Tower - you have to wait around forever, for nearly an hour at the best (usually more around two hours - bring a book). And the looks on everybody in that office’s faces, as they’re waiting - everyone is grim and intensely nervous, because Taiwan’s visa laws are so fucked up everybody is shaking in their pants worried that there’s going to be some hidden hitch at the last minute that’s going to deny them a visa. And as you sit in your chair waiting and listen to the people in front of you at the visa counter, it seems that everybody in line has some sort of serious problem with their visa status that has to be cleared up before the Hong Kong office reluctantly “bends” the incredibly tight-assed, sneaky Taiwan visa rules to grant you a visa.