A friend of mine had a sort of agreement with old school to transfer visa but instead of transfering they cancelled it...they did not however black list him to the best of his knowledge. So he needs to go get the sixty day visa with a letter for invite from his school to process a new ARC.
He wants to visit a friend in Tokyo. Does anyone know how the Tokyo office runs? Have heard theat Okinawa is pretty good but haven't found anything about the Tokyo office.
Thanks,
I don’t know anything about getting Visas from Japan, but it would be a bad idea to go during the last week of April because it is Japan’s Golden Week. Almost all businesses are closed for holidays during Golden Week.
Toyko office is good. No bitches there like the one in Honk Kong anyway. Apply in the morning, collect it the next day. I reccommended this joint in an earlier post.
I’m not sure about the actual situation, but about three years ago you could get visas the same day if you applied before lunch - both in HK and Tokyo.
I have to dash to Bangkok this week, and since it will probably take another couple of weeks before I get my work permit and thus the possibility to apply for a work visa here, I thought about getting a visitor visa in Bangkok. I heard it is quite a convenient place for Taiwan visa. Will it make sense to tell the people in the Taiwan Consulate that I am setting up a company, but the paperwork is not finished yet? Or would it be better to just tell them that I am visiting friends here?
I never quite understood the difference between visa exemption and landing visa. Now a friend told me that I could apply at the CKS Airport for a one month landing visa instead of just getting my passport stamped with the 14-day visa exemption. So in case I don’t get a 60-day visa in Bangkok, I might just as well apply for a landing visa when I arrive at CKS airport? I really hate visa stuff (I just spent 9 months in Shanghai just on a visitor visa, but since I had to travel a lot, I had to get a new visa every time I wanted to go back to Shanghai), and it always makes me a bit nervous, so I just want to make sure that I got that right.
WARNING! WARNING! DANGER! I’m not an expert, and maybe some others could clarify, but from everything I gather, you will NOT get anything from the Bangkok office. They turn down actually CEO’s and such for anything more than 2-weeks. Do NOT expect to get anything from the Bangkok office; from everything I’ve heard, you will be wasting your time. You’ll have better luck in Hong Kong even (by the way, to the above poster: Hong Kong has REALLY clamped down on issuing visas in the last few years – too many teachers doing visa runs every two months to Hong Kong put a stop to whatever generosity that office had to begin with).
You can get a one-month visitor visa at the CKS Airport on your way in, BUT that is not extendable for any reason, so when you get your work permit, you will have to leave again anyways.
quote: You can get a one-month visitor visa at the CKS Airport on your way in, BUT that is not extendable for any reason, so when you get your work permit, you will have to leave again anyways.
Taht’s not quite right. If you get the one month landing visa, and your work permit comes through before the month is up, then you don’t have to leave again. I’ve done this myself.
quote[quote] and since it will probably take another couple of weeks before I get my work permit and thus the possibility to apply for a work visa here, [/quote]
But you’re not quite clear here. Have you already applied and expect the application to be completed in a couple of weeks? Then no worries. Or are you goingt o apply in a couple fo weeks? If so, then 30-day landing visa won’t be long enough.
Got a visa in Bangkok last year. Not the most pleasant of experiences, but if you have your paperwork in order you shouldn’t have any probs.
I’ll say this again, I’ve been to Tokyo, Bangkok and Hong Kong. Hong Kong were were mainly full of miserable women visa officers just waiting for an argument. Apparently they go through mood swings there, but I witnessed the same visa officer have 3 different arguments with 3 different westerners before I was ‘lucky’ enough to be called to her queue.
Bangkok must have had that miserable Honk Kong ladies sister working there. Experiences weren’t much better. I am convinced that you needed a BA in Being a Bitch in order to qualify for a job at the desk of a Taiwan defacto office.
Off coarse that was before Tokyo. A close second to your own home country. Hope this helps.
Thanks for the heads up; that’s the first I’ve heard about that. I’ve got friends in similar situations that were denied, and had to leave again. Do you know if you just got lucky, or if my friends just got screwed…?
But you’re not quite clear here. Have you already applied and expect the application to be completed in a couple of weeks? Then no worries. Or are you goingt o apply in a couple fo weeks? If so, then 30-day landing visa won’t be long enough.
Bri
Hi Bri
Well, I’m in the process of setting up a company. I am about to get my business licence, but as I understood, there are more steps to be taken before I can even apply for my work permit as the Branch Manager. But if I don’t get my visa in Bangkok, I guess I’ll just get a landing visa coming back and think about something else in four weeks’ time. I have business to do in Bangkok anyway, so there’s no point in going to Tokyo instead. Maybe later.
That’s the official situation and I did indeed get kicked out even my docs were already being processed. If I remember correctly only my ARC was still missing, the rest was in order.
Note that you must produce a return air-ticked issued before the expiry date (i.e. before the end of the 30 day period), else NO ENTRY.
When I arrived in Taiwan in January, I had a single entry 60 day visa. They never stamped it with the day I arrived. I left on a day trip to Japan and back, expecting to get the 30 day landing visa. The lady there told me to use the single entry again. I did. No problems at all. So if you are in a similar situation and your visa was not stamped, use it again.