My understanding was that if you enter with a visitor visa (or exemption) you can convert it to an ARC. However, if you get the visitor visa inside Taiwan (which is what you get when extending the exemption), you can’t then directly change it to an ARC. 
Mods, can the talk about ARCs and such be separated from this thread? It’s annoying to scroll through a conversation that could just be done on a private message or relevant thread.
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I find that quite fussy to be honest, given how many off-topic posts (pictures of bats, discussions of toilet paper, jokes, etc.) there are to scroll through in that thread. I get your point about the small number of comments about ARC stuff, which we’d already stopped talking about and moved elsewhere, but my actual question was related to travelling to nearby countries in this time and the impact of coronavirus on that, which is at least as relevant to the thread as many of the posts in there. 
No worries though.
I recon Id consider KL as the visa run destination
(sorry for contributing to the diversion)
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It makes a lot of sense to have a separate thread for it, and so I moved it. It shouldn’t be any kind of cause for concern. Please continue such conversation here; there may well be a lot more of it and updates in the coming weeks 
and/or months 
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I am still leaning towards KL to be honest, although I’m also now considering Okinawa again on the basis of one of the replies.
This probably shouldn’t be the number-one priority but, all else being equal, I’m really missing kebabs and decent Indian food. 
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Yea, Japan is a good one, but its number 2 right now for number of corona virus cases by country. Probably still safe as houses, but anyway, panic is the order of the day.
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I do like that you’ve just given me a sound logical reason to choose KL/kebabs over Okinawa. 
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Japan has been on my to do list for too long. Never been. Was in KL and its a nice city, pretty much everyone there can speak Anglais 
Do EastStarJet TSA -> GMP.
All in all the time in the air isn’t that much longer than TPE - > HKG. Plus, Songshan is right downtown. There’s a hotel/mall right next to GMP.
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My visa is ending on the 3rd of March and I would be needing to do a visa run - Foreign Affairs Office says no extension allowed. Any idea where i should go? HK is normally recommended but thats definitely out of the question now; I’ve Japan and Korea in mind but they seem to still have open borders so i’m kinda worried.
First world countries preferred just in case I get the virus (touch wood).
It’s not a first world country by any means, but Vietnam seems to have the situation under control and you’d still manage to have a lot of fun there if you got stuck. Some of my Taiwanese friends are vacationing there right now, others have just come back, and in general it’s seemed fine.
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Guam or Hawaii
I asked the same question last week (maybe the mods want to merge the threads?).
My thread is here: Visa runs during coronavirus period
I ended up going to KL for a couple of days, just got back yesterday.
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Okinawa?
The Taiwan ban is no longer in effect in the Philippines. Other good options include Malaysia and Singapore.
Has anyone done one recently?
Where did you go?
Any issues?
they really should let everyone’s visa automatically extend six months.
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Just an update - I eventually went to Singapore, cant go wrong with another world class medical system and competent government. Plane (and airport) were kinda empty but no panic anywhere, I felt completely safe.
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They are actually extending most ARCs but visa free entry is a bit different. However, I am sure they would help if so requested.