"Visa runs for dummies"

[yuli]

@tommy525

people tend to forget the time clock is reset automatically when you re-enter the island.

In my case it wasn’t “forgetting”, just “not knowing”…

currently there is no maximum length of stay permitted in Taiwan per calendar year. Only the provision that one should visit the tax office if one has stayed in Taiwan over 183 days of that calendar year. The tax office is supposed to determine how you can stay in taiwan and you would have to prove that you have sufficient funds to allow your stay without working on Taiwan. In the past when work was tacitly allowed the tax office would want to determine if you owed any taxes and if not will issue you a statement that you are not liable for taiwan taxes. Nowadays though if you admit to any work, you could be deported by another arm of the govt— immigration.

It sounds from this and all i’ve read before that Taiwan doesn’t enforce the rule about people having to visit the tax office is they stay more than 6 months in a given calendar year…

However, in practice, one never has to visit the tax office if one never overstays ones visa free entry !!

You mean the 6-month rule does not apply to people on visa exempt entry? Or are you just confirming that it is not enforced?

taiwans population is still very sizable and no lack of bodies currently exist to keep the economy going.

I’ve heard of something called “long-stay”, which is set up to invite (attract) retired people from Japan to live in Taiwan (not sure whether also from other countries - i’ve only hear about this in regards to Japanese citizens). At present the maximum stay is 6 months, but in the course of some incidental meetings with Japanese citizens who have good connections in Taiwan i’ve heard mumblings to the effect that there efforts are being made to persuade the Taiwanese government to issue special long-stay visas for retired Japanese citizens who wish to spend their free time (mostly) in Taiwan.

Some questions that arise from more recent threads about visa runs:

No problem going in and out of country every 30 days?

I can only get a visa on arrival/exemption for 30 days. It’s no problem I just fly to Macau and back every 30 days without questioning? I’m a long term tourist. Also, I think getting in and out of the country every 30 days is troublesome. Can I apply for a Chinese course and get a proper visa when I am already in Taiwan? Or must I do it beforehand?

Do you know which country this rule applies to that people can stay in Taiwan only for 30-days, visa exempt, and not get a tourist visa for a longer period of time?
viewtopic.php?f=67&t=96032&start=10
The poster there talks about a visa “for study” - from what i have seen, that is a visitor visa, and those can be changed into resident visas, according to the changes in the law a few years ago. Why the apprehension then? Are there some countries to whose citizens this does this not apply?

Thanks again!