I researched and asked questions on this forum for months before coming, especially about the 30-day vs. 60-day visa question. I had to find this out the hard way: you can’t get a job on a 30 day visa, an ARC can only be applied for if you have a 60-day visa, so get the 60-day visa. You’re welcome : P
Sorry for your troubles, Strider.
A clarification:
You cannot convert a 30-day landing visa (EDIT: nor a visa-exempt entry) to a resident visa. A landing visa (EDIT: or visa-exempt entry) is one you are given at the airport if you hold a passport from one of the limited number of countries that Taiwan issues landing visas to.
When you refer to “60-day visa” you actually mean a visitor visa that you have applied for at a Taiwanese mission overseas.
It is entirely possible to pull the short straw at a TECO office and end up with a 30-day visitor visa after applying and paying for what you hoped would be a 60-day visa. This usually happens because you’ve spent too long hanging around in Taiwan, the visa officer doesn’t like your passport, or the visa officer is having a shitty day.
To clarify even more: there is no such thing as a 30 landing visa. You have a visa exempt entry. You have no visa. No visa to convert or extend.
I arrived on a 30-day visa with a big “NO EXTENSION WILL BE GRANTED” stamped on it. My boss applied for my ARC, and because it takes a while to come through, he simply got me a 30 day extension. No problems for me, at any rate.
Well, as soon as the application for an ARC has been sent off, you can apply for a visa extension, as long as your current visa is valid.
BOCA would like to disagree with you.
boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=144 … e=116&mp=2
Nonetheless, you are probably right in assuming the OP had a visa-exempt entry.
If I recall correctly, the visa-exempt entry used to be only for 14 days. The primary difference now between the two is that you cannot get visa-exempt entry if you are on an emergency passport (in other words, you’d need to pay for a landing visa).
I arrived on a 30-day visa with a big “NO EXTENSION WILL BE GRANTED” stamped on it. My boss applied for my ARC, and because it takes a while to come through, he simply got me a 30 day extension. No problems for me, at any rate.[/quote]
Was that a visa that you obtained AT the airport?
Not if it was a visa obtained AT the airport.
[quote]Duration of stay:
30 days , The 30 days’ duration of stay starts from the next day of arrival and is not extendable. Travelers must depart by the end of the said 30 days. Visa-exempt entry cannot be converted to other types of visas.
[/quote]
(boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=144 … e=536&mp=2)
And
(boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=144 … e=536&mp=2)
C’mon guys, don’t muddy the situation.
And while we’re being pedantic:
This was “months”?
Ok my researching was months ahead of time, not my question asking. But that was because I was quite sure after extensive reading that applying for a 60 day visa was merely a possibly unnecessary expenditure of funds, since I could potentially get lucky and find a job my first week here. Then after I got here and talked to some people, I got nervous and decided to post that question, at which point I still didn’t come across any info or advice that actually I HAD to have the visitor visa to get a job…
Then again, ‘you can’t get a job if you get your visa at the airport’ really is the kind of helpful response I hoped I could expect with this post: Coming in May, need help with plan
Not normally my style to point these things out, but since I’m being accused… I really was just trying to help out future flyers since it seems a terribly important piece of information for anyone considering the move. Not knowing has cost me a solid 24,000 I’d be much less stressed out if I had right now 
I’m going to the immigration office tomorrow to discuss the situation with someone who hopefully can really tell me my options. Any reason why I shouldn’t go down there and say “Hi, i’m here on this visa (show passport) and looking for a job, can you help me understand what I can do to make that possible?” Just not sure if there’s any reason I can’t tell them i’m looking for work.
You got a visa at the airport? An actual stick in piece of paper visa? You can cancel a 30 day tourist visa and apply for a resident’s visa. You can’t with visa exempt entry because this is supposed to be for tourism only. Unless you’re British and then you get 90 days visa free entry and you can apply for resident’s visas. Unless someone doesn’t feel like letting you. There aren’t cast iron ‘regulations’, as such, just precedents.
When you move somewhere new, you should always allow for a couple of visa runs. They’re EFL rites of passage.
[quote=“strider”]Then again, ‘you can’t get a job if you get your visa at the airport’ really is the kind of helpful response I hoped I could expect with this post: [Coming in May, need help with plan
[/quote]
Allow me to direct you to your OP in that thread that you refer to:
[quote=“strider”]After extensive research, deciding between Thailand or Taiwan, I’ve decided on Taiwan for a variety of reasons, primarily saving $2k not needing a CELTA, wanting a graduate degree from a credible university, and the much higher salary potential.
What should I be doing, RIGHT NOW, to prepare?
I want to bring 3 months of finances in case I can’t find work. How much will I likely need?
What will be my best option for a very cheap place to live while searching? Can I rent an apt. monthly?
If anyone lives around Taidong specifically and wants to be my friend when I get there, PM me 
[/quote]
A bit later you asked some “new” questions:
[quote=“strider”]Ok so new questions:
-
How much can I expect to get paid?
-
How much money would I need to live six months if necessary? (does that mean six separate visa runs? How much are they?) I can live in a hovel and eat noodles for six months if I had to.
-
I have my passport, my original Uni. diploma, what else do I need?
-
I heard I can get by with long hair in Taiwan, but will that be different in Taidong?[/quote]
Just a thought, but if you wanted to know about visas, perhaps you should have asked about them, instead of inquiring after the viability of the length of your hair. :aiyo:
Well they did put a piece of paper in my passport, but the stamp says ‘visa-exempted’
Uhm, the little piece of paper is not a visa…
A visa is a big fat sticker that takes up a whole page in your passport and it has your mugshot on it…
BOCA would like to disagree with you.
boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=144 … e=116&mp=2[/quote]
If they say otherwise, listen to them. What I said was my understanding from reading these boards, and probably flawed.
I still reckon a landing visa is different from visa exemption. The forming being the possession of a visa, the latter referring to the absence of a visa.
BOCA would like to disagree with you.
boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=144 … e=116&mp=2[/quote]
If they say otherwise, listen to them. What I said was my understanding from reading these boards, and probably flawed.
I still reckon a landing visa is different from visa exemption. The forming being the possession of a visa, the latter referring to the absence of a visa.[/quote]
I was being an asshat in my quote above. In fact it was only directed at the part of your words highlighted in red. As I said in the rest of my post, both visa-exemption and landing visas exist in Taiwan and due to the similarity (except for cost) the utility of the landing visa is limited. You were right in saying the OP had visa-exempt entry and I apologize for coming across as a dick.
OK…“is there any reason I can’t tell them I’m looking for a job?”
Maybe because you declared on your original visa application that your purpose in coming to Taiwan was tourism, not employment. They tend to take a dim view of such things when they decide to take a view at all.
BOCA would like to disagree with you.
boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=144 … e=116&mp=2[/quote][/quote][/quote]
Ok so…actually, it really doesn’t make sense to go for a 60-day visa after all…?
Just a thought, but if you wanted to know about visas, perhaps you should have asked about them, instead of inquiring after the viability of the length of your hair. :aiyo:[/quote]
I know I should just ignore you, but it seems kind of wrong to just sit there while someone goes to so much trouble to visit a help forum just to specifically be unhelpful. I think that asking an open question, to people who have the experience and knowledge to know what kinds of important details I should be aware of, was perfectly valid. I knew if I tried to think of all issues ahead of time i’d overlook a lot of things. Of course my more specific question was relatively trivial. But I imagine whenever you came here for the first time you already knew exactly all the important possible facets of every issue ahead of time, so your bad samaritan mentality is probably justified.
I will also say that my OP was hard on the heels of thinking I’d discovered an exceedingly expensive mistake that could potentially cost me living in Taiwan altogether (that’s over a month’s living expenses after all). But I will say I probably should have limited it to saying I researched for months, without vocally placing blame anywhere else. Was just feeling quite pissed off.
So, then, if the visa-exempt entry really is ok as far as getting converted for an ARC after all, I can do a same-day exit/re-entry with no worries? Do I need the ‘ghost ticket’ for that, supposedly? So far I’ve entered the country twice with no exit ticket and no problems. Lucky?