Oaky, so I’m planning to show up in Taipei to look for a job, and of course I’ll enter on a tourist visa. If I don’t find a job within a month, I assume I have to take a brief trip to some other country and come back to do it again.
How much of a hassle is it? Do I have to visit a gov’t building or is the airport good enough?
Sorry for the stupid questions. I got my first teaching job over the internet, so I am new at this.
If you haven’t found a job within the two month validty time of your visitor’s visa then yes, you will have to leave the country and get a new visa. most go to hong kong or bangkok. you’ll have to go to the taiwan “embassy” and apply and go through the same process as you did for the first one.
getting a job online before you come isn’t recommended, for a variety of reasons. more on that later if you want.
[quote=“bushibanned”]If you haven’t found a job within the two month validty time of your visitor’s visa then yes, you will have to leave the country and get a new visa. most go to Hong Kong or Bangkok. you’ll have to go to the taiwan “embassy” and apply and go through the same process as you did for the first one.
getting a job online before you come isn’t recommended, for a variety of reasons. more on that later if you want.[/quote]
Oh, a visitor’s visa is for two months? This eases my mind greatly. 
Yeah, I found the job I have now online. I lucked out - my boss is cool and all, but there are a lot of reasons why I want to see a school before I agree to work in it.
Two months, whew! I am relieved. I should be okay, then.
By the way, all I have to do to get a visitors visa is tell them this at the airport, right? Or is there some stuff I have to go through beforehand?
Thanks for being nice and responding. 
[/b]
you can’t get a visitor’s visa at the airport. you have to apply for it ahead of time. Where are you now? It’s a bit of a process. you’ll have to have passport photos, perhaps a bank statement (if you’re in your ome country), and an outbound ticket dated no later than two months after you arrive. becuase it’s a visitor’s visa, you have to show that you don’t intend to stay in taiwan longer than two months.
THANK YOU
I’m in Japan right now. Can you direct me to a website or something with good info about what I need?
I need an outbound ticket to somewhere? What happens to people who get outbound tickets and then get jobs? Do they just take a weekend vacation or refund the ticket?
Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to me.
Hello violet,
The Taiwan “Embassies” in Japan are:
Tokyo. Tel# 03-3280 7811
and
Osaka. Tel# 06-6443 8481.
They will be able to tell you exactly what they require to give you a two month visitor visa. Best of luck.
you’re going to have to find taiwan’s defacto embassy, often called “TECO-” taipei economic and cultural office.
boca.gov.tw/~boca3007/en/roca/asia/japan.htm
most often a trael agent will issue an itinerary for a small fee showing you’re booked on a flight out of taiwan… but you aren’t actually paying for the ticket. or, you can purchase one (www.interlink.com.tw ask for maria or shawn) and then refund it if you don’t end up using it. the refund takes 3 months and you only get 90% back.
If you’re booking out of Japan you could, and I’ll use Tokyo as an example since i don’t know what city you’re in, book
Tokyo - Taipei - hong kong. when you get your ARC, just change the date and use the hong kong portion of your ticket at your leisure. they don’t usually charge you to change departure dates, and most tickets are good for a year.
You’re a lifesaver, bushibanned. Thank you so very much.
I’ll be flying out of Fukuoka, btw.
[quote=“funkymonkey”]Hello violet,
The Taiwan “Embassies” in Japan are:
Tokyo. Tel# 03-3280 7811
and
Osaka. Tel# 06-6443 8481.
They will be able to tell you exactly what they require to give you a two month visitor visa. Best of luck.[/quote]
Thank you so very much.
I’ll be calling them tomorrow. 
I’m not sure, but you might find that you have to do a visa run even if you find a job. I think they’re making it hard for people to change the purpose of their stay, so if you come in as a tourist you have to leave and come back as a student or employee. I’m not 100% on this, but take a look at the old threads in the legal section.
You can’t get a visa at the airport. You can get 30 (?) days visa-exempt entry, but you can’t then apply for a work-permit. If it transpires that you will have to do a visa-run anyway then you might as well save the fee on the first visa. Just come, find a job, then go to HK to get your visa.
Some people like to go there and back in a day. I always used to go on a Friday (or even a Thursday night) and pick up the visa on Saturday. (They won’t process an application on a Saturday.) You save the express fee, avoid the rush/panic to get same-day processing, the ticket is usually cheaper, and you can spend some of the saving on a night in HK.
There’s a carnegie’s in HK.
How can you prove you won’t be in Taiwan for longer than two months? I’m going to end up doing mine in my home country as I’m going home for my grandmother’s 80th birthday after a month in Thailand.
The original time…the consulate knew/guessed exactly what was going on anyway.
[quote=“violet”]Oaky, so I’m planning to show up in Taipei to look for a job, and of course I’ll enter on a tourist visa. If I don’t find a job within a month, I assume I have to take a brief trip to some other country and come back to do it again.
How much of a hassle is it? Do I have to visit a gov’t building or is the airport good enough?
Sorry for the stupid questions. I got my first teaching job over the internet, so I am new at this.[/quote]
Assuming you’re doing it coming in on a tourist stamp once a month, or on a two-month multiple entry tourist visa, here’s how it is:
It’s only a hassle during CNY, when it’s near impossible to book a flight out.
Otherwise it’s a matter of flying to a nearby country (e.g. HK, Philippines, Korea, Thailand, Japan), getting your passport stamped into that country, and stamped back out of thay country. Make a quick holiday of it - don’t spend that airfare for nothing. Pick a different country each time for some variety, explore the city for a few days, and come back.
Once you get your work permit you’ll be allowed to stay here for a year. Then you have to apply for another year’s stay.
Your airplane ticket. They may or may not care, or even ask to see one, but if they do ask and are being picky, you should have a ticket out of Taiwan two months after you arrive. Buy a ticket where you can change the date, or just get a travel itinerary from a travel agent. I was planning to extend my visa for four months to study, so I just got my travel agent to give me an itinerary showing me leaving in two months, but she then changed it and my real ticket has a return date 6 months later. The visa office will accept an itinerary from a travel agent - they don’t have to see the actual ticket.
True, if they care they’ll be suspicious, but they often don’t care. I’ve never had any problem getting a visa from Vancouver’s office. Other places vary in how picky they are.