Does anyone have experience going from a work ARC to a student ARC? How did you do this? Thanks.
I don’t have experience but I may be doing this also.
Do you know if you need to fly back to your home country?
I can’t really find anyone who has done this. I’ll let you know if I figure it out!
Yeah I’m in the same boat. I have been working in Taiwan for 2 years and now I will go to university. I assume it transfers pretty much the same as when you change workplaces, but I may be wrong. My issue is that my work contract ends in mid-July and school starts in mid-September. So I will need at least a 60 day visitor visa, right? I was thinking of visiting the Philippines and coming back, but I’m not sure how to get a visitor visa from the Philippines, and I don’t want to go back to the U.S. Anyone have any suggestions here?
Well I went to the Bureau of Consular Affairs yesterday, and they told me that you don’t need to go to your home country, but you have to leave Taiwan and apply for a student resident visa at a Taiwan Overseas Mission
Here are the documents you need:
1). Completed Application form (available here: visawebapp.boca.gov.tw) and six photos
2). Passport with at least 6 months of remaining validity and two blank pages (original and copy)
3). Admission letter from your school
4). Health certificate (you can get it done at the same places as your work ARC health checks)
5). Bachelor’s degree diploma (original and copy authenticated by Taiwan overseas Mission and transcript authenticated by Taiwan overseas mission. She said one is okay, but I’m going to bring two)
6). Financial statement showing that you have access to more than 500,000ntd.
7). Other documents may be required on a case by case basis
It’s gonna be a lot of work assembling all those documents! Good thing school doesn’t start until the Fall!
Do you know how strict they are regarding the financial statement?
The most I could probably show by Fall is 300,000, and that’d be pushing it.
I don’t know. Maybe you could call the TECO office that you plan on visiting.
Yeah I was told pretty much the same thing. I’m just not sure if they will give a resident visa to me for the end of July/August when school doesn’t start until September. I also don’t see why a visitor visa wouldn’t work…
I’ll bet that if you explained your situation to them, they’d do their best to accommodate you. On the TECO website, it says that you should apply “well in advance” of your travel date. Why not give it a try? Maybe call them first and explain?
Yeah I contacted the Philippines office and asked them for details in email form. From past experience, these offices aren’t very good at being available to help you out though, hopefully I will hear from them. The 500,000 nt thing seems ridiculously high to me, I have no idea how someone could spend that much money in Taiwan for the length of an ARC. It also isn’t mentioned from what I saw on the boca website. So I asked them if scholarship and stipend count towards the financial statement. I’ll let you know if/when they respond.
Sounds good. If you don’t hear from them in a few weeks, I’ll be getting some transcripts verified at the Seattle office next month and I’ll ask them about it.
Ok, They replied, but they seem to think I am a Philippines citizen. I am also trying to get my notarized stuff from Seattle right now, so I will ask them when they call me about it. Here’s what the Philippines office said (my comments in brackets):
Dear friend,
- First you must leave Taiwan before your current ARC expired.
- The validity of Student Resident Visa is 3 months, but you should apply a new ARC within 15 days upon your arrival in Taiwan. The Immigration Office may not agree to grant you student ARC before the start day of school.
- If you intend to apply a visit visa to Taiwan between July 13th and September, you should leave Taiwan when the said visit visa due, then apply the student visa to re-enter Taiwan.
[So a visitor visa won’t work, it will just buy time until the next visa run, but I am pretty confident they will give me the student visa]
RESIDENT VISA REQUIREMENTS
FOR STUDYING IN COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY IN ROC
-
An online Visa Application Form (please access [visawebapp.boca.gov.tw](https://visawebapp.boca.gov.tw) to fill up the Form and print them out) -
Two (2) 2 X 1.5 head & shoulder photos against white background (taken w/in (3) months) -
Passport valid for at least six months and old passport showing previous travels -
Birth Certificate issued by NSO [I am not a Philippines citizen so I replied to ask if this is necessary] -
Marriage Contract (if applicable) issued by NSO -
NBI Clearance [Equivalent of an FBI background check. Again, I hope this isn't necessary for U.S. citizens] -
Diploma and Transcript of Records ( if issued by Philippines school should be authenticated by Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and TECO) -
Admittance letter from the accredited schools -
Medical Examination Clearance (valid only for three months from date of issue) from any of the following accredited Hospitals and Clinics : [A bunch of places in the Philippines] -
（1）scholarship certificateFinancial supporting documents of the applicant such as:
（2）Bank Book or Bank Statements
（3）Financial Support Letter from parents or relatives (Affidavit should be notarized) [To cover my bases, I’m bringing all three] - The Student ID card. [Don’t know if this will be possible for me]
- Interview
-
All documents submitted to this office should be Original and 1 photocopy
NOTE: THIS OFFICE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO WITHHOLD THE REASON FOR THE DISAPPROVAL OF ANY VISA APPLICATION AND THE FEE IS NON-REFUNDABLE
I emailed…someone? I’m not sure who. It’s listed on a flier from the Bureau of Consular Affairs as that of the Hong Kong TECO office but I’m not sure (does that place even have a website?). Anyone this person informed me that they are not super strict concerning the proof of funds. You just need to show that you can cover your living expenses. So good news for that other guy.