Ok listen up. If you want to switch to an extendable visa for purpose of employment at the hong kong visa office, one of the 6 required documents is a work permit.
I know there are a lot of people saying that you can get an extendable visitor’s visa on any pretense and apply for a permit and ARC once you arrive in taiwan, but I was just denied a visitor’s visa for employment on the grounds that I had no work permit.
I even had my signed contract from the school, and I explained that I planned to apply for my work permit as soon as I returned to taiwan. What do you think they said? No way, buster. No tourist visa either.
$800 US ::FLUSH::
Maybe you think it was a fluke, maybe you think you’re lucky, but it’s better to be safe. It’s easy and it only takes 14 days so GET THAT WORK PERMIT FIRST.
When you go to the ROC office in Hong Kong (or wherever) with the required documents (work permit, proof of employment (zaizhi zhengming 在職證明) issued by your employer and a proof of your address (in Taiwan or in your home country), they will give you a document that will be exchanged for a resident visa before you pass through immigration at the airport in Taiwan.
There is not exactly such thing a tourist visa, though the code letters on a visitor visa may indicate that the purpose of the visit is tourism. If you go and apply without the required documents:
If you hold the passport of a country that is granted visa-free entry, they will advise you to re-enter Taiwan without a visa and go abroad again later to get your resident visa*.
If your passport does not entitle you to visa-free entry, they will give you a visitor visa. (But of course they can deny you a visa if they want and they don’t have to tell you why.) Again you will have to leave the country again to apply for a resident visa*.
If you come from Czechia or one or two other countries, you can get your visitor visa at the airport or other port of entry (i.e. a landing visa). Here, too, you will have to leave the country again to apply for a resident visa*.
*Unless the purpose of your visit is to “join relatives” (yiqin 依親)".
p.s. (For those who have not been following my recent posts), this was not the procedure in the past but it has been since May this year.
As far as I can tell this is the authoritative website. There you can see the same form that you get when you arrive at the visa office. There are other websites that look like they are published by the HK taiwanese consulate, but their information is out of date.