I dont think you will have problems of taking the ferry to Jinmen to Xiamen or Xiamen to Jinmen (supposed that you have Visa permit entering China?)
You dont need to be residents of Jinmen to take the ferry. My friends take them all the time coz they need to be out of China once per 3months.
As for Xiamen, it is a fun place. You are gonna have fun.
BTW, they are Americans, German, Canadian and Singapore working in Xiamen. All of them are not employed by TW companies.
Some of them went to Jinmen to get their Visa stamped or had a tour for fun.
[quote=“smithsgj”]I’m supposed to be visiting Xiamen, and am wondering if it’s possible to come back on the boat to Jinmen. Thought I’d look for the latest news here, but nothing doing.
I would say almost certainly it’s impossible. I don’t think that they consider that the route crosses an international border, do they? So they wouldn’t be able to stamp your passport.
Please tell me I’m wrong about this![/quote]
You are wrong. I am a German on an ARC in Taiwan. Went to a travel agency, they got me a visa for china within a few days (they sent my passport to HK I think). Soon after that I had a (great!) vacation on Kinmen (aka Jinmen aka Quemoi) and took the ferry to Xiamen (aka Amoy). On the other side I had to fill out a form, got a stamp in my passport, that’s it. On the return trip I had to go through TW immigrations again.
Details in [url=http://tw.forumosa.com/t/travel-from-xiamen-kinmen-taiwan-is-it-possible/48788/14 thread[/url]. And I know the search function is not working as many people expect it, so if you searched and didn’t find that thread don’t worry 
Actually they are in my opinion even more prepared for “foreign visitors” there than maybe other places, because Taiwanese can go there WITHOUT a Visa, and get a kind of chinese Passport there on the spot (only need PRC money).
Don’t forget to bring chinese/PRC money (you can exchange in the Kimen port), because you cannot exchange there. Also make sure you know where in Xiamen you want to go, because if you say “take me downtown” many taxi drivers will charge you a lot and drive a few hundred meters to some downtown where you certainly don’t want to go
I have read that there is now a Cosco ferry direct from Keelung to Xiamen. Has anyone tried that yet, or have any information about it? We used to live in Xiamen and would love to visit again soon–the ferry would be fun (if foreigners are allowed to take it). We used to take a similiar ferry between Xiamen and Hong Kong many years ago.
My friend mentioned it weeks ago. It cost like RMB580 for one way and its overnight boat ride.
I cant find the right link.
Awesome! Thanks for posting that. I had heard a similar price. I will have to check into it some more. That would be so convenient.
I found this schedule posted on the Cosco site:
coscotw.com.tw/cht/asp/star-sch.asp
Looks like once a week from Keelung or Taichung on an alternating schedule. Don’t see Kaohsiung on there yet.
Wait sorry for going a bit off topic, but does going to Jinmen count as leaving Taiwan? I.e. can one go to Jinmen for a multiple-entry Visa renewal?
Nope. Kinmen is R.O.C., so no “International border” between the Taiwan island and there.
I ran into a Swiss bicyclist in Laos (he’s cycled from Switzerland to Laos and wants to go to Taiwan) and we talked about this topic. Have any foreigners traveled on the boat from Taiwan to Xiamen (or the other way). Is there somewhere to process visas (visa’s applied for beforehand) or is the crossing just for Taiwanese/Chinese citizens? I think this thread makes it sound like foreigners can take the boat but I just want confirmation that someone has actually done it.
Yes, confirmed. People do it all the time. Both ways. You need a China visa going into China. You can’t get this at the border.
Yep I did it, details are mentioned a few posts above.
Yep I did it, details are mentioned a few posts above.[/quote]
Thanks, I for some reason felt that no had done this and posted my thread without even searching. How naive of me.
Good information to know, thanks Olm