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Rice Paddy Daddy
Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 425
Location: Japan
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 Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 6:49 am Post subject: 3 Year Multiple Re-Entry Visitor Visa? |
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A few people from Vancouver have reported getting 3 year visitor visas.
Anyone know when Taiwan started to offer 3 year visas? |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 1028
Location: Taoyuan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 7:13 am Post subject: |
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| When I first came here, I got a 60 ME visa from the TECO office, good for one year. My gf got three years. Our applications were submitted together. The only thing I can guess that made them give her that is her Chinese ancestry. Seemed really random to me. |
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Rice Paddy Daddy
Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 425
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:21 am Post subject: |
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Steve,
Well that's just it - these guys are 'newbies' as far as living/teaching in Taiwan goes and didn't even know about a 3 year visa, never mind request one.
The guys I've talked to have been white.
Thks. |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 1028
Location: Taoyuan
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| Posted: Sun Feb 13, 2005 1:04 pm Post subject: |
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| Wouldn't surprise me in the least that these guys got three year visas without even asking. It's just a stamp, really. Maybe they issued some three years earlier in the day and didn't want to bother to change the date on the stamp back again. Anything government here is arbitrary and disorganized at the best of times, I have found. Wouldn't surprise me in the least if it just came down to something like what rubber stamp the Teco people had in front of them. Typically, if memory serves me correctly, you usually get one year validity on these visas. I saw no space on the application form where one could request a different length of time. Perhaps your excuse--er reason-- given for the visa has some bearing. Ie, perhaps listing Mandarin study as your reason for the visa gets one a three year term(?) Anyone else care to weigh in? |
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Aristotle
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1388
Location: Taiwan
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| Posted: Mon Feb 14, 2005 3:47 am Post subject: |
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| Anyone know when Taiwan started to offer 3 year visas? |
3 and 5 year multiple entry visas have been available for over 20 years. They are normally reserved for business people who travel regularly to and from Taiwan. I know foreigners who have been living on Taiwan with these types of visas for years. The greatest benefit for most people is the tax free status they offer. Anyone on a visitor visa is not required to file a tax statement if they are in Taiwan 90 consecutive days or less.
The Ministry of Foreign affairs dictates the policy determing who can get these types of visas however it is up to the issuing authority as to how to interpret those policies. In Taiwan that means race, occupation and nationality are the three determining factors. White business people from the US are the primary recipients of 3 or 5 year multiple entry (tourist) visa's. The government on Taiwan has been trying for some time to create a service industry on Taiwan and increase the number of tourist. That could be why the Vancouver office is issuing multiple entry visas or it just could be someone new in the office who didn't know how to properly "interpret" the regulations.
Taiwan likes to call nearly all visitor visa holders tourist because it looks good on paper when they publish the annual (lies) statistics.
There is no real tourism to speak of on Taiwan so most business people and teachers are given tourist visas. There was a pilot program to bring large numbers of real tourist from Hong Kong to Taiwan in a failed attempt try to kick start a hot spring type of tourism industry. Unfortunately it went belly up when a drunk Taiwanese tour bus driver drove a bus load of Hong Kong tourist (mostly Hong Kong tour guides and operators) from the pilot program off the side of a mountain last year.
Here is how to get a Multiple Entry Visa!
http://www.voy.com/113223/223.html
Good luck,
A. |
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Rice Paddy Daddy
Joined: 11 Jul 2004
Posts: 425
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Tue Feb 15, 2005 12:37 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks, Aristotle.
I figure it must be the luck of the draw as well.
I worked in Japan and a friend and I applied for our work visas at about the same time. He got a 3 year visa and I got a 1 year visa. Then I talked to other Canadians who said the same thing - some got a 1 year visa and some got 3 year visas. |
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