Job Discussion Forums

[Breezy]

How long does it take to process a 60-day visa?

I plan on coming to Taiwan the middle of August, but the only time I have to get my visa either next week (if you need an airlines ticket, I don't have mine yet) or after July 28th. I can't go in July because I will be in a CELTA course (which I'm sure I have repeated a million times-sorry about that) M-F from 9am to 5pm and of course those are the TECO's opening times...

Now I'm in a panic...Will I be able to apply for the visa around August 1st and still get it before I leave on the 24th...???

What documents will I need to get the visa??

[BigWally]

It honestly depends on your local TECO office....you can sometimes pay extra for same day service...assuming all of your paper work is in order...but again I guess that depends on what country you're from too

[Breezy]

I'm from the states but I will have to go to the TECO office in the Hague so I have a feeling it will take longer...

It is about $75 American for the visa if I'm not mistaken... Would you happen to know how much extra (rough estimate)?

I'm sorry if I'm asking silly questions, but I just want to know so I can budget my money accordingly....

Thanks for responding to my posts by the way, this is helping me a lot

[AQUA MARINA]

You could call the TECO office or email them. It took me only 2-3 business days to get a stamp on my passport.

[BigWally]

Sorry, I know the Maiguoren process is different from the Janadaren process so I cant be of much help

[elliot_spencer]

I got mine in London - cost me �18 (US$36) and took less than a day. I went to the office with my documents at 12.30 and then collected my visa at 4.15 the same day!

[Breezy]

[elliot_spencer]

Hey,

yes I got a 60 day visa. I have British and Italian citizenship (I had to state both). They asked me what I'd be doing in Taiwan - I told them I'd be visiting some mates and travelling round. I told them I'd be in Taiwan for 3 days. YES - you have to show them flight details and show evidence of an outward jorney, I also had to show a bank statment and show funds of �1500 (US$3000)

[Breezy]

Thanks for answering that! I finally found something on the internet and decided to look up the TECO website in the U.K. since the one in Holland doesn't have a website and I read that you can either provide a "letter of invitation" or a bank statement.

Elliot, did you just provide a bank statement or (if you had this "letter of invitation") did you provide both the letter and the bank statement?

Did anyone else have to provide this letter along with a a bank statement or did you get the visa with just the letter alone?

FYI: this is why I ask so many silly questions:
When I was an Au Pair here in Holland I was given a week to gather ALL my documents for my residency. I only had one day to do it and that was on a Friday...the documents had to be in that Monday. I had to travel through three different provinces to get the rest of my paperwork and have it sent. I went to the U.S. consulate, which gave me one of the documents but told me it needed to be "legalized" and that had to be done in the Hague... I get to the Hague trying to find the first place(Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and got lost. I arrive there just before they close and they tell me "Sorry, you don't need it legalized, you need an apostille and that is at the Palace of Justice but they are closed until 12:30" and that was at 10:30... waited and went to Palace of Justice and they told me "No, you don't need an apostille, you need it legalized and that is at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but they are closed now." I spent the entire day rushing all over Holland for nothing.
In the end, I got my documents and it all worked out, but I refuse to have to do that again, especially since this is my first time in Asia.

So that's my little anecdote

[elliot_spencer]

I had a letter of invitation bt when I called the office they told me - regardless of what documentation I had I had to bring a bankstatement!

I did not have the funds in my bank so I used a bankstatement from Jan 2007 and explained that it was a savings account and therefre only get a statement every 6 months!

I GOT THE VISA!

[yamahuh]

Ok, for what it's worth here's my experience with getting a 60 day visa processed; after doinga fair bit of research on the web we had decided that we needed certain documents FOR SURE!!

1: Outward bound plane tickets booked to leave WITHIN the 60 days time period of your visa so that it looks like you will actually be leaving the country before your visa expires.
2: Travel itinerary, after all you're supposed to be coming as a tourist. We looked at a Taiwan travel site, cut and pasted a bunch of the travel highlights into a word document and constructed a false itinerary that way.
3: Bank statement to show that you're able to support yourself here without working, you're a tourist after all so obviously you've saved for your trip right?

We showed up at the TECO office in Hanoi with all of your paperwork in hand ... and trust me it was a real pain in the ass getting a refundable flight from Taipei to somewhere that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

What did they check?

NOTHING!

Better to have it than not I suppose but it still irked me no end.
Oh and BTW it took no more than 3 days for us to get the visa so you should be fine with the time frame you have... even in Holland

[TaoyuanSteve]

[yamahuh]

You're not wrong but actually all of the above documentation was suggested as being necessary by a couple of companies that we were very close to working for. As far as trying to arrange for a travel agent to give us a proposed print out intinerary, that would have been great if we could have explained what we wanted (we were doing this in Vietnam).

Language was an issue to say the least...

[TaoyuanSteve]

[elliot_spencer]

The outward flight information is not so much for the TECO but more for immigration once you arrive in Taiwan. I was told by thE TECO that theyre the ones who will want to see it!