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Nev
Joined: 03 Mar 2003 Posts: 7
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Posted: Thu Mar 20, 2003 10:53 am Post subject: ..... another question regarding visa application |
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...... another question .( Applying for a visa seems like a scetch from Catch 22 ) . My girlfriend and I want to teach in Taiwan for 6 months . To obtain the 60 day visa we have to show a flight ticket which indicates that we return after 60 days . We have booked a ticket for 6 months . does anyone know how we can get round this . I don't really want to buy a tivket for the 60days and then have to change it to 6 months because of the 100 dollar charge involved .
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WorkingVaca
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 135
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Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2003 1:25 am Post subject: Buy a separate ticket |
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Buy a separate return ticket that leaves from Taipei to Hong Kong within 60 days, then get a refund once you get into Taipei. EVA Airways did this for me. It took about a week to get the cash back, though. |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2003 4:21 pm Post subject: |
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Another alternative is to buy a twelve month open return ticket on your flight. You can book your return flight for some date within the sixty days and simply cancel the booking and reschedule it for whenever you want after you arrive here. |
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EOD
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 167 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2003 1:17 pm Post subject: 60 Day Mutiple Entry Visa |
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60 Day Multiple Entry Visa
This is the best visa you can get for Taiwan. It allows you to stay in Taiwan for 60 days from your last entry date and can be extended. The visa is issued for durations of 1,3 or 5 years.
These visas are officially called tourist visas but the only significant tourism on Taiwan is related to manufacturing. You will not be given this visa if you are a teacher. They are issued to business people and legitimate students of the Chinese language. You can get one of these if you can convince them you are a businessperson. Once you have it, it cannot be revoked without legal justification.
Dress the part and talk the talk. Having a letter of invitation from a Taiwanese company to come to Taiwan helps as well. Just call up any major Taiwanese company an ask for an opportunity to see there production line and products. They will send you anything you ask for. Prepaid tickets to an international trade show in Taipei, works well also.
Take that to the visa office with your business card. Be polite and apathetic.
Last edited by EOD on Fri Apr 04, 2003 2:23 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Posts: 1028 Location: Taoyuan
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Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2003 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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I got my 60 day M.E. visa by simply asking for it, providing teco with a bank statement proving I had enough money to support myself and showing them a plane ticket out within the 60 days (which I promply cancelled upon arrival). Most people come here on these visas. |
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Richard
Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 33 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2003 1:35 pm Post subject: 60 day multiple entry - question for EOD |
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Hey EOD - I've got the 60 day multiple entry visa that you mentioned in your post - mine is for the duration of one year. The initial 60 days has elapsed and I've already extended it once by signing up for Mandarin. I've also got an open return flight ticket to Canada that's good until the end of the year.
Just wanted to clarify: since it's multiple entry, I get a fresh 60 days after each new entry I make into Taiwan during the year in question? Can I just keep doing visa runs to Bangkok or HK or wherever every 2 months and not bother with official extensions? Do I need to obtain anything in Bangkok or HK before coming back?
I'm confused because I'm always reading that visitor visas are only good for 6 months, 60 days plus 2 extensions. Does that refer to single entry visitor visas? I came here thinking I'd have to fly home to Canada after 6 months and get a new visa, but I'd prefer not to do this until my year is up if I can help it. Just want to be sure I've got the facts straight.
Thanks. |
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EOD
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 167 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 4:57 am Post subject: Just Go and Come Back |
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All you have to do to get another 60 days with a Multiple Entry Visa is leave the country. You are not required to do anything else. Once you have the exit stamp in your passport you have another 60 days.
Be advised if you stay in Taiwan for more than 90 days the local government can legally tax your income for that period. If you leave before 90 days you are not required to pay any taxes.
When I got my tax statement this year it came with a copy of my bank statement. The tax people in this country are probably the only civil servants that actually do any work. |
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Richard
Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 33 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2003 4:00 pm Post subject: |
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Death and taxes, right? Oh - and mosquitoes.
Thanks for the reply. |
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EOD
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 167 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2003 3:39 am Post subject: Not Taxes |
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Read this post carefully,
If you don't stay in Taiwan for more than 90 days the government cannot tax you. So long as you do not have residence status you are a tourist. Keep in mind if you get caught working illegally under a Multiple Entry visa you will be told to leave the country (deported). Being deported is like being blacklisted only your name and passport number are only listed in the immigration department computer not the Ministry of Education. Hence you can get an arc a day after you have been deported but cannot not get an ARC after being blacklisted by your previous employer.
Citizens of the US are not required to pay Taxes if they make under a certain amount and reside outside the US. Last year, that amount was around 90,000 US$, annually.
Death is inevitable, mosquitoes can be found in the Arctic circle, paying taxes is the civic duty of every citizen who resides in that country?
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Richard
Joined: 30 Jan 2003 Posts: 33 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2003 7:56 am Post subject: |
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Understood you the first time. Just being glib with death and taxes and mosquitoes. As a matter of fact, I don't think it's a civic duty to pay taxes in a country you're residing in - especially when one is trying to pay off a student loan and has always paid taxes on time back home. Call it moral flexibility in the face of debt.
I'm glad to learn of this 90 day loophole - thanks for the information.
Incidentally, my employer is aware I'm on a visitor visa and is fine with it. As long as I don't walk into the Foreign Affairs police station carrying a banner that says "WORKING ILLEGALLY, PLEASE DEPORT" I think I should be fine.
Arctic Circle? Did I miss something? |
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EOD
Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 167 Location: Taiwan
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Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2003 9:57 am Post subject: I Know a Person Who Did Just That |
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A few years ago a friend of mine went to the foreign affairs police headquarters to get himself deported. It seems his employer simply refused to pay him or return his passport.
The police were very sympathetic, they got his passport back for him and offered him a place to stay until her could get a ticket home, not jail. They stamped the deportation order in his passport. I don't know who paid for his ticket home. I saw him at spring scream a year later. Go figure. |
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