Job Discussion Forums

Bahcevan · Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 39

(Sorry for what is probably a redundant question for many of you
folks, but I need to ask this since I couldn't find the info elsewhere)

***What are the current procedures being followed in changing one's
visa from a Visitor (with the purpose of tourism) to a Residentv(with the
purpose of work)? Can I do this in Taiwan, or do I have to leave and come back?***

-I don't have any visa yet. I do have plane ticket for a round trip
flight in 1 month (return flight 6 months later-can be changed).

-I hold a bachelor's degree from an American university, am willing
to sign on for a year, pay taxes, and all other things that will let me
work legally. Thus, I am not asking about going to Hong Kong every
few months to renew a non-work visa. For my own clarity, and
that of other readers, I would like to speak strictly in terms
of the process of acquiring an ARC and a proper visa.

I am currently also looking into Aristotle's standing advice to go after
a multiple entry business visa. According to clark w. griswald, this is
a rare option and nobody seems to know anybody who's had a business
visa changed over to a work visa (thereby knowing if or how it works).
It seems that one of Aristotle's motivations for the business visa is
that it lets people work illegally? and requires them to leave the
country less often. From what I (think I) understand, people who hold
a "work" visa don't need to leave in order to renew them. So the talk
of trips/visa runs is a little confusing for me personally.

Can somebody with current knowledge please enlighten me on this?

Pop Fly · Joined: 15 Feb 2003 Posts: 429

There are rumours circulating about this concern of yours, but I, in my experiences, can claim them to be false. But that's my experience. YMMV.

You should be able to make the transfer just fine, providing you get all the hoops jumped thru in the requisite time. Aye, there's the rub.

Get medical done on your first day. It takes 8 working days to complete if you pass. It's good for 3 months and can be used for any employer wishing to sponsor you for a work permit. Which, btw, is your next step: find a job. Now you have a sponsor for a work permit. There is more than one instance when, a teacher, at the end of their visitor status, has found a job and been given a letter by their new employer, assuring that the process of applying for a work permit on your behalf is in progress, where the Foreign Affairs Police (FAP) have extended said VV for 30 days.

Next, you take your degree (I was indeed asked to provide original degree to the CLA in the last month), your health certificate, your passport, and some documents your employer will provide to the CLA on YanPing Road just north of NanKing (Taipei residents only). In anywhere from 2 to 30 days, you will receive a work permit. Most likely, 10 days.

Take this, your passport to the MoFA. They will take your passport and this is when the clock stops on your visitor visa. They will replace it with a resident visa which you will use to get your ARC at the FAP.

Bring passport size photos to each step of the process.

Or take a job with a chain school from overseas for the soft landing, which usually includes all the above steps but costs you a year of working for a chain school. Your choice.

Aristotle · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1388 Location: Taiwan

Please read this.
Get a Multiple Entry Visa!
Good luck!
A.

fiveeagles · Joined: 14 Apr 2005 Posts: 51 Location: Jeonju, South Korea

Can you only get a multiple visa if you lie? Can you get a multiple visa as a teacher?

A

clark.w.griswald · Joined: 06 Dec 2004 Posts: 2056

Bahcevan · Joined: 14 Jan 2005 Posts: 39

Thanks, Pop Fly and C.W. Griswald for your detailed responses.
Pop-fly, you are the first poster I have ever read who has simply
laid out the tourist-to-teacher bureaucratic process in clear terms.
Thank you very much for that run-down!

Aristotle - I was hoping that you would also weigh in on this in an
informative way - but you simply repeated the same statement from
before. You must know that people who are preparing to travel (long
distances at great cost in order to go to Taiwan to work) will not heed
your advice as long as you make unsubstantiated claims like this.
No insult intended, but there is simply too much at stake for people to
want to take the risk without understanding it first.

And may I ask, are you Chinese? That is the only reason that I can
think of that would make you want to hang around trying to fix the
situation in Taiwan. If you're not Chinese, I am dying to know what
caused you to dedicate yourself to this struggle against the "Republic
of Criminals?"

logician · Joined: 15 Jan 2004 Posts: 70