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lisamtl
Joined: 30 Nov 2007
Posts: 4
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 Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 5:06 pm Post subject: Arriving in Taiwan - Immigration sheet/Visa question |
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I will be arriving in Taiwan with my boyfriend at the end of May. We are in the last stages of accepting a job from one of the bigger chain shools. The recruiter advised is to do the following upon our arrival:
On the immigration sheet, please check tourism and not �study Chinese� as purpose for travel because we cannot change a student visa to a work visa. Do not tell the Immigration officer at the Taiwan airport that you plan to work, either. Just say you are here to tour Taiwan.
Is this sketchy or perfectly normal? Because we will have quite a bit of baggage that may indicate our intention to stay will this cause problem?
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance! |
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yamahuh
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Karaoke Hell
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| Posted: Thu Mar 24, 2011 10:23 pm Post subject: |
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Perfectly normal.
In my experience the immigration officer won't really care about how much baggage you have so long as your paperwork is in your order and there are no complications in his day.
You usually don't do any more than present him with your passport and landing card (whatever it's called) where you will have checked the tourism option. If you have a tourist visa and you check the tourism box there should be no issues. |
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JZer
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 3898
Location: Pittsburgh
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:29 am Post subject: |
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| In my experience the immigration officer won't really care about how much baggage you have so long as your paperwork is in your order and there are no complications in his day. |
Maybe it is different in Kaoshiung by in Taoyuan Airport you don't pick up your baggage until after you have went through passport control. Then there is the other immigration control point to check that you are not bringing in any illegal goods but at that control point they are only really interested in whether you are trying to bring any contraband goods into Taiwan. |
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yamahuh
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Karaoke Hell
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 2:00 am Post subject: |
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| You're correct - my mistake. |
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TaoyuanSteve
Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 1028
Location: Taoyuan
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| Posted: Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:29 am Post subject: Re: Arriving in Taiwan - Immigration sheet/Visa question |
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| lisamtl wrote: |
I will be arriving in Taiwan with my boyfriend at the end of May. We are in the last stages of accepting a job from one of the bigger chain shools. The recruiter advised is to do the following upon our arrival:
On the immigration sheet, please check tourism and not �study Chinese� as purpose for travel because we cannot change a student visa to a work visa. Do not tell the Immigration officer at the Taiwan airport that you plan to work, either. Just say you are here to tour Taiwan.
Is this sketchy or perfectly normal? Because we will have quite a bit of baggage that may indicate our intention to stay will this cause problem?
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance! |
Very normal as it is necessary to arrive here intitially on a tourist visa. Most, if not all, teaching jobs don't process teachers who aren't in the country. You receive your formal job offer once you arrive and your work permit and resident visa are processed soon thereafter. It's a bit of a song and dance routine, and everyone knows what you actually intend to do, but you have to play along. Just follow the steps your agent outlined and don't worry about anything. It will all go smoothly. |
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rbos
Joined: 22 May 2010
Posts: 69
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| Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:50 pm Post subject: Question |
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| Let's say a person wants to go on a tourism visa for the purpose of actually trying to find work. Does anyone know if on the Immigration Sheet, in addition to a "tourism," box, they have a box that says "to look for work" in order to try to discover your true intention of coming to Taiwan to try to find employment under the disguise as a tourist? |
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yamahuh
Joined: 23 Apr 2004
Posts: 1033
Location: Karaoke Hell
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| Posted: Fri Apr 08, 2011 2:43 am Post subject: |
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No - there isn't and you shouldn't say that is your true intention, although the likelihood of immigration asking is slim, they are the last in a line of people processing your entry to the country. The people who you will really have to convince are the folks at TECO processing your visa. Once you've got your visa, you're pretty much home free so long as you stick to the tourist story.
If you are coming here on a tourist visa you are 'officially' supposed to be a tourist. You are not supposed to work or look for work. Of course immigration officials know it happens, but it's one of those little intricacies.
"We won't ask if you don't say".
Keep it to yourself - go online and print out an itinerary of all Taiwan's best tourist spots - get the address of a friend living here - if anyone asks (they won't except perhaps at the Visa office) whip it out and tell them how much you are looking forward to visiting their beautiful country.
Do not say you are going to be looking for work and don't worry, probably 95% of the people on this board came in exactly the same way. |
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