A 5-step guide to getting student ARC

This post will explain how to get an Alien Residency Certificate (ARC) in Taiwan as a student. 

There are numerous forums and blogs about getting an ARC in Taiwan and the information is a bit scattered and confusing. So, I decided to write a clear guide on how to get an ARC, from my own experience and from digging through Taiwanese government sites.

This is going to be a long one, so bear with me. 

What is an ARC and why do I need it?

ARC is a card given to foreign students and workers by the Taiwanese government, recognizing their student/worker status and granting them the right to stay in Taiwan for a period of time. Anyone willing to continuously stay in Taiwan for more than 6 months will have to apply for an ARC. 

Wait, can’t I stay in Taiwan during my studies?

If you are coming to Taiwan with a student visa to enroll in a Chinese language training program and plan to stay for more than 6 months, then, no. At least not initially. Here’s how it goes:

Taiwan gives out student visas with three different time limits. You either get a 60-day, a 90-day or a 180-day visa. But for the most part, they give out 60-day visas.

3-month long courses on a 2-month visa?

Almost every Chinese language center in Taiwan have 3-month terms. Which means once you enroll, you will need to take classes for at least 3 months. 

This creates a problem for students with 60-day visas as their visas expire after 2 months. I know this sounds silly, and most schools won’t tell their students about this problem until after they arrive in Taiwan.

Bureaucratic mess

In order to get an ARC, first you need to change your visitor visa (Students visas are considered visitor visas in Taiwan. Students visas have the letters "FR" printed in the "Remarks" line) to a resident visa. But here's the catch:

The law requires that after changing your visa into a resident visa, you need to apply for an ARC within 15 DAYS. 

But the law also requires you to be studying in Taiwan for at least 4 MONTHS before you can apply for an ARC.

So coming to Taiwan and changing your visa to resident visa right away to apply for an ARC is out of the question. You will need to be in Taiwan for at least 4 months. And you know what, Taiwan does not generally issue visas any longer than 2 months! You will need to extend your visa in order to be staying in Taiwan that long.

Therefore, steps leading to getting an ARC goes as follows:

1 - Getting a visa extension

2 - Getting a second visa extension

3 - Getting a health report from a public hospital

4 - Applying for a resident visa

5 - Applying for an ARC


1- EXTEND YOUR VISA

Getting a student visa extension for the first time is (relatively) easy. 

Simply go to the National Immigration Agency 2 weeks prior to your visa expiry date and apply for an extension. Your visa expiry date starts from the next day of your entry date that is stamped on your passport.

You will need the following for the first extension:

- A completed visa extension form

- Enrollment certificate from your school

- Valid passport

Last I checked, the National Immigration Agency was located on the corner of Yanping South Rd and Guangzhou St. But I advise you to confirm the location of the immigration office with your school before you go. The current building looks like this:

How to fill out the form?

Once you enter the immigration office, you will see people wearing pink vests with the word ‘Volunteer’ written on them. They are there to help you and they can speak English to a certain extent. 

Walk up to one of the volunteers and say that you are a student and ask for a visa extension form. She/he will provide you one. 

The form is printed in Chinese and English and is more or less easy to fill out. A couple of points to consider, though.

First, they will ask you to fill out the address where you are residing while you are in Taiwan. This part needs to filled out with Chinese characters. So you’d better write or print your address on a piece of paper beforehand and bring it to the immigration office. If you have difficulty copying the characters to the form, just ask one of the volunteers to help you out.  

And secondly, you will need to provide the name, address and phone number of the person or the institution who is your ‘contact person’ during your stay in Taiwan. So, you should also write that information on a piece of paper beforehand as well. They ask for either a person or an institution so don’t freak out if you don’t know any locals. Your school is your 'contact person.’

After filling out the form get a number from the queue machine and hand over your documents to the official behind the desk. They will stamp an extension on the blank page next to your current visa. And that’s pretty much it! Hurrah!!! You extended your visa and can stay in Taiwan… until you need to extend it for a SECOND TIME!

2- GET A SECOND EXTENSION

Your visa will be extended for a duration of your original limit. So, if you have a 60-day visa, you will get a 60-day extension. Once that expires, and you still want to continue your studies in Taiwan, you will need to get a second extension.

The second extension is trickier, though. The first time, you were just starting out as a fresh student eager to learn Chinese and they were happy to accept you into Taiwan. The second time, they will make sure you are attending your classes properly. 

No attendance, no extension

To extend your visa a second time, you will need to get an attendance sheet and grade record from your school. 

If you are missing more than 15 hours of classes in a month or your grade average is lower than 60 out of 100, they may not extend your visa. Also, you will have to be taking at least 15 hours of Chinese courses each week. This is a must.

In order to prove all these, you will need to get the necessary papers from your school and present them to the visa immigration office again, along with your passport and enrollment certificates of course. Do this 2 weeks before the extension on your visa runs out. Don't go to the immigration office earlier than 2 weeks because they will tell you that you are applying too early and send you back. 

How does ARC come in?

So you extended your visa a second time and well on your way to learning Chinese and you might think why you would need an ARC if you can keep extending your visa like so. The thing is, you cannot.

180 days, you are out!

In Taiwan, student visas can only be extended up to 180 days. So, if you arrived on a 60-day visa, you can extend your visa twice. If you have a 90-day visa you can get an extension once. After 180 days, there are no more extensions and you will need to go to another country in order to re-enter Taiwan. Unless you get an ARC. 

Do not assume that you can extend your 2-month visa once, and apply for an ARC at the end of that 4-month period, because issuing of the ARC will take time and your visa will expire during that time! Never let your visa run out or you will have to exit Taiwan, come back and start the process all over again. Be on the safe side, get a second extension on your visa.


3- GET A HEALTH REPORT

This is a bit nasty. You will need to go to a public hospital and get a health record before you can apply for an ARC. They will take an X-ray and take blood and stool samples from you. Yes, you will need to poop on command. I told you it was nasty. Luckily, they have little enema bottles at the hospital. 

Go to the hospital at least 2 weeks before applying for the ARC as it takes 2 weeks for the record to come out. Better yet, apply for the health record before you apply to get the resident visa. 

For the health report you will need:

- Valid passport and one passport photocopy 

- Three passport-sized photos

- 2000 NT fee


4- SWITCH TO RESIDENT VISA

After you have extended your visa for a second time, and went to the hospital to get a health report, you will need to switch your visitor visa to a resident visa.

In order to switch your visa, you will need to apply to the Bureau of Consular Affairs (BOCA) located at Jinan Road, Section 1, No. 2-2. Here's the building:

You will need to provide the following documents in order to get a resident visa:

- A completed resident visa form

- Valid passport

- Two photos

- A copy of student ID card 

- NT$2,200 application fee 

5- APPLY FOR AN ARC

You switched your visa to a resident visa, you have your health report. 

Here’s the part you’ve been waiting for. ARC application. You will be needing these to apply for an ARC: 

1. A completed ARC application form.
2. Attendance sheet and your grade record. You cannot be missing more than 15 hours a month, you will need to be taking 15 hours of classes a week and your grade average should not be lower than 60. 
3. School enrollment papers. Just bring all the enrollment papers starting from your first term.
4. Valid passport. Original and a copy. 
5. Two passport-sized photos. But I always bring extra ones to be safe.
6. School ID card. 
7. Health report. 
8. Cash. And cash only. My 1-year ARC cost me 3200 NT, even though the website says the fee was 1000 NT. The immigration bureau can change the fees for ARC without prior notice. So, always bring extra cash with you. They will give you a receipt. Don’t lose it!

Remember that you will not get your ARC card right away. 

When your ARC is issued, they will give you a call to come pick it up. When going to pick up your ARC card, do not get in a queue and directly ask the volunteers for the pick up desk. You will need to hand them the receipt from earlier in order to get your card. And that’s it.

When applying for your ARC, go to the immigration office a good month before your visa expires. It takes time for them to process your papers. And you wouldn’t want the stress of cutting too close to your visa expiration date. Add to that the two weeks you need for the health record, and that means you will need to begin the paperwork to get an ARC approximately 6 weeks before your visa expiration date. 

That’s all there’s to it. I hope this helps and if you have any questions or want to add anything I might have missed, let me know in the comments.

Cheers!

-DS