[Overstay] Visitor Visa & Overstay Confusion

[Visitor]

Please help sooN!
here is my scenario-I am an US citizen on a visitor visa which to my suprise expired 12-26-00, my original leave ticket was for today 1-4-00. I went to the Forieng affairs station to ask for an extension and they told me it was expired. SO I am planning on leaving this Mon to signapore for a new visitor visa or even a landing visa but I wonder if they will give me a new visa b/c it's says "overstay"
I just got a new job that is willing to give me a ARC-in february.
Please any suggestion on this issue and or better places to go would be greatly appreciated.

[Visitor]

When you apply for a Visitors Visa you will notice a BIG stamp with two dates. This is the time during which the visa is VALID.

When you arrive in the country you will receive a SMALL round stamp with a date on it, this is the date from which your 60 days start.

Last year I made the mistake of looking at the BIG date stamp, and suddenly found that I had overstayed by a few days. I therefore left the country Immediately (within 7 days) and had to pay a NT$10 000 fee at the airport.

I then went to Singapore and receive a new non-extendable Visitors Visa with no problems. I did ring them first (or rather I asked a Taiwanese friend to do so) and asked them if me overstaying would be a problem. It was NOT.

However, if you overstay longer than (I think it is 10 days) it is a more serious matter. You have to pay a LARGER fine, and I am not sure if you get any special stamps put into your passport.

Going by the dates you have given it looks like you have overstayed for longer than 10 days.

I suggest you ring the Singapore office and talk to them first. Ask to speak to the director / supervisor, NOT the 'counter girls'.

Depending on his answer you may have to go back to your home country instead.

I am sorry I can not give a more specific answer.

Good luck

------------------
Regards
John
http://taiwanteacher.bizland.com
taiwan_teacher@hotmail.com
Kaohsiung

[Visitor]

OOOOOPs - That should read NT$1000 NOT NT$10 000.

"I therefore left the country Immediately (within 7 days) and had to pay a NT$1000 fee at the airport"

------------------
Regards
John
http://taiwanteacher.bizland.com
taiwan_teacher@hotmail.com
Kaohsiung

[Visitor]

John, too bad what happened to you last year. It's true that those stamps are always confusing... You say in your post that overstaying more than 10 days is quite serious and the fine you have to pay when leaving is much bigger. Someone overstaying (on purpose or not) for a few months, even one year should get big big troubles? Anyone knows how much money they can actually ask from you? And what if you refuse or simply can't pay?

[Visitor]

According to Article 59 of the ROC Immigration Law (promulgated on May 21, 1999), the maximum fine is NT$ 10,000.

I personally knew of a fellow in Taipei County who overstayed his visa for eight years and was fined NT$ 5000 in the Fall, 2000.

[Visitor]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial Narrow">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hartzell:
According to Article 59 of the ROC Immigration Law (promulgated on May 21, 1999), the maximum fine is NT$ 10,000.

I personally knew of a fellow in Taipei County who overstayed his visa for eight years and was fined NT$ 5000 in the Fall, 2000.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Really? So if I overstay, can my employer still get me a work permit? Or if I leave (since I have overstayed about 2wks now) will I be able to come back in 1 mo or so? The only other problem I'm having is that my passport expires in Jun 2001-less than 6 mo. What do you think?

[Visitor]

A work permit and a visitor visa are two different things. If you have overstayed your visitor visa, you should leave the ROC and come back in on a new visitor visa.

I think that coming back in a month or so should be no problem. I don't think that the expiry of your passport in June 2001 should be an issue, unless you are applying for a LANDING VISA at the CKS airport. If you are applying for a one month or two month visitor visa at an ROC Overseas Office, it should not be a problem.

After you get a work permit you will be eligible for a resident visa and an ARC.

[Visitor]

Hello,

I came here on 12-14--2nd visit--and study at Chinese Cultural University. I was under the misimpression that visas are issued for two months and so when I went yesterday (2-14) to extend my visa I found out that I had overstayed by 2 days and had to leave. The officer who dealt with me said, "oh, if you had come today you could have stayed until 4-16," counting on getting 2 extra days because Feb only has 28. So I pointed out to him that he would actually then have overstayed by a day since there are thirty one in March. That was my single moment of satisfaction in the exchange.

I am currently waiting for a check to clear and have no contingency funds to deal with this problem-i.e. to leave the country. I pointed out this to the intransigent folks at the ARC office and also that although the official fine for overstaying a few days is a quite reasonable 1000NT fine, since we have to leave the country, the effective fine is more like 9000NT. Taiwan being an island. So, since the fee schedule goes up to 5000 for overstaying up to 90 days, but that really equals a 13000NT fine, the difference between overstaying one day and 89 days is actually only 4000NT.

The next question I had was, will I have a problem returning and getting another visa if I overstay drastically as opposed to a few days. In my foolish non-Asian mind I imagine that there is an appearence of greater impropriety and actual malfeasence in overstaying a great period as opposed to "hey I made a mistake" in a few days. According to them, no difference. Over six months, you can't come back, they say, but who knows.

My question is: is this really so? Would be it be ok for me to just stay here for another sixty or seventy days overstay or should I as soon as my check clears book a flight and sort the matter out? What are the consequences of these two different scenarios? And if it is the same, isn't the government actually encouraging a disregard for the law? Imagine if I overstayed a few days, left immediately and got another visa and then overstayed again. Or I could have simply overstayed the duration of a whole visa--60 days--with practically the same consequences. I hope that someone can shed a bit of light on this.

Yours,
B.M.

[Visitor]

If you are aware of your current overstay situation, and you are not involved in any official (or personal) type of extenuating circumstances, then I suggest that you pay your fine, leave, and then come back.

In the long term, it would probably be better for you to get a resident visa. You can investigate the details of that when you come back. Obviously, the most direct way to get a resident visa is to get employed here in Taiwan.