Taiwan has a few rules in their visa granting procedures that frankly don't make a lot of sense and, to put it mildly, make life difficult for me.
The first rule is that language students can't have wives that are just here being a wife, she needs to be a student herself or have a job. There is something called a "relative visa", but they won't give me one because Jason is a mere language student. Women whose husbands work or are enrolled in graduate school or college can get this visa, but not those of us whose husbands are in language school. This means I have to earn a visa in my own right, and this is why I am taking a full load of Chinese classes when I'd really like to be taking none or just a little.
The second problem rule is that a language student can't study Chinese longer than two years. Again we are confronted with the fact that clearly Chinese people don't understand just how difficult it is for us poor Westerners to learn their language. This rule isn't yet uniformly applied, but if you bump into Strict Immigration Officer, like I did, they give you the chop.
Last Friday I went to apply for a resident visa because the visitor visa I currently hold had almost run out. My application was beautiful. I had all the right documents, I had all the money I needed (annoying rule #3: they want proof that you have the equivalent of $3000 US), I had even made all my own copies because I remembered that the ladies get a little annoyed if they have to copy things for you. I was so confident that my application would sail through without problem.
Then she starts flipping through my passport, looking at all my stamps and asks me how long I've been studying Chinese. She can see from my passport that I first came as a student in 2005, so I answer honestly that I've been studying almost three years. That's when it happens, she shakes her head. Then she explains that my application will be denied because I have exceeded two years. She says my Chinese is good enough. I plead with her, explaining that I only want to finish the summer semester, but she won't even accept my application because she wants to "save me" the $150 application fee. I'll bet the person before me didn't have their copies already made. She says if I leave the country and come back before my visa expires I can get another 60 days.
Enter: Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is where most foreigners in Taiwan go to take care of visa problems because it is close and cheap. We've done this song and dance before, last January to get my current visa after I lost my former resident visa because I took a break from classes after Ellie was born. Now I'm sure Hong Kong is a wonderful place, but our last trip to Hong Kong included the flu and a lot of rain, and was pretty much the most miserable three days in recent memory. Because of the flu I couldn't even enjoy the food, and I've heard that's a real shame.
Plus, when you factor in plane tickets for two people and a baby, plus hotels, going to Hong Kong isn't really that inexpensive of a proposition. So we decided that I would go to Hong Kong for half a day only. One plane ticket. No hotel. Price tag: about US$250.
Exactly one hour from touch down to take-off, that's how long I was in Hong Kong.
I didn't even go through customs. After I got my boarding pass and found my gate I only had time to hit the bathroom and watch 10 minutes of CNN before my return flight started boarding. My time there was so short that the airline specifically sent someone to my plane when it landed with a sign that said, "Kristie Truell wait here." She was a very lovely lady who said nothing but, "This way," directing me to the proper counter to get my return boarding pass, and then showing me to my gate. Good thing too, because the airport in Hong Kong is large and confusing and I never would have made it through in time.
I was only out of Taiwan for three or four hours, but it was enough to earn 60 more days until I finally get a "wife visa" when Jason starts seminary. What's the moral to the story? I don't know, maybe, "Be nice to foreigners because you don't know what kind of grief your government gives them." I do know that the one good that came out of this is that while I was gone Ellie went to bed without me for the first time in her life. And you know what that means: FREE! I'm free, oh yeah! Anyone want to go see a movie while Jason puts the baby down?
The first rule is that language students can't have wives that are just here being a wife, she needs to be a student herself or have a job. There is something called a "relative visa", but they won't give me one because Jason is a mere language student. Women whose husbands work or are enrolled in graduate school or college can get this visa, but not those of us whose husbands are in language school. This means I have to earn a visa in my own right, and this is why I am taking a full load of Chinese classes when I'd really like to be taking none or just a little.
The second problem rule is that a language student can't study Chinese longer than two years. Again we are confronted with the fact that clearly Chinese people don't understand just how difficult it is for us poor Westerners to learn their language. This rule isn't yet uniformly applied, but if you bump into Strict Immigration Officer, like I did, they give you the chop.
Last Friday I went to apply for a resident visa because the visitor visa I currently hold had almost run out. My application was beautiful. I had all the right documents, I had all the money I needed (annoying rule #3: they want proof that you have the equivalent of $3000 US), I had even made all my own copies because I remembered that the ladies get a little annoyed if they have to copy things for you. I was so confident that my application would sail through without problem.
Then she starts flipping through my passport, looking at all my stamps and asks me how long I've been studying Chinese. She can see from my passport that I first came as a student in 2005, so I answer honestly that I've been studying almost three years. That's when it happens, she shakes her head. Then she explains that my application will be denied because I have exceeded two years. She says my Chinese is good enough. I plead with her, explaining that I only want to finish the summer semester, but she won't even accept my application because she wants to "save me" the $150 application fee. I'll bet the person before me didn't have their copies already made. She says if I leave the country and come back before my visa expires I can get another 60 days.
Enter: Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is where most foreigners in Taiwan go to take care of visa problems because it is close and cheap. We've done this song and dance before, last January to get my current visa after I lost my former resident visa because I took a break from classes after Ellie was born. Now I'm sure Hong Kong is a wonderful place, but our last trip to Hong Kong included the flu and a lot of rain, and was pretty much the most miserable three days in recent memory. Because of the flu I couldn't even enjoy the food, and I've heard that's a real shame.
Plus, when you factor in plane tickets for two people and a baby, plus hotels, going to Hong Kong isn't really that inexpensive of a proposition. So we decided that I would go to Hong Kong for half a day only. One plane ticket. No hotel. Price tag: about US$250.
Exactly one hour from touch down to take-off, that's how long I was in Hong Kong.
I didn't even go through customs. After I got my boarding pass and found my gate I only had time to hit the bathroom and watch 10 minutes of CNN before my return flight started boarding. My time there was so short that the airline specifically sent someone to my plane when it landed with a sign that said, "Kristie Truell wait here." She was a very lovely lady who said nothing but, "This way," directing me to the proper counter to get my return boarding pass, and then showing me to my gate. Good thing too, because the airport in Hong Kong is large and confusing and I never would have made it through in time.
I was only out of Taiwan for three or four hours, but it was enough to earn 60 more days until I finally get a "wife visa" when Jason starts seminary. What's the moral to the story? I don't know, maybe, "Be nice to foreigners because you don't know what kind of grief your government gives them." I do know that the one good that came out of this is that while I was gone Ellie went to bed without me for the first time in her life. And you know what that means: FREE! I'm free, oh yeah! Anyone want to go see a movie while Jason puts the baby down?












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