Friday, April 20, 2007

But there is no joy in Mudville -- mighty Casey has struck out.

And in this instance, Casey is me. I applied for my Alien Residency Certificate yesterday and was told that basically there was a snowball's chance in hell of being approved, so I shouldn't bother paying the fee of NT$4,400 (US$135) as it was non-refundable. The Taiwan government is under the mistaken impression that studying Chinese for two years is plenty, and since I've logged in 19 months, they think that's close enough.

The good news is that my multiple-entry visa allows me to make the hop to Hong Kong and come right back, and as soon as I get back, the 60-day visitor visa starts up again, and that I can get extended twice while I continue to study. Until yesterday I did not know this! Pretty cool deal, that. So, I'm off today for a couple nights with Terry and Cheryl, once again imposing on their hospitality. The plane ticket cost me around US$55 more than the application for the ARC, so that's not too bad. And I won't have to leave again for another six months, at which point I'll once again bother my good friends (hopefully with a bit more advance notice than they received this time).

1 comment:

aetherwellen said...

That's really weird that the government won't give you an ARC. Your university should be able to support your application.