While you look through our extensive explanation of your visa appliction, here's a flow chart of the visa application (JPG, 97KB) to go along with.

With the Admission Approval Letter that the Chinese Language Center will forward to you once your application has been approved, you should go to the nearest Republic of China embassy, consulate or representative office in order to apply for an extendable visitor's visa that allows you to enter Taiwan. Without the letter, you will not obtain the proper visa since the Chinese language center's name needs to be printed in the 'Remarks' section of the visa.

For an extensive list of consulates, embassies and representative offices abroad, visit the Contacts section.

You will also need a passport that is valid for at least six more months, a recent passport picture and a filled in application form (to be obtained from the representative office in your country, though you can download a visa entry form (PDF, 174KB) here.

Please note that a separate visa is required for a spouse and/or other dependents accompanying you, and they may be asked to provide an Affidavit of Support.

Check this with the embassy or representative office that is handling your visa application. On the visa application form, also note the following: Your visa will look similar to the picture below. However, you must ensure that your visa is an extendable visitor visa of 60 days, including a note on your visa stating you will be a student here at our Chinese Language Center. This way you will not need to leave the country within a month or two. The correct note, depending on the country you apply in, will likely be written in Mandarin in the Remarks section, marked by the blue 6 below.

You do not want a non-extendable visitor visa limited to 30 days (landing visa) or 60 days (visitor visa).

The example below is clearly non-extendable because of the NO EXTENSION written in the Duration of Stay section, marked by the green 3 below. If you come on a non-extendable visa, and decide to stay to pursue language studies later on, you will have to leave the country to apply for the proper extendable visa. You will not be able to change your visa status while in Taiwan. An extendable visa will likely only state 60 days without mentioning NO EXTENSION in the Duration of Stay section. Please be advised that if you come to Taiwan much earlier than the beginning of classes, there may be a concern regarding your visa extension. Ideally, you should arrive in Taiwan somewhere between the 1st and the 5th of the month that your term starts.

Keep in mind:

While studying at the Chinese Language Center it is important to check your visa regularly to ensure that you don't overstay. An easy way to do this is to verify your entry date and add 60 days to that date. If you have forgotten the exact entry date, check the date on the yellow embarkation paper in your passport or find the immigration stamp on one of the pages in your passport. Don't confuse this with the validity date of your visa, the latter simply means the last date you can use your visa to enter the country. The Chinese Language Center cannot be held responsible for any loss of money or any other inconveniences and problems that arise from failing to extend one's visa, neither is it our task to inform you when you need to extend your visa.

You have to apply for extension within ten days prior to the expiration of the visitor visa. You will have to fill out a form for an Enrollment and Attendance Certificate and allow two working days for your documents to be prepared. With the Enrollment and Attendance Certificate, issued by the Chinese Language Center Office, you will be able to get up to two extensions. Each extension will add another 60 days to your visa, if payment for the next term has been made.

Since your first and foremost identity is that of a student, it is imperative that you attend classes regularly. Students who skip class and are not serious about learning Mandarin will not receive the necessary documents for visa extension. Our attendance policy is quite strict, by which arriving in class later than 15 minutes will be regarded as tardy and the student will be registered as absent.

Download more details about visa extension. (ODF) visa extension. (DOCX)