Do you have a source for this? As far as I know, the Taiwan government has been auto-extending tourist visas, without people ever needing to step foot in an office. The latest auto-extension was just announced last week:
https://www.immigration.gov.tw/5475/...142068/245917/
I haven't been able to find any credible sources stating that this would be the last extension for those in Taiwan. Since those who get auto-extended don't need to go into an office, there should be an announcement or something online so they would be informed.
Interesting. Where did you get that information from?
GEP is supposedly quota-free and non-sector specific.
5 months from end to end. That involved an initial rejection and successful appeal.
They definitely seem to be getting more stringent. My employer has hired many expats (and many more locals) over the years and thought my case would be extremely straight forward. Relatively senior role, good salary, had attempted to hire local etc.
Now that there is a flight ban to the UK. I wonder if Immigration Dept will extend those people's visa in HK, if they are about to expire.
I think the ban is for flights from the UK. HK to UK flights are still running.
If there were flight cancellations etc then I think HKID would extend though.
As already noted above some countries WILL NOT TAKE their own citizens without onerous waiting/hoops to jump through which make "going home" very hard. Eg NZ/Aus. AustCham in HK is trying very hard to get the Aus government to do something about this as it's causing considerable hardship.
The only place I could have moved to on a whim, as of last week, was the UK (despite having an Aus passport and residency in NZ). This week, even that is looking dicy. Crazy, crazy situation for a virus that doesn't kill 99.5% of people it infects.
This year has taught me a lot about stupidity, risk aversion and poor governance. Globally.