PhD Opportunities in Taiwan for Pakistani students : February 2016

Wednesday, 3 February 2016

Admission guide (4/4) for Pakistani students admitted in Taiwan for PhD studies

Part 1:

Attestation in Pakistan (Documents preparation for Saudi Arabia)

Part 2

Thailand Visa Process

Part 3

Visa application in Thailand

Part 4

Thailand to Taiwan

PART-4

Thailand to Taiwan

I. After 3 to 4 hour of flight, you will be here at Taoyuan International Airport Taiwan. (InshaAllah).

      II. Convert some money from USD to NTD (new Taiwan dollar).

   III.   There is shuttle bus service in the basement of Airport that will take you to Nangang (a place near dorm) and then you have to take taxi to reach dormitory in 5 mints but for the first time. Bus will charge around 115NTD to bring you here in Taipei (or your city, depends upon your university)

   IV.            Welcome to Dorm/University.

  V.     Visit your departments on the same day if it’s is office timings and meet your Programme Assistants that you have reached and fulfill the mandatory requirements at that time

   VI.            See you soon In-sha Allha.

Things are tedious,

but

YES YOU CAN

BEST OF LUCK

Admission guide (3/4) for Pakistani students admitted in Taiwan for PhD studies

Part 1:

Attestation in Pakistan (Documents preparation for Saudi Arabia)

Part 2

Thailand Visa Process

Part 3

Visa application in Thailand

Part 4

Thailand to Taiwan

PART-3

Visa application in Thailand

SUMMARY

Before leaving to Thailand you need to fill online visa application form for Taiwan. Visa may be granted within 2 to 3 days or maximum 10 days (if they send your documents to Taipei). You must contact your University (the person sent you admission letter) to send your detail to TECRO, Bangkok, Thailand, (2 to 3 days before leaving to Thailand).

Part-3 Welcome to Thailand:

After 7 to 8 hours of flight travel, you will find yourself in Thailand. Take some steps before leaving airport of Thailand.

· Wait for your friends if you are coming in a group, on the same day same time but different airports of Pakistan. e.g. one from Karachi and one from Islamabad, both flight on Sunday, 11 PM, otherwise go ahead.

· Buy a visitor SIM in Thailand airport, as it will have an internet package and will be easier for you to talk home, to know about your friends in Thailand, and navigate to hotels, embassy and new places. One sim for whole group is enough (I highly recommend this).

· Convert about 300 USD to Bahts (Thailand currency) at airport and if you need more, convert it later on.

· When are done and you want to go your place, go down at the basement of the airport and the transport is available there. Show them the address of the hotel, they will charge you around 300 to 500 Bahts. Pay them fist at the counter and then sit in the car. (Or you can find taxi there easily, ask the money first. Usually they charge by Taxi Meter).

· When you reach hotel and its morning time and embassy is open, I will recommend you to go there for applying visa otherwise take some rest in your room.

· I guess you will get hungry soon, so don’t worry there is a Pakistani hotel nearby with tasty food with reasonable rate. Hotel name BBQ Delight , Quality-Taste-Halal and other one is Pak Afghan Resturant. If you have the SIM with internet (from airport) you can easily go there by walk. Otherwise take a tuk tuk (raksha) by showing them the hotel name or address. Also take your hotel address cards with yourselves before going out so that you can come back easily.

Fuji Hotel to BBQ Delight (Pak Afghan Restaurant is connected to Fuji Hotel)

Krungkasim Srikrung Hotel to to BBQ Delight

Fuji Hotel to TECRO (Taiwan Embassy) (23 minutes by walk or take taxi)

Krungkasim Hotel to TECRO (41 minutes by walk)

There are few other Pakistani restaurants available in the nearby streets in this area.

· People of Thailand are cunning, so be focused to your work only. If you go for long distance, prefer taxi-meter, not tuk tuk (Rikshaw).

· Go to embassy early in the morning along with required documents.

Address: Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand,

20th Floor, Empire Tower,

195 South Sathorn Road

Bangkok, 10120 Thailand

Things to remember

First day they will take all documents and will give you interview time/date (usually next day). Then visa on interview date or next day.

If you have medical form then apply resident visa (if they give same day or next day)

If you are not TIGP (Academia Sinica) student then they may tell you sending your your documents back to Taiwan for verification, in this case, ask them to provide visit visa. If they don’t give you even visit visa without verification from Taiwan, then let them do, you need to stay 7 days to 10 days in Thailand and inform your university to be in contact with TECRO. They need prepare some documents (Guarantee letter) n submit in BOCA office Taipei then they grant you visa. Enjoy Thailand n be in contact.

· After getting Taiwan Visa, take ticket from Tai airlines office (nearby) for Taiwan.

· Be in touch with dorm manger (or university) and keep her inform about your arrival to Taiwan and dorm so that he/she make sure that your room is available to you on time.

· Before leaving your hotel room in Thailand, check all your documents and luggage.

· Go to airport in-time.

· If you have some Bahts remaining, convert it back into USD.

· Bye Bye Thailand.

END OF PART 3

Admission guide (2/4) for Pakistani students admitted in Taiwan for PhD studies

Part 1

Attestation in Pakistan (Documents preparation for Saudi Arabia)

Part 2

Thailand Visa Process

Part 3

Visa application in Thailand

Part 4

Thailand to Taiwan

PART-2 Thailand Visa Process

SUMMARY

After completion of part 1 (Attestation in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia) you need to prepare documents to get visa of Thailand. This second part of information will present you what to do when you got your attested documents back from Saudi Arabia. Your goal is to reach Taiwan but have to come to Thailand for getting Visa of Taiwan. Following these steps will make your process quick and comfortable.

1. Before Coming to Thailand

I would suggest you to follow these steps before coming to Thailand.

I. Apply for Thailand visa a week or two before you receive your attested document from Saudi. Visit the website of Thailand embassy in Pakistan and apply for visa along with the required documents. This will save some time a lot of time for you.

http://www.thaiembassy.org/islamabad/en/services/941

These 2 items you required before you visit the website of Thailand

a. Ticket Itinerary

You need to attach your booking ticket (for proposed date of departure to Thailand) with your application so go to nearby ticketing agency and they will give you a print of booked ticket @ 500 to 1000 or free. Don’t buy/ attach the original ticket before you got Thailand Visa. This itinerary will be valid for 3 days only, so after getting this, you need to visit Thailand Embassy to apply for visa.

b. Hotel Booking in Thailand

If you people are coming in groups (most recommended) then its easy to manage everything in Thailand. There are few options in hotel in Thailand which many of us visited and were satisfied with our choice. Remember you need to have lunch n dinner in Halal restaurants and also have to visit Taiwan Embassy (Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Bangkok, Thailand). Hotel room will cost about 900-1500 bath per day for 2 to 3 people or can be for 4 and you will get a light breakfast as well (depends upon your selection). Off course you can stay in more expensive or cheaper as well.

Option 1:

Krungkasem Srikrung Hotel

Last year (2014) 5 of us stayed here and it’s the most cheapest and easiest as we found convenient as well. Only problem is that there is no internet in room, you need to come to lobby to use internet and you need to walk around 20 to 25 minutes to reach Halal Restaurant area.

http://www.srikrunghotel.com

Option 2:

Fuji Hotel

This hotel is just connected to a Halal Resturant (Pak Afghan Restaurant) and other Halal Restaurant are also very much close. I personally recommend this hotel as in other case (option) you need to walk around 20 to 25 minutes to reach this area twice a day (lunch n dinner).

http://www.fujihotelbangkok.com/

Option 3:

Your choice

You can visit hotel booking websites to find the most suitable to your requirements. Map below will show the location of TECRO n Halal restaurant market. Remember one thing, Thailand people are not as trustworthy as Taiwanese. If you choose hotel far away from Embassy n hotels, you need to come by taxi or rikshaw, they people (usually) try to cheat you as much as they can.

www.hotels.com

www.booking.com

And many many more

After booking your hotel online, they will send you a receipt of booked room with all necessary details; you need to attach a copy of it to your file to apply for visa of Thailand.

After these 2 steps you have to visit Thailand embassy website to fulfill other requirements to apply for visa. They usually grant visa in 5 working days which remains valid for 3 months.

II. When you got Thailand Visa after a week, then you need to book a ticket. There are two ways to do this;

a. one is book a return ticket (you travel by one-way ticket) to Thailand and ask your agent that you will cancel the return flight after a week or two and you have to return a portion of money (your friend or family member in Pakistan will receive the remaining amount).

You can book your Taiwan ticket from Thailand, as there is an office of Thai airline, close to TECRO office Bangkok.

b. The second method is to book return ticket to Taiwan with a stay of 7 or 10 days in Thailand. Then cancel your return when reached Taiwan and got your remaining money as in case one. The second method is cheaper in sense of money but seems risky (to me) as you have visa of Thailand and your ticket is of Taiwan. It’s up to you which one you like.

Do & Don’ts

· Book the ticket early and if you want to come in groups of two or three persons (I strongly recommend). The early booking will save your money and will make you tension free to pack your luggage.

· You no need to buy too much stuff as you can find most of things here easily. If you like to keep the same taste of your food for some time then do bring the required stuff (masalas) for your food. If you are fond of Tea (like me) then do bring the open black tea (Lipton tea bags are available in Taiwan n Thailand).

· Total luggage weight is 30Kg in Tai-Air Line so use it wisely. It’s not cold too much so don’t bring too much stuff of winter. In addition to Laptop, you can have a hand-carry luggage (don’t put liquid, eatable and oily items in hand-carry)

· Bring your Praying Mat (Musallah) for Namaz and your Quran-e-Pak for recitation.

· Before leaving to Thailand, you need to visit following website to apply the visa of Taiwan and take its prints.

https://visawebapp.boca.gov.tw/BOCA_MRVWeb/subroot/MRVWeb0_form.jsp

· Make 3 to 4 copies of all your documents to keep it with you as you for convenience.

· Visit this Taiwan Embassy of Thailand website and make sure you meet the requirements

http://www.taiwanembassy.org/TH/lp.asp?ctNode=1813&CtUnit=62&BaseDSD=7&mp=232

· Convert all your money to US dollars, no need to convert into Bahts or NTD.

· I would suggest to come up with a least 2000 USD as you have to buy ticket from Thailand to Taiwan, food, visa fee, hotel fee and most important you have to pay the tuition and registration fee when you just came. The bad news is you will get your salary at the beginning of next month with no settlement allowance. So you must have enough money to survive for a month.

· Before leaving home, double check all of your documents n stuff. If you have renewed your passport, take both (old and new) with yourselves when leaving home.

· Go to airport before the schedule time and after boarding, it time to flight to Thailand.

END OF PART 2

Admission guide (1/4) for Pakistani students admitted in Taiwan for PhD studies

Part 1

Attestation in Pakistan (Documents preparation for Saudi Arabia)

Part 2

Thailand Visa Process

Part 3

Visa application in Thailand

Part 4

Thailand to Taiwan

SUMMARY PART 1

Since Pakistan doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, so, Saudi Arabia is a linkage between Pakistan and Taiwan for all the attestation and authentication process to get visa of Taiwan. Mostly, students need to go to Thailand or Dubai to get Taiwan visa. However, Thailand is quite suitable place (visited by most of students) to apply visa of Taiwan. To get into the Taiwan for study, you need to attest documents from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, get the visa of Thailand and finally, apply visa of Taiwan from Thailand.

THINGS TO DO

After receiving admission letter you need to send few documents to Riyadh Saudi Arabia to get attested from

1. Pakistan Embassy

2. Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, Riyadh (TECRO) link here

Here is the detail of all the documents and the procedure you need to follow.

Step 1/3

1. You need to attest your all degrees with final transcript from HEC click here for detail

Detail

First you need to get your Matric and FSc certificates attested from Inter Board Committee of Chairmen (IBCC), Federal Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education Islamabad (link). Then HEC will accept your degree and transcripts from BSC onward to make them attested.

NOTE: You just need to send final degree and transcript attested from Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Foreign Office (FO) to Saudi Arabia.

Step 2/3

2. Get your Final degree, Transcript, Authority letter and Medical Form attested from Foreign Office Islamabad click here for detail

Detail

Before going to Foreign office you need to

a) Get your medical done from any government hospital

For Academia Sinica Students

You need to have your medical from any government hospital. Medical Form must have stamp and signature of Physician and Medical Superintendent. If you got admission in Academia Sinica then you have choice of having medical in Pakistan or not. Medical is required in case you apply for residence visa. Sinica students can get visitor visa which needs to be converted to residence visa here in Taipei. Your respective department and TIGP office will help you to get it done.

Other University students

If you get admission other than Academia Sinica, you have to talk to your university to send your details to Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Bangkok, before your arrival to Thailand. If they do so, you have chance to get visit visa within 3 days and move to Taiwan. In case you can’t get visit visa, then you must need attested medical form and a guarantee letter (*details below)

b) Authority Letter (attested by Notary Public and Foreign Office) to the name of your agent (Your relative or friend living in Riyadh or in surroundings because he needs to visit Pak embassy and TECRO few times (or many times) to inquire about the documents)

Step 3/3

Send the following documents to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to your agent

1. Attested Degree and transcript

2. Admission letter (copy)

3. Medical Form

4. Authority letter

5. Passport (copy of complete passport (page 1 to last), they will check your travel history and validity must be more than a year (6 months at least, otherwise apply for fresh passport))

(Keep notice that every page of documents needs money to get attested)

*(If you are not Academia Sinica student) When you apply for residence visa in Thailand, they will send your all documents to Bureau of Consulate Affair (BOCA) Taipei, for cross verification. You need to find someone Taiwanese (professor, adviser or supervisor) in your university who can fill guarantee letter (picture below) and provide his ID copy which will be submitted in Taipei (by your friend or your university) after your visa application in Thailand. Any friend of you can go to your university to get form attested (prof stamp, signature, ID copy pasted over form and university/department stamp) and submit to BOCA office in Taipei. Whole process takes at least 8 to 10 days so, be cool and calm and enjoy Thailand meanwhile.

Pictures

1. Medical Form Page 1