Eric first came to Taiwan in 1992 on a two-month tourist visa. As a student of Chinese, he was able to obtain a couple of two-month visa extensions, but he would have to leave Taiwan once every half-year and reenter on a new tourist visa.
民國八十一年來台的艾瑞克，原先申請的是觀光簽證，後來以在台灣學中文為由申請延期，但每半年得離開台灣一次。