Getting ARC by investing in Taiwan (not by opening a company)

Hi,

I know about the process of getting ARC by opening a company here or by having a rep office. I heard there is also ARC for investment purposes but not related to having a company here. I also know that investing in the real estate market and owning an house is not enough in order to get ARC. So can someone clarify which kind of investments are elegible and approved by Taiwan?

As far as I know, the investment visa is also based on opening a company here. If you have the funds, you can probably open a company that buys real estate and leases it out, thus generating enough income to sponsor your residency.

More generally, I recommend getting in touch with Taiwanā€™s representative office in your country. They might know better than the people in this forum.

I heard there is something like investing in goverment bond or funds. Opening a company here form me is a big no since im busy in other fronts. I don t want to have something just ā€˜set upā€™ to comply with the papers. I could invest some money for a small returnā€¦anybody had this experience?

To get an investment visa, you can either invest NT$15 million in a company (and create at least five jobs for locals) for a period of at least three years, or invest NT$30 million in government bonds for a period of three years.

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And do you know where can we find information on the government bonds?

You may get some info from the Investment Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Overseas Chinese & Foreign Investment
https://www.moeaic.gov.tw/businessPub.view?lang=en&op_id_one=1

Entry Permit for Foreigners
https://www.moeaic.gov.tw/businessPub.view?lang=en&op_id_one=8

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The minimum to get a an investor visa is $200k USD, as shown in the documents posted by ā€œtandoā€ above. Not 30M NTD ($1M USD) and employing 5 locals (though this may indeed be another Visa option I canā€™t say). I just got the same info from a CPA there last month to make sure it was still up to date, and he said you can invest the $200k in pretty much anything you want in Taiwan (stocks, bonds, company etc). Iā€™m planning on doing this if we move to Taipei in the next few months, and invest in local stocks on the TWSE that pay dividends to live on. Taxes on your ā€œbusinessā€ proceeds are 17% per the CPA. RE: The ARC, you will get an ARC for yourself and if needed a spouse/children under 22 as part of this visa.

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Ok i will take an appointment with the offices mentioned by tando. I will than post here the outcome

You also need to maintain NTD$2M, which I think is in income but not sure exactly how it is calculated.

Itā€™s all already explained in detail many times here in Forumosa if you want to search.

Hi @Bimmerjeff,

This is interesting. Did it work out? Would like to learn more about this option.

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Yes, that is mostly correct and I have been on this Visa for the last 11 months. You can invest the money in anything you want, but it must be made via Taiwan banks/institutions. We choose to buy our bankā€™s bond products for ease, and they are actually invested in EM bond funds based in Luxomberg not Taiwan, so the bank converts the investment into USD to invest it. Taiwan bonds are terrible, low yeild. If you want to trade stocks you will need a brokerage account, which I have but it was a big challange to open for the bank (Sinopac Securities) and I have never used the account, just stuck with the bonds as they pay a high yeild like 8%. Also the tax on your net earnings (you can deduct all kinds of stuff like travel, food etc) is 20% not 17%, because of the way they treat that type of investment income. The first year we paid no tax because all the business setup fees were more than our profit, but next year we will owe some TW tax.

If you can do the new Gold Card, in Economics catagory (just need to prove salary over $X ($70k I think) via a current US W2) then its a far better option as you donā€™t need to invest anything or set up a company, unless you want a company for other reasons. My friend here jus did the Gold Card and was quickly approved with no issues, and $300 USD fee no investment. The Investor Visa is the best option for ultimate flexibilty and taxes, but way more expensive and difficult to set up.

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Thanks for the reply. I donā€™t think Iā€™m qualified for the Gold Card but Iā€™ll check. Iā€™m also looking into setting up a rep office option.

So basically you just open a bank account in Taiwan, transfer $200K into it, buy some bonds and apply? How long do you have to keep the $200K in the account?

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I didnā€™t try the Gold Card because I read alot of rules that made me think I wouldnā€™t qualify. My friend here just got his approved using only his W2 that showed he met the income reqirement. So if you meet that (around $70k USD/yr), you should definately try that option first for $300 fee and see if you get approved.

Rep office is also an option if you already have a US company, but its very restriced for work purposes and only valid for a year at a time I believe. My friend above runs a company in the US and still decided to go the Gold Card route.

So basically you just open a bank account in Taiwan, transfer $200K into it, buy some bonds and apply? How long do you have to keep the $200K in the account?

Not exactly, you need to use a CPA here to help you set up a special account that is only for funding a company here. Then the money is sent by your US bank to the TW bank and verified by the MOEA and they then approve your Visa. Once the funds are in the special account, you will setup a 2nd ā€œbusinessā€ account tied to your new business and that account is used to invest the money and/or fund your business operations. Note that setting up this ā€œbusinessā€ is part of the Investment Visa process and required, even if you never run it as a true business in the normal senseā€¦

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This sounds pretty complicated and if I go this route, Iā€™ll definitely need to get help from a CPA. Does this ā€œbusinessā€ need to meet certain annual revenue requirement? How long will the whole process take?

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Here are some relevant government pages.

https://investtaiwan.nat.gov.tw/homePage?lang=eng

https://www.moeaic.gov.tw/businessPub.view?lang=en&op_id_one=1

https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-166-278-9b20e-2.html

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Itā€™s NT$15M investment and employ 5 Taiwanese full time for 3 years OR NT$30M into Taiwan Government bonds, entitles you to the Plum Blossom APRC after 3 years (no residency requirements). According to the lovely people at the MOEAIC, bonds option actually requires your investment only account for 30% of your net worth. Seems to be impossible to obtain the bonds however (sold out?). If anyone has more information on that, Iā€™d love to know.

US$200k investment into a Taiwanese enterprise (new or existing) has 5 years residency requirements and a bunch of other requirements for getting APRC at the end.

Approval process varies depending on your particular circumstances (the MOEAIC are very stringent).

You will need a CPA familiar with the process for any of these option to successfully apply to the MOEAIC. Once you have your investment certificate however, the residence visa application is straightforward but normally must be done at an overseas TECO.

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Hi,
Very interesting to read, thank you for sharing. Could you please give the name of your CPA? Could you confirm the rules still allow for this in 2020? I would like to do the same but have been told by one advisor recently that I need to invest in a company and prove that the 200k USD investment has directly led to the employment of three locals.

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Your advisor has confused $200k vs NT$15M. The 200k option does not have employment requirements, and in any case the employment and/or requirements are for the APRC application after 3 years, not at the beginning.

Pretty much any CPA will be able to assist you with this process.

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Thank you very much. So can I put the money in a Taiwanese bank and simply invest in Taiwanese stocks and bonds?

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To trade in stocks (from TWSE) the funds you use must originate from an overseas bank account, using a local account is not OK, neither is using a foreign currency account in Taiwan. For investing in companies, if you do use NTD account, you have to show a Taiwan tax certificate. The rules are fairly rigid in this respect.

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