The below tells the criteria
Thanks Tando - I think I may fall into the criteria laid out in that link you provided. Laying out my understanding of how this plays out for getting HHR via āspecial talentsā without a residency period of stay:
For other folks who are in my situation (a National Without Household Registration (NWOHR) - with a passport), you can apply for residence under the reasons specified in Article 9 of the Immigration Act. This amounts to a TARC (Taiwan Area Residence Certificate) that allows you to reside in Taiwan for up to three years (with potential extensions) but is not the same as permanent residence or household registration which would qualify you as a real ācitizenā or National With Household Registration (NWHR).
The reasons available to apply for a TARC that relate to āspecial talentsā is in Subparagraph 8 of Paragraph 1 of Article 9:
- Has special contributions to the country and the society, or is a senior professional personnel as needed in the Taiwan Area.
Those special talents are specifically defined in the article that Tando helpfully provided. This article specifically addresses this āspecial contributionsā clause in Paragraph 1:
- The Review Criteria is enacted in accordance with Article 88 of the Immigration Act (hereinafter referred to as āthe Actā) to review the application of residency for nationals without household registration in Taiwan area(hereinafter referred to as ānationals without household registrationā) , as stated in Subparagraph 8 of Paragraph 1, Article 9 of the Act.
If you are applying via parental lineage it would be Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article 9:
- Has a lineal blood relative, a spouse, a sibling, or a spouseās parent, who has registered permanent residence in the Taiwan Area. If the relationship is a result of adoption, the adopted person shall not be older than twelve (12) years old; he/she shall reside with the adopter in the Taiwan Area. The adoption is limited to two (2) people.
This is how I currently entered Taiwan but requires a period of residency once Iāve arrived according to Subparagraph 1, Paragraph 2 of Article 10:
- A person who files an application pursuant to Subparagraphs 1 to 9, Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article shall reside in the Taiwan Area for one (1) year continuously; reside in the area for full two (2) years and two hundred and seventy (270) days or up each year; or reside in the area for full five (5) years and one hundred and eighty-three (183) days or up each year.
However, Subparagraph 1 of Paragraph 1 of Article also states:
- He/She, who is the applicant, the applicantās spouses or minor children as stated in Subparagraphs 1 to 11 of Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article, have been granted residence and their original qualifications for residence remain unchanged after having continuously resided or having resided in the Taiwan Area for a certain period of time. Where they reside in the Taiwan Area pursuant to Subparagraph 2 or Subparagraph 8 of Paragraph 1 of the preceding Article, they shall not be subject to continuous residence or residence for a certain period of time.
This tells us that all the reasons for residing in Taiwan in paragraph 1 of Article 9 will require a ācertain period of timeā of residency as defined earlier except for Subparagraph 2 or Subparagraph 8 of Paragraph 1 of Article 9 which are:
- Serves as an overseas legislator.
- Has special contributions to the country and the society, or is a senior professional personnel as needed in the Taiwan Area.
The qualifications for āsenior professional personal as needed in the Taiwan Areaā of Subparagraph 8 of Paragraph 1 of Article 9 are laid out below:
- The term " senior professional personnel needed in the State," as stated in Subparagraph 8 of Paragraph 1, Article 9 of the Act, refers to one of the following:
(1) Possesses the unique and rare talent in special technology or the research and development of a scientific and technological institution or in managerial work, or have made outstanding achievements.
(2) Has special achievements in science, research, industry, commerce or education and the possessed expertise could be utilized essentially to benefit the economy, industry, education or welfare of the State, and currently is employed for the expertise and reside in the State.
(3) A current or former chair professor, professor, associate professor, or assistant professor in a foreign university or a former researcher, associate researcher or assistant researcher in a foreign research institution and is currently employed by an educational, academic or research institution in the State; has a doctoral degree, currently engaged in an educational, academic or research institution in the State, and received an international academic award or had an important professional publication or had engaged in a research in a foreign research institution for more than three years, a scientific and technological research and development in a scientific and technological institution or a managerial work, and currently is employed by an educational, academic or research institution in the State.
(4) Has made outstanding achievement in industrial technology which has been recognized and accredited internationally, and such achievement is beneficial to optimize the industrial technology of the State.
(5) Has ranked in the top five in the Olympic Games or World Cup, in the top three in an Inter-continental game, being a former coach for a national team, and through his/her training, the athlete in the team has ranked in the top eight in the Olympic Games or World Cup, the top five in an Inter-Continental Games, or has other outstanding performance in the special tournaments which could benefit and enhance the competitive strength of our Stateās athletes.
(6) Has been invited or selected to participate in internationally renowned cultural and art competitions and achieved outstanding performance, or has been invited to participate in internationally renowned performances, exhibitions, related cultural events or festivals and received favorable comments.
(7) With legal profession, the applicant has been or has worked in a domestic and foreign well-known legal firm or business institution for many years and has outstanding performances, won important domestic or international awards related to the legal field, for research publication in the legal field domestically and internationally, or achieved excellent performance in international procedural law.
(8) Recommended by the other central competence authorities.
4.Regarding each immigration case, the Ministry of the Interior shall preferentially consult with the central competent authorities for the verification prior to convening a review committee, and all comments provided by the authorities are collected and submitted to the review committee for further review.
I will go to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) tomorrow to discuss this to see what the opportunities are. I am hopeful that the same documentation that I was able to provide for my Gold Card would also be sufficient for these purposes. Fingers crossed - will keep the community updated.
Went to the NIA, they informed me that changing your reason for residency will result in an entirely new process. However, they assured me if I were to pursue the āspecial talentsā route, the time spent on the parental lineage route would not be reset. They would, however, need to revoke my residency certificate in the meantime while they process my request for the āspecial talentsā route. The most difficult part of this is they will need evidence of my abilities translated into Chinese and notarized. This seems very difficult considering much of my technical contributions use some pretty technical jargon. Going to give Google Translate a run for its money and see how it shakes out. Fingers crossed!
Thanks @roboton! Please do make future updates on this topic! Itād definitely be helpful to me (and Iām sure to others in the future as well). Can I ask whether youāve verified that this āspecial talentsā route still falls under the HHR route and just exempts you from stay requirements (i.e. It does not trigger a naturalization process or cause prior citizenship renunciation)? Thank you!
if you are NWOHR, you would not do naturalization unless you first renounce your ROC nationality.
Thank you tando - helpful as always!
Iāve brought the set of documents I provided for the gold card (patents, publications, degrees and employment history) to NIA again but with translations. They informed me they would all need to be authenticated by TECO (in SF for my case). Apparently whatever TECO canāt authenticate can be submitted as is but everything else will need to be authenticated by them. TECO SF isnāt taking calls at the moment but provided an email where I sent my inquiry last week but they have yet to respond. If anyone has any guidance here itād be greatly appreciated!
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Has anyone successfully applied using the NT$30M government bond investment scheme? Or are the roadblocks still there?
If I were you I would just go with the NWOHR route. Sure, you might have a family emergency which would require you to leave Taiwan, but that only resets the 360/270 days. It doesnāt disqualify you from trying again.
So, worse case scenario, you have a little family emergency, you leave the country to resolve it, and then return and just reset the clock. If it happens again, you just leave again, and come back and reset the clock again. Surely thatās a way better option than investing $30m.
For most intents and purposes, living in Taiwan on a TARC is the same as living in Taiwan as a full citizen (which is your eventual goal, no?), so it shouldnāt matter whether it takes you one year to get full citizenship vs. three years.