Hey @Fuzzy, what is your job position here?
Which requisite did you use to qualify for a gold card?
Thank you @Steve4nLanguage
I know a few other Pakistani’s living in Taiwan , some of them are small business owners, e.g. one of my friend runs a shawarma stand in Pingtung. I’d heard so many stories from him about some of his and his friend’s struggles and how the government treated them. I did this also to show some of the guys in TECO and BOCA that not every person from Pakistan is that helpless.
One of the side benefits I got through all this effort was getting the BOCA to reinstate document authentication for Pakistanis through HK in addition to Saudia.
Anyways, I am so glad all this is over. Now I am preparing for another fight 
It’s stated that spouses of Gold Card ARC holders don’t need to wait 6 months to get their National Health Insurance but when I asked immigration about it last week they were clueless and told me to take it with NHI.
I am just waiting for my wife to get her ARC tomorrow then I plan to go to NHI to try and get her a health card. I hope they will not make it difficult.
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I had two options. I was able to qualify on being a specialist in my field as well as on salary alone. I took the easier way.
All I did was upload my pay slip and last years tax receipts.
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I am from Germany and after getting married in Taiwan while on visa exemption I was not able to get ARC. Had basically to do the same thing as you described to get a visitor visa for joining family.
Yours will be easier maybe.
Questions that arise:
(1) What is this list of “restricted” countries (including Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.) Where does this list come from, and what countries are on it?
(2) What legislation, if passed, might solve these problems?
They are mostly Islam countries.
FYI
Procedures for Nationals of the Designated Countries Applying for Visitor Visas to the Republic of China（R.O.C.）
https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-159-249-4162c-2.html
Citizens of these countries a higher risk of overstaying than others, or why these countries ?
They may be afraid of terrorism?
Terrorism in Bhutan?
I count 8 African countries (interesting mix), 2 Middle Eastern ones (Syria and Iraq), and 7 from South Asia (i.e., practically all of them). About half are majority-Islamic countries.
Bhutanese refugees?
I cannot speak for other countries in particular but having spoken to a Pakistani guy who has been here for over 30 years I have come to know how that so many of my fellow country mates came here on visit visas, went in to hiding, were caught and deported, made fake passports, returned on visit or student visas pretending to be someone else and then went in to hiding again, all the while searching for any Taiwanese woman who would marry them and help them get citizenship. Some got women pregnant in hopes that government wouldn’t deport them once they were caught in use of false identities. Some were denied citizenships. Some had to wait many years to get them. Others are still living illegally in Taiwan. Also in some cases while some of them were on legitimate visas they brought their family members here (e.g siblings) and had them to go in to hiding too.
I have checked statistics. There are perhaps less than 100 Pakistanis in all of Taiwan today officially but from what I have been hearing they might be more, that are undocumented.
That’s not to say all Pakistanis that came here did illegal stuff. There are quite a few lecturers and PhD students in top universities. Many successful businessmen here too (though I don’t know any of them).
The bottom line is that from all the Pakistanis that came here, a significant percentage of them took the wrong path.
I believe that may be the reason or one of the reasons why Taiwan is extra careful with Pakistanis. e.g they made it nearly impossible for me to get married in Taiwan. They only gave in once I proved to them I was marrying a Filipina here and not a Taiwanese woman.
Before that TECO Riyadh had asked me to come “in person” with my wife-to-be for an interview just so they would authenticate my “single certificate”. I thought that was outrageous and that’s why I fought against it.
I don’t know if it is Terrorism necessarily that they are worried about. They don’t put the same restrictions on vast majority of Arab countries.
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Going through a similar ordeal. I’m Taiwanese ,about to get married to an Indian ( employed & residing in UAE ). We wanted to get our marriage registered in Taiwan considering it would have been a lot easier here; after which I was gonna leave for the UAE. But I was told its not possible to get it registered here. It will have to be done in India.
Another frustrating part is that different offices give me different answers.
So we have decided to get it done in India ( even though its a lengthy process)
I don’t see why you can’t register your marriage in Taiwan. In fact it should be easier with one party being Taiwanese. Your husband-to-be would only need to get a “single proof” from India and have it translated, notarized and then authenticated by TECO in India. With that in hand you can go to any household registration office in Taiwan to get married in person.
One of the issues you might face is that TECO in India may refuse to authenticate his single certificate by requiring you to come in for an interview in person. If they do that, just try and fight it. It’s unreasonable for them to ask someone to come down to an embassy in another country for an interview.
Alternatively if you are in Dubai, you can try and get married in Dubai and get it registered at both the Indian Embassy and TECO there. It will be easier since you can both go and do it in person and give whatever interview is required by either embassy.
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This is insane.
I had a similar problem when applying for citizenship several years ago. I was an American citizen before, and my wife is a Filipina. We were married in Hong Kong. We were told that we had to get our Hong Kong marriage certificate authenticated by the Taiwan government office in Hong Kong. Initially, the woman in charge said she could not do that because we were both foreigners. The marriage certificate had to come from one of our home countries. We tried to talk to Filipino representatives from their local government office, but they could do nothing because our marriage had not been in the Philippines. So, we told the lady at the Taiwan government office. She continued to refuse to help. So, I just tried to reason with her. I told her the order to get the marriage certificate authenticated came from the Taiwan government. Then, I asked her, “Do you have more authority than the officials who gave this order?” She had no answer, but she continued to make excuses. Then, I said, “Look, we already paid our money for this service. Just do your job! If you don’t, I will inform the officials in Taipei that you refuse to cooperate!” Then, she said, “Well, I’ll have to check with my supervisor if I am allowed to do this. Call me back tomorrow.” The next day I called back, and she said, “I have some good news for you. We can authenticate your marriage certificate.” You would think that government officials living on taxpayers’ money would go out of their way as public servants to help you overcome problems in the process of getting things done. Unfortunately, too often the opposite occurs. However, huge strides in the attitudes of Taiwanese officials have been made in the last couple of decades since I first moved here. Things are much, much better than they were.
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I went to the HHR where I’m registered and even to the BOCA office. Both places told me the marriage registration has to be done in India and then the marriage certificate will have to be sent to the TECO office there to be authenticated.
Good job, well done!
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If you get married in India, you will need to register it in Taiwan. If you get married in Taiwan first, you will need to register it in India. I think both ways are okay but I don’t know which one is faster.
I got married in Taiwan first because I (wrongly) assumed it was faster. Unfortunately registering the Taiwanese marriage in our countries took a really long time.
If I could do it all over again I would probably get married outside Taiwan first and then register it in Taiwan (via the designated TECO).
Will your marriage location be in India ? Is that where you will register it first ?