You have to apply in person and at the specific NIA office for your residence.
I should have to go out to Banciao because I live in New Taipei City, but I went to the Taipei office instead with my application and photocopies all ready to go and they processed mine anyway.
Because NIA changed my APRC number at the same time as applying for the digital certificate, the MOICA website doesn’t have a way for me to pay the fee. After leaving many messages, someone from MOICA called me and said that the engineer would fix it for me. Then, she called back and said that I do not have to pay and the card is in the mail. I’ll wait a few days and see how this goes.
I’m in MOICA website hell now. I bought a decent card reader, have a new laptop, and the MOICA site cannot seem to read my card to get the password even with the firewall turned off. I can see the card reader and card on my laptop so I know it is working.
Anyone navigate this part yet? MOICA內政部憑證管理中心-憑證IC卡檢測重寫
I did it today. Use Internet Explorer and install that HiCOS_Client. Make sure the driver for the reader is installed as well.
Basically follow that article:
https://www.translatingtaiwan.com/2020/04/24/im-applying-for-an-alien-citizen-digital-certificate-but-just-for-the-craic/
Thank you! I’ll try this out.
First time password was the subscriber code and not the birthday!
Thanks @slawa I couldn’t have figured this out on my own. You know what worked? Internet Explorer. I didn’t even know that I had it on this new laptop. They really should hire a native speaker to straighten out this mess and also a few software engineers and UX designers!
That’s not all. After applying you need to wait for confirmation snail mail (I believe), go online and pay with a CC and than, than they’ll send you the card.
I’ve got the card. That was weird too. Because NIA made me update my ID number and applied for the digital certificate at the same time, I didn’t have to pay. This didn’t make sense to me so I did speak to someone at MOICA and they confirmed that was true. A few days later, the card arrived.
I guess they gave me some information to go online and pay, which I thought was weird as I could’ve paid at the NIA. I couldn’t get the online connection to pay. I never got the card, didn’t bother anymore.
That’s always a good bet when dealing with a problematic Taiwanese website lol.
I have an old Chinese bank account, the online banking for which I can only access using Internet Explorer while spoofing the MAC address of a laptop I owned in 2015. 
Im getting a card reader. Is there a list of services that foreigner can use the card reader for?
Useful if you didn’t use mobile code for e-invoice
https://www.translatingtaiwan.com/2020/05/07/digital-receipts-in-taiwan-and-lottery-winnings-to-your-bank-with-an-alien-citizen-digital-certificate/
I could not get past first login even though my card worked fine with other services
https://www.translatingtaiwan.com/2020/07/13/labourinsuranceapp/
Fido is useless for foreign residents yet
https://www.translatingtaiwan.com/2020/05/06/fido/
I’m out of tax hell. Long story short - the new ID and digital certificate was not needed. Getting the new ID and certificate will cost me about a week of time to update everything including my business license. Amazon shut off my store until I can get this done. So if you are going to get the digital certificate, pick a time when you aren’t too busy. At least, it is done and I can move forward.
After making many calls, I found the solution is at 7-11. For the tax software, if your NHI card is setup to access with a password, you can use your NHI card at a 7-11 ibon machine to print an inquiry code which is used to import your earnings data. I used a credit card to pay. For the tax receipt that I use for my US taxes, I still have to mail a request form.
You can now use the barcode on your Alien Citizen Digital Certificate as a carrier for your receipts, just say 「請掃我的電子載具」 or just show it to them and smile widely and if that doesn’t work mimic scanning it making lightsaber sound effects.
What’s FiDO?
政府網路服務
為創造更加便利安全的政府服務使用經驗，註冊行動身分識別，即享免插卡、免帳號密碼，生物特徵識別通過後，輕鬆申辦多項政府服務。
| 單位 | 服務 |
|---|---|
| 國家發展委員會資訊管理處 | 個人化資料自主運用(MyData)平臺 |
| 財政部財政資訊中心 | 綜合所得稅電子結算申報繳稅系統 |
| 財政部財政資訊中心 | 地方稅網路申報作業系統 |
| 文化部資訊處資訊策略科 | 文化部資訊整合入口網 |
| 嘉義縣政府綜合規劃處資訊管理科 | 運用MyData深化嘉義縣一站式便民服務系統 |
| 新竹市政府行政處資訊科 | 新竹市政府地理圖資倉儲決策支援應用平台 |
| 新竹市政府行政處 | 新竹市數位市民整合服務平台 |
| 臺南市政府智慧發展中心 | 臺南市政府一站式整合服務平台 |
| 臺灣集中保管結算所(股)公司 | 「股東e票通」股東會電子投票平台 |
OK, so a collection of government services provided online with a more convenient way to access.
Right?
Yes, it basically competes with the ‘Digital Certificate Card’.
IMHO Fido is a better solution. You just need a smartphone.
With digital certificate you are required to have a physical card reader, Windows PC and deal with drivers, Internet Explorer.
I wouldn’t say it competes–it’s more of a complement. You still need the physical card to register, but once a card is linked to the app certain platforms can have verification requests sent to your mobile device. Then, all you need to do is open up the app, use a fingerprint to unlock, and hit accept.
I really do hope they open it up to foreign residents soon, as it’s much more intuitive than the card reader and wonky drivers.
Here (scroll down to 4.) is a useful list of different (citizen) services and authentication methods it accepts:
