If you’re Taiwanese, she can get a JFRV with an open work permit and everything will be kosher.
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Thanks again for everyone’s thoughtful responses.
Reading from Boaz/Andrew post I guess I should not try to have my gf maintain the nomad lifestyle for long as there will come some tax/NIA issues down the line.
We are hoping that, if she can get used to the life in TW, we can register for marriage here and she can get a JFRV! (Thanks Marco)
This has been a lot more helpful than I initially expected! Thanks again and love ya all!!
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Don’t forget to introduce her to Taiwan’s best pony dishes!
Wishing you guys luck! The JFRV will let her have a huge amount of freedom second only to the APRC.
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I’m not going to try to answer visa or tax questions, because it looks like other people got you covered there and I’m really dumb in those areas. I live here on a spouse visa. We got married in the US, and my wife took care of it on this side. So that’s that.
But, I can totally help with the freelancing side. I’m a freelance copywriter, and all of my clients are western. You didn’t mention what country your gf is from, so I’m going to assume American, otherwise my tips may not be much help.
Upwork is fine. But they take 20%. And that sucks. Also, Upwork differentiates between US based freelancers, and non-US based. You’ll see all the job openings if you’re US based. So if she wants to go the Upwork route, set up an account before you leave. Verify that she’s US based, and then get a VPN. I’ve logged into Upwork once or twice since I moved here in February, and it recognizes I’m using a VPN, that I’m not in the US, but still shows me US based jobs. Not that US based is necessarily better but, ya know, there’s more of them.
If not using Upwork, then I suggest she get active on LinkedIn and market herself, and also pitch prospects directly. Those are the best ways to start getting clients.
Pay. Let’s see. Paypal works. I personally use Stripe for my invoicing and handling any payments, but Paypal works. I separate business and personal accounts. You could use more or less whoever for a business account. I do an ACH (are those the letters? the kind of transfer that Venmo does) to move money from business to personal. Personal account is Schwab. Free ATM withdrawals anywhere in the world. They reimburse all ATM fees. Also, if I need to call them at 3 in the afternoon from Taiwan, someone in Arizona answers. A real person. I know not everyone needs that, but it’s nice for me. I don’t get any money from them for this, but if they asked me to write an advertisement, I totally would.
Let’s see. Kind of a personal note. But when clients hear I live in Taiwan, no one really has a problem. They’re willing to schedule calls for times that don’t require me to be up until 3am, etc. It’s cool.
Basically, get all of your online stuff set up before you move, accounts and whatnot. Get a VPN. And she is good to go. Good luck.
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I’m curious about the 90 days before having to pay taxes (specifically for out-of-country work performed in Taiwan). If you came October 5 and left March 25 would you be legally required to pay taxes to Taiwan? Or would your 90 days reset on Jan 1, so you would have a two tax years of 85 days?
Yes, exactly - it’s 90 days per calendar year:
Individuals paid by foreign employers who remain in Taiwan for 90 days or less in a calendar year are not taxed.
https://home.kpmg/xx/en/home/insights/2021/06/taiwan-thinking-beyond-borders.html
The idea behind regulations like these is probably that many countries do not want to tax business travelers and/or technicans performing some kind of machinery assembly, …
I’m guessing you meant October there?
But yeah, it’s per calendar year.
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Good to know, that’s what I ended up doing last year.
Yep, fixed that!
Great advice on Upwork! Thanks a ton~
We are not aware of the differences between US/non US market, we will set up an US account for sure then! 