I’m not sure either, but i am forced to. Is there a phone number for Taipei office to cross check?
Is it a desk clerk telling you this or the back office? Which immigration office?
This is Taoyuan office and a point person specifically processing APRC.
Well that sucks. It may be the case in Taipei too.
I don’t think people can get a gold card outside Taiwan, show up 18 months later, stay here another 18 months, and then apply for an APRC, can they?
I wish the APRC process was simpler in Taiwan. Instead of some 20 pages of instructions, requirements, and different rules for each country, they should just make it simple like most western countries. Staying X amount of time on a valid ARC should qualify you, no other questions asked. They can revoke APRC any time anyways if you did something wrong.
The idea of different rules per country is based on reciprocity rules I think. But they do not apply reciprocity for naturalization rules.
GC FAQ. They confirmed it… you just need to apply after the expiration. Bridge it by 1. Reapply GC, 2. Other ARC or 3. 6 month work seeking ARC extension.
But your screenshot doesn’t say that - it says “have stayed in Taiwan as a Gold Card holder for three consecutive years or more”. That was my understanding, and it suggests the date of first entry, not the date of issue. Someone isn’t “staying in Taiwan” until they’ve entered Taiwan.
The following two questions/answers seem to support what you said, though. That’s surprising.
Q5. If I did not enter Taiwan until my Gold Card was approved, how do I calculate the start and end dates of the average 183 days per year? Does it start from the day my Gold Card is approved? Or the day I entered Taiwan? Or is it the day that I officially receive the physical card?
A5. For Gold cardholders applying for permanent residency, the start date for calculating permanent residency is the date of approval when you first obtain your Gold Card, which is the Date of Issue indicated on your card, and the expiration date is the Date of Expiration that is also indicated on your card. As long as the card is renewed before the expiration date, your residency will be considered as continuous. The start date for calculating the days of residency is one day before the date of your application for permanent residency. If the three-year period of stay is continuous and the average length of stay exceeds 183 days, the requirement for the number of days of residency is met.Q6. My first Gold Card is valid for three years, but I only entered Taiwan after the Gold Card was approved, making my total stay in Taiwan less than three years. Can I still apply for permanent residency?
A6. The start date for calculating permanent residency is the Date of Issue indicated on your Gold Card. As long as your Gold Card is valid for 3 years, you have resided in Taiwan for an average of more than 183 days per year, and you meet the other application requirements, you can apply for permanent residency.
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Awesome, thanks 
I have been (and am) mostly overseas this year so I’m doing that procedure too in preparation for my application in October. I read that there are different paths to choose from and that an alternative is police report – sworn translation – authentication at TECRO, so all in one’s home country. I’m doing this because I’d rather deal with Taiwan’s bureacracy as little as possible.
Besides this, are there really many more benefits of APRC over extending and using GC? Especially if working for overseas company.
It seems there’s more hoops you have to jump through for not much difference? Maybe 5 yr vs 3 yr card.
GC can work freely, move within freely, and do almost everything else without any main issues.
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Well, tbh, after the first 5 yrs, where u have the tax advantage, gc and aprc r the same, but, aprc is forever, u apply once and presto, set for life (so drivong license until u r 70, no need to periodically update ur docs to providers, etc…)
Will never get how folks r willing to periodically apply for a new GC (u can’t extend, it’s a new GC application altogether and can be refused) and not just get over with it by getting an aprc, it saves u money and time in the long term.
No brainer.
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But you have to be in Taiwan over half the year, for life, no?
Or you have to apply for an exemption to be overseas each year you are not, and they can revoke it if you have several years that you are not in Taiwan for over half a year?
According to NIA if u get APRC as a foreign professional (i.e. not via JFRV visa but via work permit and independent residence visa), the 183 days per year rule is not applicable, but will be revoked if u don’t come back to TW for 5 yrs (this applies only to GC APRCs). @fifieldt maybe can exolain a bit better here.
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No. One day every five years.
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Just as a follow up to this, and as a minor complaint about the tax office employees not always being 100% familiar with their own rules, especially as they pertain to less common situations, and a reminder that one shouldn’t always accept the first answer given by government employees, I was at the Taipei tax office today getting an itemized tax statement for 2022 (she told me at the start of June that I’d have to come back later in the month once the return had been checked/accepted).
I’d previously gotten them for 2017–2021 (just for fun/posterity), and noticed when I got home that the one for 2021 didn’t have my 9B income listed in the itemized table so I wanted to get that redone as well. The statement for 2022 also came out without the 9B income (~NT$175k). It wasn’t crucial for the APRC application because I was anyway over the requirement, but I still wanted everything listed, in part because I want to be able to use it as proof of income for credit card applications.
Anyway, I was told by today’s employee, confidently and several times, that 9B income shouldn’t be included when it’s below the tax-free amount (NT$180k). This wouldn’t make much sense considering that 50 and 5F are listed from the first dollar (i.e., not including the special deduction for salaries and wages)… but fortunately I had the statements from 2017–2020 where 9B income had been listed. Once I showed her those, she chatted briefly with her colleague then modified the itemized tables to include the 9B income and printed them out again. 
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They aren’t… Not even many of the “licensed” tax advisors… (The fancy ones that you need to pay for as a company)
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Does anyone know whether these options (one or all) are feasible (with or without additional fees):
- Speed up the APRC process, aka being able to collect the physical card faster.
- Have the card sent to an overseas TRO/TECRO for collection.
- Have someone collect it on one’s behalf (POA or?).
I will ask personally when my time comes but maybe some Forumosan has already tried one 
Just applied to switch from a gold card to an APRC today. Does it really take a month or more for processing, or is that just an overestimate?
The woman who dealt with my application said I should check the system a month from now but it might take 1.5 months or so because they had a lot of applications. I was kind of expecting it to be faster tbh, especially as the immigration website says 14 days excluding blah blah blah.
The process itself was totally fine, though Taipei immigration was super busy and had to wait almost 2 hours for my number to come up.
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Do you already have a tax statement for 2022? Or what documents did you use as proof?