Tando, you are an asset to this community. Thank you!
Guy
So this really should be an APRC obtained by a âforeign professional.â In any case, itâs obviously a welcome development that would help many forumosans.
Guy
Yeah, I couldnât remember the official name of it. Before it was a pretty easy process, but this is obviously better and another reason to choose an APRC based on professional standing vs marriage. If my wife and I want to go live somewhere else for a few years we donât have to worry about it.
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I have the Plum Blossom Card (APRC) and I want to travel to PRC/China.
Would it be possible to apply for the Mainland Travel Permit (èșèè) without a Taiwan Passport but with the APRC?
I think no.
Required documents include, passport and national identification card. In addition, proof of naturalization, if both of you and your parents were born abroad,.
An American energy engineer working for Gogoro is among the latest recipients of a Plum Blossom card:
Guy
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Among the latest Plum Blossom card holders is a pharmaceutical scientist from India now working as an assistant professor at Taipei Medical University. There are now in total 119 recipients of this special permanent residency since the scheme started in 2009.
Guy
So, the number of naturalised High-Level Professionals has overtaken that of Plum Blossom Card holders? Hmm. Program might need a bit of a spruce up if itâs harder to get than citizenship 
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It essentially is a fast track to citizenship.
My pessimistic side says the political risk of Plum Blossom holders exercising the option to naturalize outweighs the potential societal benefits of even allowing them in the country in the first place, hence very few have been issued.
My optimistic side says this is oversight and the usual bureaucracy, and eventually the programs will either merge or diverge with clear purposes for each.
What I would love to see is stats on how many people apply for each program, in which categories, and the acceptance/rejection numbers for each. I have a hunch we say itâs âhardâ because we donât hear of many acceptances (and the intimidating requirements published), but Iâm willing to bet there just arenât that many applications being submitted.
When I talked to the Ministry of Science and Technology about the High-level Professional option they were quite guarded about the numbers and would only say they receive âmanyâ applications. I finally managed to get one of the assistants to admit âmanyâ actually means 1 or 2 per month.
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The history of the Plum Blossom card is actually quite different.
It was, in the early days (i.e. during the Ma Ying-jeou administration), an experiment to allow âsenior professionalsâ to gain permanent residency WITHOUT the five year wait and WITHOUT many of the hoops of applying for an APRC. When I applied, for example, it seemed quite tricky to get police records from my home country, get them notarized, translated, approved, etc, all in a narrow window of time. With the Plum Blossom application, I didnât need to worry about any of that.
The âfast track to citizenshipâ came a later perk (i.e. during the Tsai Ing-wen administration) in which they adjusted some of the rules to create a path (however narrow) to gain naturalized citizenship without renouncing oneâs own existing citizenship. The authorities seem to have decided that Plum Blossom card holders as âsenior professionalsâ have already gone through some form of vetting about their potential contributions to the nationâso no need for another round of vetting.
All this is to say that yes few of these cards have been issuedâbut the âpath to citizenshipâ is, based on what I know, not the reason.
Guy
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How âheavyweightâ are the evaluation criteria in practice, for example compared with the Gold Card criteria (other than income-related) ?
Hard to say, since each case is unique, and thereâs no clear-cut requirement option like the gold card economic track. From reports of people who have gone through the process though, it appears the requirements arenât set in stone and itâs more about making an overall case of value to the country.
If youâre considering applying I would encourage you to do so. Even if an app is rejected we can collect more data points on what does and doesnât work.
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Hello,
for how long can I leave Taiwan as Plum Blossom holder Taiwan??
Will my Card expire?
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Good question. If you can, could you reach out to the NIA office that issued your card? Iâd also be interested in knowing the answer.
Guy
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I am a PBC holder. The card will expire if you remain outside of Taiwan for a continuous period of five years. All you need to do to maintain the card is to come to Taiwan at least once every five years, even if just for one day.
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Would like to ask what are the requirements for Plum Blossom Card holders to become citizens? Is it still 5 years with at least 183 days in Taiwan?
Are Plum Blossom Card holders using the Investor route required to renounce original citizenship upon naturalization? If required, is it possible to change qualification and become a âsenior professionalâ?
How does this work for spouse and children? When a child comes of age, can they still have APRC status?
So hereâs what I can share. My husband got his Plum Blossom Card and APRC a couple of years ago, and our minor son and I got dependent APRCs with full working rights for me. We just asked at immigration and were told my husbandâs APRC is good forever regardless of physical residency. My son and I have to do the thing where you ask that your APRC be retained while you are abroad every two years. The officer said we can just keep asking for permission for an extension of leave however many times we want. Thatâs what they say.
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Is there a website which describes who gets what type of aprc?
I think when the new approved amendments come into effect to the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreigner Professionals then dependents of the 3 types of professionals (Foreign Professional, Foreign Special Professional and Foreign Senior Professional) should be included in the 5 year rule. Therefore can leave for 5 years at a time without the APRC being revoked. Can check with immigration to verify once the new amendments are in effect.
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Iiuc,
Marriage based
Foreign spouse => 5 yr ARC + lower financial requirement => APRC (absence: permission for every 2 yr)
Work based
Foreign professionals => 5 yr ARC => APRC (absence: 5 yr)
Foreign special professionals => 5->3 yr (Gold Card) ARC => APRC (absence: 5 yr)
Foreign senior professionals => Plam Blossom ARC => Plan Blossom APRC (absence: no limit) â dual nationality
Investment based (no requirement of physical presence in Taiwan)
Usual investment => 5 yr ARC => APRC
Large investment => 3 yr Plum Blossom ARC => Plum Blossom APRC
Dependant APRC (no financial requirement, canceled when sponsorâs APRC invalidated)
of foreign professionals => 5 years on sponsors APRC => APRC
of foreign special professionals => 3 years on sponsors APRC => APRC
of senior professionals => when sponsors get APRC => APRC
They can also apply for non-dependent APRC with 5 yr ARC and financial requirement.
Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals
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