I’m getting close to qualifying for an APRC, and the goal was to have my wife apply right after I got it so she could work as well. That seemed to be all well and good according to the law:
https://www.immigration.gov.tw/5475/5478/141465/141808/152932/
According to 4(5):
Today, when I went to the NIA office, I was told that my wife would NOT be able to apply for an APRC soon after me. It’s not clear from the English text, but I was told by three people (one was referred to as the APRC officer, and who was very nice) that the law meant that after I got my APRC, my wife would have to wait an additional 5 years to get hers. She has already been in the country for 4 years, so that means another 6 year wait. The only remedy seems to be if she has funds or property amounting to 5 million NT, an impossible amount for us, or to have an income, but she can’t work because she’s my dependent.
I can’t find the Chinese text so maybe someone who reads Chinese well can compare them, but it seems quite sure she will not be able to get her APRC. Unfortunately, that’s likely the only way she could work. She’s from a country where English is a national language, but she only has an associates degree. She doesn’t have any other skills or experience that would allow her to work here.
The previous paragraph states:
But as @tando says below, that refers to to someone who can apply for a plum blossom card, and that’s not me.
The only other possibility I see is for her to go back to school, but, other than MBA programs, I can’t find any universities in commuting distance with an all-English program. We don’t have the money for that anyway, or for Chinese classes. There’s some hope for a scholarship, but this really isn’t the point we wanted to be at now.
Am I missing anything? She really just wants to stop being dependent and to help her family and she doesn’t want to work illegally, so we’re pretty devastated right now. I don’t see a lot of other options. NIA today pretty much shot down everything but having 5 million NT. I’ve been planning to stay here long term, but now I want to go. There’s just no place for us to go unless we want to be apart for a long time.