Based on my experience I suspect this is what is triggering the check, it’s only happened to my prepaid when travelling with my kids and using the manual checks.
I can’t imagine that you’d be misinformed by a guy working in a shop. They all know all the rules back to front. Strange though, I had Wifi calling turned on, that’s how I was even able to receive the text message.
So I went to Thailand for a couple of weeks between Feb. 4th and Feb. 17th, and I received an SMS at 4pm yesterday (7 days after re-entering Taiwan) saying that I needed to reverify my ID before midnight or my service would be disabled.
I don’t feel like “my rights in using my mobile number are being protected”. I feel like they’re taking the piss. How is it that they’re able to tell I’ve left the country but not that I’ve come back?
They’ve apparently now set up an online portal for the verification, where the English version lies that my “prepaid card information does not match the database records of the National Immigration Agency” (it does):
…but I forgot to do it last night and didn’t remember until I was leaving the apartment today. Sure enough, my service has already been disabled. When I found some wifi and tried to submit the info, I’m too late for that now and I need to go to a store:
Pain. In. The. Arse.
WTF with the short notice?!
Did you use the e-Gates in the airport or manual check? I was in China 16th to 20th and purposely used the e-Gates as an experiment. No notification so far but it may not be every trip and we had to reverify not that long ago anyway.
This is a huge pisstake!
Got this BS twice now, first time it was actually true but that was due to CHT’s FU with putting the wrong nationality in their system.
100%
I used the e-gates both ways!
I went to a Chunghwa store this afternoon and had a little I-know-it’s-not-your-fault-but-this-is-a-stupid-policy rant at the nice lady there. She agreed, and said she’d pass on my complaint to management. I told her yeah sure, and that I’m also gonna complain to the NCC again every time they do it. 
She also said it’s Chunghwa policy to do that to comply with the law, so I asked her if that meant that Chunghwa had broken the law when I went to the Philippines for a week in October and they didn’t do it. 
They might apologize for not blocking your account back then and issue a $50 711 coupon as an apology
From a Taiwanese company, I’ll take it! 
Damn! Might have abandoned the kids for nothing!
I’ve just filed a formal complaint with the NCC because Chunghwa Telecom suspended my number while I’m currently traveling in Thailand.
本人為台灣永久居留證持有人，使用中華電信門號已超過九年，為長期穩定用戶。
本人於一年前已依規定完成身分驗證，近期未更換證件、未更改身分資料，亦未接獲任何身分異動通知。近日卻收到通知要求再次進行線上身分驗證，惟簡訊所附之驗證連結無法正常開啟或使用。
本人隨即三次致電客服詢問處理方式。前兩次客服表示僅能親赴台灣門市辦理，未提供任何海外替代方案。第三次客服表示將協助處理連結異常問題，並承諾當日下午回電，同時表示會協助展延停話期限至當日晚間。
然而客服並未依約回電，且在承諾展延期限內即逕行停話，導致本人門號被暫停使用。本人目前人在海外，無法親赴門市，且中華電信亦未提供有效之遠端驗證機制或合理緩衝措施。
該門號為本人主要聯絡及金融驗證門號，停話後已無法接收銀行及信用卡OTP驗證碼，造成信用卡無法支付及金融交易受阻，對本人權益造成重大影響。
本人認為，在已完成近年身分驗證、且為永久居留身分之前提下，中華電信未提供可行之海外驗證替代方案，亦未履行客服承諾即逕行停話，處理方式顯失比例原則，亦未兼顧消費者合理權益。
爰此申請貴會協助調查並督促業者提供合理之遠端驗證機制及恢復通訊服務，並檢討其處理程序是否符合電信消費者保護之相關規範。
Short summary in English:
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I’ve been a customer for over 9 years.
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I hold an APRC
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I completed ID re-verification just one year ago.
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The SMS I received required online verification, but the link does not work.
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I called customer service three times.
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I was promised a callback and a deadline extension — neither was honored
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My line was suspended while I am overseas with no workable remote solution offered.
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I can no longer receive OTP codes, which means I cannot use my credit card or complete banking transactions.
Were you able to receive OTP codes while abroad anyway? I thought that isn’t possible on Chunghwa prepaid cards (and Chunghwa has told me it isn’t too).
[Before anyone else asks or suspects, @Mauro isn’t me despite the similarities lol]
Yes, I was always able to receive OTP codes while abroad. The last one I received just a week ago.
Are you able to keep your original phone number?
Yes, I can keep my number. I just need to complete the ID verification again once I’m back in Taiwan.
Yeah, the SIM card itself doesn’t expire for a certain number of months after the last booking (six?). I just don’t want to have to go to a Chunghwa store or have my SIM disabled every time I go on vacation.
Weird. I’ve been explicitly told by Chunghwa multiple times that this isn’t possible for prepaid SIMs.
The representatives of all 3 telecom companies CHT, TWM/FET all say that but from those who have tried on r/taiwanesebornabroad they work (I had to turn on roaming from the TWM website first).
I’ve my TWM mobile prepaid line overseas for months now (citizen) and have been getting smses fine with VoLTE.
NCC replied to my complaint with essentially the same response they gave Andrew last year — mainly citing the relevant laws and regulations without addressing the proportionality issue.
I then initiated the mediation process with the 電信消費爭議處理中心 (TCMC). However, they informed me that mediation requires personal attendance in Taiwan and that online mediation is not available.
Since I won’t be back in Taiwan until April, I have no practical option at this point other than to live with the suspension of my prepaid number.
It’s frustrating that there is no remote option for long-term residents who are temporarily abroad, especially given how essential mobile numbers are for banking and digital authentication today.
So far, touch wood, I’ve not been asked to reverify my wifes prepaid card (in my name), have been in and out of Taiwan 4 or 5 times, used the E Gates except for the most recent return, we’ll se if it makes a difference.
What has seemingly has changed is another screw the furiners policy…Tried to apply for a prepaid card for my son, just a 3 day for a school outing only to be told that foreigners can now only have 1 prepaid card, to prevent telecoms fraud…I didn’t want to annoy myself by asking how many cards Taiwanese citizens could hold…They did helpfully advise that I could go to FET and get a card there, if I didn’t have one already.
I was in China recently and had an old 3G SIM card that I needed to upgrade to a 5G card. No residents ID, only a passport, few minutes, bunch of photo’s and I was all set. They did advise that foreigners could only hold 1 SIM card though, I guess Taiwan is learning from China…
I’ve been in Vietnam for the last two months, so they’ll definitely have caught me this time. And since I can’t receive messages abroad, the only notification I’ll get is finding out my SIM card doesn’t work when I land.
I’m thinking to just give in and buy a postpaid plan tbh.
The last time I bought a SIM card in China, the guy spent ages setting it up while the elderly security guard came over every so often to massage my shoulders (I would have preferred he didn’t) and point out that I have hair on my arms.
After that, the SIM card wasn’t working so I asked the guy why and he said with a straight face that the bands used by the network weren’t compatible with my phone. Obviously, my next question was why he’d just sold me a SIM card that wouldn’t work with my phone, for which he didn’t have a good answer. I left in a bit of a huff, bought a SIM card that actually worked from China Unicom, then decided I wanted a refund from the first place. The manager reluctantly agreed but said I’d need to come back to the store a couple of weeks later when I wouldn’t be in Shanghai. I obviously wasn’t going to fly back to Shanghai to collect the refund, so I ended up doing my China thing of sitting there like an oak tree until he agreed to refund me from the stack of cash they kept under the counter to get rid of annoying customers.