Thanks, @SNcbz3. I have arranged to meet with the person from CLA at my registered address (a co-working place) this afternoon.
Hi folks - the rep office setup in Taipei is already done since November 2020 and Iāve already gotten my work permit from the Labor ministry.
A little stressed out coz I am now in the process of applying for a visa. After five days of submitting the work permit and other visa requirements, the Taiwan office in our country came back to me asking for a form 401 and a balance sheet. After showing them the MOEA approved rep office letter, they instead asked for some sort of city permit from Taipei, where the rep office was setup.
My accountant told me that I am not required to have that - and am not even supposed to have that. However, I donāt think that would be helpful when the consul rebuts and tells me that IT IS a requirement.
My questions are:
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how do I best explain this to the consul when I have my interview?
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is the rep office setup not common enough for this to be misunderstood?
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the lady I spoke with also said that I can only be given a visitor visa, which I think is wrong since the representative needs to be a resident. Or is this a new thing Iām not aware of?
Any help/advice you can give will be much appreciated.
Youāre in unknown territory, because all the rep offices I have heard of were set up by people already in Taiwan.
However, I expect you will be able to get the visa, since you already have the work permit. There is a very good chance that the consulate simply doesnāt know the rules, because of the rarity of this type of application.
If you can only get a visitor visa, youāre still ok. You can just pay some extra shakedown money here when you apply for the ARC at the NIA. Canāt remember how much but I think itās less than 3000 NT.
Got a notice from the WDA saying the employment contract needs a Chinese translation. Bummer! Donāt recall that being a thing in the past.
I spoke to them again and they asked to write up an explanation letter. Rather odd to be āeducatingā them about Taiwan corporate structures. My accountantās not that much help either since he just keeps on saying that Iām not supposed to have a Taipei City permit.
Iāve just found a company that can do this whole process + work permit for 40.000 NTD.
Is that too expensive? I hate bureaucratic stuff and my Visa expires on the 31th of May.
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Seems like a fair price if you donāt want/are unable to do it yourself.
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I got two other quotes for 50k so 40 sounds not bad. The process is rather bureaucratic and Iāve found the front desk people at both MOEA and WDA basically have no clue - I had to resubmit docs at both, despite them ācheckingā. So ya it might be worth it. Time-wise youāre fine though.
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Good luck! Please report back how the process goes for you. I just applied for the gold card but this is our backup plan!
So Iām already in Taiwan and my agent already got my passport and work permit to apply for my resident visa. Is it customary to be required proof of your communications with companies as representative aside from a business plan? I thought that was just for when you were renewing your work permit.
In your experience will quotes from potential suppliers suffice?
Can anyone who has set up and got running with their rep offices advise whether I would need to pay labor insurance and pension contributions on top of health insurance? I am a sole freelancer with no other staff so would be employing myself as the rep.
Nope.
Sorry just to be clear, do you mean Nope as in you donāt have to pay those items, or Nope as in you canāt say?
Yup.
Haha ok jokes aside, afaik no one will say anything if you donāt get labor insurance.
Is it customary to be required proof of your communications with companies as representative aside from a business plan?
To quote Shaozhiā¦
Nope. 
And pension contributions? Not sure if itās relevant unless the foreigner holds permenant residence. Hard to get clear answer online.
Pretty sure thatās non compulsory (not legal advice)
Did you end up going with this and if so how did it go? Looking at this as a backup option right now
Iāve just got my work permit approved for 3 years 
, it was quite fast took around 1 month.
I now need to go to the ē§»ę°ē½² to change my student ARC to work ARC.
I the company that I used https://invest.fastart.com.tw/en/
The guy who helped me is called Carter.
However you have also to rent the office address for a year, but if anything goes wrong, this rental is refundable.
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Just went to file my income tax for last year. I entered Taiwan at the end of Jan 2020 but didnāt start my work as the rep of my rep office until December last yearā¦ the person at the tax office checked my ARC and told me that I donāt have to file because my income was so low for last year (only for one month).
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