The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

Thanks and good luck! Just curious about the process. I applied under the Education category one week ago and am still waiting to hear back.

Probably need to wait some more - have applied on 6/9 under Economy and haven’t heard back yet (still „Professional Review“).

However, from this thread it seems that processing times might be shorter if you apply from within Taiwan maybe?

I applied about a week later from the US, also Economy. Still in professional review.

Quick question, has anyone come here through the gold card program while full time employed at an overseas company (with the intention of staying employed with them but living and working in Taiwan)?

I sure hope so! I don’t really see many posts from people who’ve applied under the Education category, so I can’t get a feel for how quick this category is.
Good luck to you!

That is my plan. See here: Working remotely for a self-owned foreign company without an office in Taiwan - legal?

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Interesting. I suppose in your case you could visit here, presumably get the gold card, and then if you’re making enough money to support it–setup your own company here to get a new ARC beyond the 3 years.

I believe you can report freelance income in Taiwan (and avoid double taxation in your home country) for the first 3 years since you’d have a gold card. But as your post mentions, probably can’t extend the gold card if it’s only freelance work (have you verified that by the way? I’m curious).

Cheers!

Latest update:
Verify my US passport in person in KH last Friday. Per their instruction, checked online application status today, but still “Under inspection”. Will email in tomorrow if still the same.

For other folks, how many days does it take from passport verification to getting Gold Card?

For me it took around 24 hours.
But I am still waiting for the actual card, and takes up to 21 business days if you are outside Taiwan.

Good for you! Are you a super professional? I definitely qualify under the Economic category but my resume is probably lackluster comparing to yours…

No, I am definitely not a super-professional.
I applied under the Economic as well since I did lack the requirements for the other categories.

My luck was that the TECO in SG did my passport check on the spot in about 20-25 seconds.
I never submitted it.

I live in Denver, CO and applied for the Gold Card on 5/21/2020. I applied for “income qualification” under software technology (I’m a web developer). I submitted my H&R block tax returns, and as “evidence” of my technical ability I provided my resume (haha, how naïve). They kicked it back on 7/3/2020 and said they wanted W2’s (easy enough) and some sort of documentation showing my proficiency in the field of software technology. I asked my former boss to write a detailed letter using some of the advice I saw here and elsewhere and he emailed it to me. Now I’m wondering if that will work, and if they’ll want a photograph of a signed letter, or if just a PDF of his emailed recommendation would work. Any thoughts?

Yeah, KH NIA checked my US passport last Friday on the spot for about 30 secs too. And they said it looked good. They also told me I should receive an updated status yesterday, but I did not. Now I emailed Gold Card colleagues (multiple depts) and MOFA said it is now in the hands of NIA now - hope they get back to me soon.

Few more questions here:

  1. How do I submit copy of passport in application? Does it have to be scanned or can I take clear pictures of the relevant pages from my phone?
  2. Regarding the photo to submit with application, would a passport photo taken in the US be sufficient?
  3. I hear everyone saying that applying under economy requires only salary to be met, whereas applying in other fields requires salary and other accomplishments within the field. In that case, I imagine economy is easiest to obtain. Is there any extra benefits to applying in other categories? I know jimbob above mentioned something like tax breaks if working for a tech company in Taiwan, but I’m curious what more benefits one can get from other categories
  4. What is a reasonable timeframe to receive the Resident Authorization form if I were to submit the application this week? I plan to apply under economy category
  5. Does economy really ONLY care about salary? It seems a little too good to be true. Has anyone who applied under economy have been requested to provide more details regarding their occupation and skillsets?
  1. I took a picture
  2. Should be fine, I took a picture of my passport photo.
  3. I do not know
  4. I received my PDF/approval after 35 days from the day I applied.
  5. Yes.
    I work in the technology field and I applied under Economy.
    Zero informations asked about my position, my company, my skillset, they do not even have a copy of my resume actually.

Alright, it worked! Summary:

Wed 2020-05-06 Submitted. “Under Review”
Mon 2020-05-11 Changed to “待二審”
Tue 2020-05-12 “Under Inspection by Workforce Development Committee” (not sure of exact wording, could have been the same as the next one?)
Fri 2020-05-15 “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency”
Wed 2020-05-27 “Passport Submission by Bureau of Consular Affairs or Overseas Missions of R.O.C. (Taiwan)”. Because of COVID-19, I couldn’t go in person to submit it (office closed for in person visits), mailed in a notarized copy to TECO LA after communicating with them.

Wed 2020-07-08. Was asked to bring in the passport in person to LA TECO. Some issue with the original notarized submission (either they wanted to see the original, or if notarized they needed all pages of passport including stamps). After bringing it in, got the resident authorization card and ARC # in the afternoon. IC Card in progress.
Thu 2020-07-09 Picked up, passport IC card done, approved.
Sat 2020-07-11 Used the PDF to enter, flew LAX TPE. There was a 20-minute period at the airport check in where they had to call Taipei to confirm that I was indeed eligible with the digital authorization PDF. Currently in quarantine, will pick up the actual gold card afterward. Woot!

The slowest stage of this for me was actually the passport check (42 days) vs. 21 days for the application review. Since most TECOs should now be reopened or less busy than TECO LA, this hopefully will go faster.

Thoughts: Apply in economy, much easier. Don’t need local contact listed. Using PDF probably easier to enter (I printed mine and noted the ARC#). Get in touch with your local TECO early if there are COVID related closures

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I would wager a PDF mailed rec would work, but call to save another roundtrip. Best way would probably be to resubmit under Economy while it’s stalled anyway to simplify things. It really does seem to be the trick (also @ABCProgrammer) for a faster application. Also, I thought the gold card tax break was universal regardless of category? https://taiwangoldcard.com/goldcard-holders-faq/tax/

Congrats! Happy to know the PDF worked.
Time to make up my mind! Not long before having to confirm my ICLP spot!

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Congrats! I don’t know if the economy route is still as fast. Submitted mine a month ago and still in professional review. But less chance of being rejected, I would guess.

This is around the time all those visa-exempt entries start expiring, there must be a huge backlog of people wanting to stay

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