The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

FSP is a superset of the people with GC, not equal.

You can be a FSP on the ARC.

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So it seems if we have a choice between entrepreneur visa and gold card to get APRC, we should get gold card for the flexibility of not having to live in Taiwan for half the year each year?

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I think there is other benefits too such as a Foreign Special Professional based APRC can have visas issued to their lineal ascendants for up to 1 year and can apply for extension without them needing to leave the state.

https://law.moj.gov.tw/ENG/LawClass/LawSearchContent.aspx?pcode=A0030295&norge=13

@Benworry - I’m hearing that this suspension may just be for “in person” services and that online applications could be OK. That would mean no impact on Gold Card. Attempting to confirm.

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I posted this, somewhat related, a week ago:

Confirmed.

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Applied from Taiwan while having an ARC (USA citizen). Approved for Gold Card and it’s ready for pickup today. Never had to go to BOCA for id verification and never had to surrender passport. :man_shrugging: Not complaining. Haha. Just letting everyone know.

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So the Gold Card office is still processing renewals?

I don’t know. This was a new application that was started in April. They continued to work on applications that were “all ready in the system”. Not sure about new applications or renewals.

Yes.

At the moment the only department that isn’t working on Gold Cards is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (the “passport verification” step).

NIA is still performing all the online-related activities, and you may still collect your Gold Card from NIA.

Gotcha. So if your passport expired and you need to upload the new version, this step isn’t going to happen?

More if you’re a new applicant and Taiwan’s never verified your identity before. Just changing the passport number in the ARC is probably OK, but definitely check with the official channels if you have concerns :slight_smile:

08-Dec — Initial application under “Science & Technology” w/CV, 2019 W-2s & 1099s (U.S.) and 2019 1040 Tax Return (U.S.)
13-Jan — Received email they needed more documentation; Decided to just switch to “Economic” field and reapply.
13-Jan — Changed to “Economic” and verified with Mr. Wang & Gold Card Helpdesk; Was told to check back early Feb on status.
14-Jan — Status Change back to “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency”
12-Feb — Chinese New Year
22-Feb — Sent emails to check on status
24-Feb — Still waiting…
15-Mar — Emailed Helpdesk on status. Told it was still under WDA Review.
03-Apr — Pretty much given up at this point, 5 days shy of 4 months.
15-Apr — Reached out to Mr. Wang to see if he’s able to get an update.
12-May — Finally received an email from Mr. Wang that he pushed my application again back on 23-Apr.
01-Jun — Received email the Ministry of Economic Affairs needed more documentation.
27-Jun — Tired of the run-around so sat on my butt for 27 days and decided to try again before the 30 days are up for me to submit more documentation. After reading more recent posts here, I decided to change my application BACK to Science & Technology, submitted the same documents but this time included an open letter, two letters of recommendations, and more “official” proof of my employment.
05-Jul — Received an email from Ms. Chien from the Ministry of Labor they wanted Employment Certificates from another two different employers I had submitted W-2s for. Reached out to each respective HR department for them to forward to her.
06-Jul — Sent additional documents as requested by Ms Chien from the Ministry of Labor. She replied back that the Ministry of Science & Technology would get to my application in about 2 days.
09-Jul — Application status changed from “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency” to “Consulting with Ministry of Science and Technology”
15-Jul — Application status changed from “Consulting with Ministry of Science and Technology” to “Review by the Workforce Development Agency”

EDIT:
16-Jul — Application status changed from “Review by the Workforce Development Agency” to “Passport Inspection at Bureau of Consular Affairs or Overseas Missions of R.O.C. (Taiwan)”

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So after 220 days (7+ months)…

Good News:

Bad News:
I literally mailed my U.S. Passport out yesterday for renewal which are taking 12-18 weeks to process.

Congrats!! Hopefully you’re not in a rush…assuming not since you didn’t renew the passport sooner.

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Thanks. It’s been a journey.

There is no rush at this point. The idea back in December 2020 was to move to Taiwan on or after August 2021. Those plans were obviously put on hold as the approval process dragged on so I’ll have to work with my family and family in Taiwan to figure out if and when the best time would be to do the actual move.

A bit of backstory, in my open letter to the WDA and Ministry of Science & Technology, I was brutally honest and told them my primary goal was to get my Taiwanese “citizenship” (through birthright) and that my Gold Card application was just a “stop-gap measure” because COVID restrictions were making it nearly impossible to get my Taiwanese passport without household registration and all the supporting documentation needed to be verified in Taiwan from records that are over 70 years old from a city/county that has since then “merged” with another.

Being open about it here, I’m sure will be controversial since I’m using a “Gold Card” as a means to an end. Even though there is no mention of a quota limit on these Gold Cards, some of you may view that I “took” someone else’s Gold Card that may otherwise have received one. Obviously, I hope that’s not the case, but I knew from all the research and thread reading that I met all the requirements and fit the criteria for the Gold Card and it would be a lot quicker to allow me and my family to move to Taiwan, and start work on fulfilling the requirements for Taiwanese citizenship. Then be able to pass Taiwanese citizenship to my children (already dual U.S./Canadian) and possibly future children.

I truly hope everyone here who wants to move to Taiwan, receives their Gold Card. Taiwan is amazing.

Anyway, that’s the short story, long. Now the planning begins all over again while I wait to get my renewed U.S. passport.

Congrats Kermee! It’s definitely been a journey for you.

I’ve been stuck on the "Review by the Workforce Development Agency” for over two weeks now, initial application was on 1/30 so your approval is giving me a tiny bit of hope.

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I know this is the wrong thread, but later on, I will need to go through the process of getting Resident Visas and ARCs for my family. My children are dual-citizens (US/Canada), but my wife is dual HK/Canada. For my children, I’m just going to go through the process as US. However, with my wife, does she apply as a HK (she keeps a valid residency card and passport) or as a Canadian?

Thought I would ask here before I check through the more official channels. Thanks in advance.

Imo, as a Canadian would be simpler. Years on a resident permit as a dependent of a resident foreigner are not counted for 3 years to get ROC citizenship as a HKer. Iiuc

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