I’ve encountered many people with questions about the gold card application process, and many who’ve experienced frustration when their cases end up being sent back and forth between different government departments, and thought I’d try to share some of my experience here.
About me: I’m an independent freelancer from Taiwan who helps people to apply for gold cards (and entrepreneur visas). As someone who has helped many foreign citizens both in and outside Taiwan to obtain gold cards over the years, starting from the very beginning when the government first rolled out the Gold Card program in early 2018, I have had numerous opportunities to talk to staff in different government departments about various application issues that my clients have encountered. So I might be able to shed some light on how the internal process works, once your application has been submitted.
As you probably already know, the Employment gold card is a “four-in-one” card. It’s a multi-entry permit, a resident visa, an Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), and a “free” work permit. What you might not know is that each of these “capabilities” is governed by a different department/ministry. That’s why so many government departments are involved in making the final decision, and also why the process can take quite a while.
The “Multiple entry and resident visa” allows you to enter and leave Taiwan as many times as you wish. This is issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).
The “Alien Resident Certificate (ARC)” allows you to stay here as a legal resident (though not as a citizen), and acts as your primary identity card while living here. This is issued by the National Immigration Agency (NIA).
The “Free Work Permit” allows you to work legally while you are in Taiwan. This is issued by the Ministry of Labour (MoL). The primary benefit of this is that you can work without being tied to a local company. It also means that you can work remotely for a company located outside of Taiwan. Even though it’s called an “Employment” gold card, you don’t actually need to be employed to apply for or continue holding the gold card. So if you’re one of those people that has the luxury of not having to work, and just want to be in Taiwan like a free bird for three years, you won’t be kicked out if you have a gold card with your name on it but fail to actually do any work.
As for NIA and MOFA: these agencies (perhaps surprisingly) don’t play an important role in deciding whether you qualify for a gold card. It’s the MoL that will review your qualifications.
As long as you are not a criminal and don’t have a history of entering Taiwan illegally or smuggling drugs (hopefully you don’t fall into this category!), once you submit your application, after an initial confirmation step by the NIA, your case will be sent to the Work Development Agency (WDA) in the MoL. That’s why after you submit your application, it can take up to one week for the NIA to review your case. Your status will be “Under Review” and later on “Secondary Inspection by the NIA” at this stage.
Once the NIA confirms that you are not a criminal and they judge that you coming to Taiwan would not be a risk, they’ll pass your case on to the WDA in the MoL.
The MoL is the key department you need to persuade when demonstrating that you meet the requirements for the gold card. However, they don’t make decisions by themselves in isolation. The MoL will delegate cases to different government ministries according to the field under which you apply. For example, if you apply under the Field of Science and Technology, the MoL will send your case to the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) and ask them to review your case. At this stage, your status will be “Professional Review by the Workforce Development Agency” and then “Consulting with the Ministry of Science and Technology”.
For the WDA, their job is to check that you’ve provided all the valid documents and credentials they’ve listed on the gold card website. If not, they will return your case and ask you to provide more documents. The status “Review by the Workforce Development Agency” can last from two to eight weeks, depending on the number of cases currently being processed. Before the Covid-19 outbreak in Taiwan in early May, it typically took them five to seven weeks before they sent your case on to the relevant ministry. More recently, in June and July, we’ve seen a marked decrease in the number of gold card applications. Currently it takes between just two and four weeks for the WDA to review a case before they give your case the green light to go to the relevant ministry.
As for the different ministries, after they receive your case from WDA, their job is to make a judgement if the applicant is qualified for the gold card in their field.
There are three possible outcomes of this process:
A: They think you are qualified, and then they will inform the WDA that “Hey! This person is good, let’s give him/her/them a gold card.”
B: They think you might be qualified, but they’re not completely sure. They might ask you to provide more supporting evidence that is not listed on the website but are things they need to see to ensure that you are a “talented professional”, to the extent that they feel comfortable to agree to give you a gold card. In some cases, especially if you have a technology background and you apply under the field of Economy, they might ask you to switch your application to the field of Technology.
C: They think that you are a total loser and you don’t deserve a gold card and should be banned from entering Taiwan forever (just kidding!). In some cases, even if they really want you to get the gold card, but they are not persuaded that you meet the criteria for their field, then they’ll reject your application at this stage. You will get a notification from the WDA saying that “Sorry. You don’t meet requirements in this field under qualification No. ##”
It’s important to realize that a rejection doesn’t mean that you are not qualified for a gold card, nor does it mean that you are not as good or talented as other gold card holders. It only means that your ability and experience is not a precise match for the standards they have set for the category you have applied for. However, it’s also important to realize that these standards are often a bit arbitrary: it just happens that the “web” they’ve created to attract skilled professionals in their field is not specifically tailored for your qualifications and skill set. On the other hand, it could be that you’re applying under a category that really doesn’t suit you. In this case, you might need to try a different approach, such as starting a new application under a different category, or gathering different documents to persuade the department that you’re qualified.
The length of time required for a given Ministry of XXX to make a decision about your case varies. Some people get approved very quickly: within one week, but for others, it can take one to two months. It depends on: (1) the number of cases they have in hand; and (2) the complexity of your case.
In some cases, especially if you are applying under the salary criterion, it is easy for them to make a quick decision, as this criterion is relatively cut and dry. However, for instance, if you use your patent to apply for a gold card under the field of Technology, the MoST will need to hire specialists outside the government to review your case to make a decision, and this will usually take much, much longer.
On average though, most people have to wait around two to four weeks for their case to finish going through the “Consulting with the Ministry of XXX” stage.
If the Ministry of XXX approves your case, they will send your case back to the WDA again. Your status will change back to “Review by the WDA”. Basically, if you see this status appear again on the gold card online portal, it means that they think you are qualified for a gold card. At this stage, the WDA doesn’t perform any additional review: literally all they need to do at this stage is to press a big OK button to move your case forward to the NIA “status: Review by the NIA”, and the NIA needs to press another big OK button so that a group of overworked and underpaid elves working in the NIA can start to grind their stones and craft your gold card “status: IC Card in Process” out of precious metals that they must dig out of the ground with their bare hands (okay, I might have exaggerated this bit ;)).
Once your card is ready, they’ll notify you to pick up your card at your local immigration center (the one you specified on your initial application).
As for the timeframe after “Consulting with the Ministry of XXX”, it usually takes around two weeks for them to finalise the process. I usually estimate three working days for “Review by the WDA”, three working days for “Review by the NIA”, and another three days for “IC Card in Process”. But my most recent client (who got his gold card this week) only had to wait one day for each of these final phases. In his case, his status moved to “Review by the WDA” on Monday, “Review by the NIA” on Tuesday, and then “IC Card in Process” on Wednesday.
Note that if you don’t currently hold an ARC while you’re applying for the gold card, there will be “Passport Inspection” between “Review by the WDA” and “Review by the NIA”. If you’re outside Taiwan, once your passport is verified by the overseas mission (TECO), you’ll be able to download a Special Entry Permit from the gold card platform, which will enable you to enter Taiwan and pick up your gold card here in Taiwan (after you complete quarantine, of course).
Note: R.O.C. (Taiwan) Overseas Missions will halt the processing of visa applications (including the Passport Inspection Stage of the Gold Cards) when Taiwan is experiencing a level 2 alert (or above). Right now, we’re still in this state, so visa processing for overseas missions is currently halted. (However, the government is still accepting and reviewing Gold Card applications, which means that you can still make a successful application, but will need to wait for Taiwan to exit level 2 restrictions before the final stage will be unblocked.)
In summary, the timeline for a smooth and successful application currently looks a bit like this: (assuming you don’t need to supply supplemental documents at any stage)
- “Under Review” + “Secondary Inspection by the NIA” : 3 days
- “Professional Review by the WDA”: 1 weeks
- “Consulting with the Ministry of XXX”: 2 weeks
- “Review by the WDA”: 3 days
- “Review by the NIA”: 3 days
- “IC Card in Process”: 3 days
Total: 5 to 6 weeks
Note that this could become longer again if the demand increases, and there is always some variance depending on the nature of your case.
If you’ve read through to the end, thanks for reading! I hope all the information above helps.
In my opinion, the government has made the application process relatively easy. With enough preparation and research, in principle anyone can do this online by themselves. However, there are several common pitfalls that people can fall into. If you’re looking for someone to make the process smoother, feel free to send me a message. I’m not able to guarantee that your application succeeds, but I can help you to maximize the odds, save you time with research, and handle all communication with various departments on your behalf when things get stuck.
If anyone is interested, I’m also open for a small group online meeting (3-5 people) to answer your questions regarding gold card applications.