The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

Any idea why the law category is the only one that you must fulfill all of the requirements, instead of just one? It seems strange.

Have long wondered :slight_smile: Architecture also looks like it’s in the same boat.

Would be great if someone could call the relevant ministry and ask. For now, my pet theories:

  • It’s a misunderstanding/typo in the law
  • Protectionism - the need for professionals is not as great in this field
  • Licensing - some professions require you to be separately licensed in order to work, with significant penalties if you’re not

I just got some key information from the authorities of the Gold Card program today that I wanted to pass on to everyone via this thread, regarding NHI helath eligibility under the Gold Card program. This has been discussed in this thread earlier on and not answered fully.

  1. If you come with your family on a Gold Card, you will only get NHI coverage right away IF you have a Taiwanese employer. If you are employed, you and your family will all get NHI with no waiting period. NHI will start on your date of employment.
  2. If you are “Unemployed”, you and your family must reside in Taiwan for 6 full months (not including trips abroad) before any of you can apply for NHI. All of your family can be covered, but after the 6 month waiting period. You can then apply for NHI through the local county offices where you live, and they will determine a cost if you are unemployed (no salary to base the cost on).

So, those who don’t come over with employment lined up will need to have private health insurance from their home country in place, or go uninsured.

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Hi, can anyone explain “household registration?” Is it not the case that anyone with an ARC that has a certain address indicated has completed the household registration? Or is this something else?

it is only applicable to ROC nationals. If you are a foreigner, you don’t need to care about.

If you are a national of ROC, you can check here. It is a registration system of nationals with citizenship. Nationals of ROC without household registration do not have citizenship.

Indeed. On this, there’s a new law close to passing that removes the 6 month waiting period for gold card holders.
You can find an overview of the new law and a link to the one signed off by the executive yuan here: National Development Council

I just got rejected under the salary requirement, though I earn more than 160,000 NTD a month. I’m self-employed, and some of my income comes through as a freelancer while other comes in as wages paid through my company. I sent them my tax return and they said they would only count the line saying “wages, salaries, tips, etc.” (company income that I pay to myself as a salary) and not the line saying “business income” (income paid to me as a freelancer), even though they are both income for exactly the same type of work. (I bill one way or the other only because some of my clients prefer dealing with a company, and some with an individual.)

I’m not terribly surprised by this outcome, but it wasn’t totally clear to me from the requirements that freelancer income doesn’t count. Sharing this in case anyone else is in the same boat. Also, I called the labor office to clarify, and they confirmed that they are only looking for people who earn a regular wage as a company employee.

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This is not entirely consistent with my case.

Whilst I presented salaried evidence from employers, I made it clear however that I was now self-employed (by my own limited company). I never used the word freelance but it was clear that I’m working for my own company.

Can you appeal?

Thanks for your comment. My issue was that, while I do have my own company, not all my income flows through it – some companies just pay me directly as a ‘sole proprietor’ (as an American it means they give me a 1099 instead of paying the company). On the phone, the guy at the labor office re-iterated that they will only count the “wages” line even though I explained that it’s all earned income and it just gets added together and taxed exactly the same by the US tax authorities.

That sounds annoying. May I ask which field?

Tech, basically front-end coding/analytics. He also asked if I had salaried income of more than 160K in the past, but then said that couldn’t count either because it was more than 3 years ago (I’ve been self-employed for 5 years).

OK. Did you include much information about your tech background in the documents you submitted? I heard MOST does a perfunctory rejection of salary category applicants who don’t provide enough information about their tech skills.

A friend just got a Gold Card and his salary isn’t even half of 160,000/month. Is this a requirement really?

Hmm no, I didn’t include much about my tech background since I just applied under the salary condition. I don’t think I could get too far with the “special professional” criteria as I don’t have international awards or outstanding achievement in R&D (nothing formal, anyway).

@owleyes There are different ways to qualify, either through a monthly salary condition of NT160K, or outstanding achievements in certain fields. So it’s not necessary to meet the salary requirement.

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@anyway, thanks for sharing your experience.

I’m in the same boat. What’s the phone number of the labor department?

I’d like to call them and find out if there are other documents that can be used as proof of income.

I couldn’t find a clear answer to this, although there was some talk about only people who come for the first time to tw to work can apply

But, in my case I’m on a jfrv and I been to Taiwan 18 months now. I haven’t filed any tax returns yet though, so arguably I haven’t taken up any work yet(in case that makes a difference)

. Can I switch over to this gold card and get the tax relief ?

My best attempts to work it through logically are 50 posts back or so:

but I’d welcome additional eyes.

This might be an interesting case, since the purpose of your visa is not to come to work …

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Yes,

I checked that post and my reading of it is that I can apply for this, but, I suspect I’m not “supposed to”(I’m a special case they didn’t take in to consideration and might be a bit miffed

Perhaps give Ms Qiu at Ministry of Finance a ring and see how you go …

https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/cp.aspx?n=D927ED39BDAE7478&s=DA2F7BC919B77E24

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Can we ask in English? I emailed Ms. Lin (林文琦) from Ministry of Economic Affairs the questions below and has not got a reply.

Dear Ms. Lin,

I would like to apply for the 3-year Employment Gold Card under the Economy field and qualification of previously holding a position with monthly salary of at least NT$160,000. My questions are:

  1. Can I use my previous employer paystubs from 2017?
  2. What happens if my monthly salary in Taiwan is lower than NT$160,000?

I just want to make sure that I can still use paystubs that are within 3 years old and would like to get an official answer if the gold card will still be valid if my earning drops below 160K.