The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

I just thought I’d give an update on my application here for the benefit of the thread/community.

I applied for the gold card on December 31 in the Technology field under the category of “Holders of a Ph.D. degree who possess special expertise that is lacking in Taiwan”. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry from a UK university and four years of postdoctoral research experience (two in Germany, two in China). I also have some science teaching experience and around 10 years of experience working as a scientific editor/writer (mostly freelance for several long-term clients, alongside the Ph.D./postdoctoral work, and a bit difficult to verify).

It was mostly on the latter basis that I applied for the gold card, which I explained in a detailed cover letter with the stated purpose of helping Taiwanese academic and industrial researchers publish their work to an international audience (hence my applying under the “special expertise” category rather than any of the more specific research-oriented ones in the Technology field). In addition to the cover letter, I provided copies of my Ph.D. certificate, reference/recommendation letters relating to my two postdoctoral positions, the first pages of several publications and a Chinese patent I co-authored, and my Chinese postdoctoral certificate.

Nothing happened until the middle of this week, when the status of my application was still showing up as “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency” as it had been since the first few days of January (I’d figured they might need a bit more time due to Lunar New Year, but I wasn’t expecting it to take this long!). I finally e-mailed the contacts at the MOST, who informed me that they hadn’t even received my application yet and it was still with the MOL. They directed me to contact the Ministry of Interior about this, which I did, and the helpful guy there seemed to finally get something moving. So…yesterday afternoon, after 5 weeks, I received an automated e-mail from the online platform saying they needed more information/documentation for the initial assessment.

The application result contained several points. The first point was probably an error and suggested that some of the documents I submitted had been overlooked - the examiner had only acknowledged my second postdoctoral appointment in China but not the one in Germany, and came to the incorrect conclusion that I have only two years of experience (i.e., less than the three required) rather than four. The second point was that the Chinese postdoctoral certificate, Chinese patent, and recommendation letter from my ex-supervisor in China (who happens to be Austrian) were issued in the mainland area and therefore won’t be recognized unless I can get them verified by the Straits Exchange Foundation. (That’s possibly something I overlooked, although I don’t remember seeing any information about it during the application process.)

So the current situation is that I’m going to try to head over to the Straits Exchange Foundation office today or Monday (no e-mail address I could find on their website, of course) to ask about getting the certificate and patent verified. It’s a long shot, but does anyone have any experience dealing with them and about the verification process? I’m assuming I’ll have to pay some crazy amount for this verification, and I’m also not sure how it’ll work at the moment with the coronavirus situation in China (my ex-supervisor told me last night that he’s stuck in another province and not expecting to even think about returning to the university for another 2-3 weeks, so I can’t imagine this is going to be a priority for the Chinese counterpart of the SEF or my former university at the moment).

I’m also attempting to get some further documentation from a previous long-term client (a major scientific publishing company) to confirm my 4.5 years of experience working as an editor for them, in the hope that I might be able to use this in lieu of the Chinese documents.

This is mostly just intended as an update for other applicants, but any suggestions about how to proceed would be much appreciated. I’d also suggest that anyone else who’s applied recently and hasn’t heard anything back consider chasing things up sooner than I did, since I’m not sure when the process would have started moving if I didn’t send those few e-mails.

I’m also currently in Taiwan with a 90-day visa exemption that expires in around 1.5 weeks and I was originally hoping to complete the application process before then, which seems incredibly unlikely now. So it looks like I’ll need to fly out and come back later, and it’s hardly the best time to be flying… :mask:

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Does anyone ( @fifieldt ?) know if you apply from overseas, what is the time limit to arrive in Taiwan and claim your Gold card?

@Noel
I believe you already claimed your gold card in your country’s MOFA branch.

Now, I wonder how long that Resident Authorization Certificate expire. But if you already have a gold card in hand, why do you still need the Resident Authorization Certificate to enter Taiwan? @irish91 care to update us?

As far as I know, there is the option to “activate” your Visa/Gold Card upon landing in Taiwan, rather than picking it up in your home country. This is especially useful in countries where the nearest Taiwan office requires you to fly to get there.

​In order to increase identification and anti-counterfeiting function of Employment Gold Card, the new version of Employment Gold Card are officially revised and issued today. The latest version of Employment Gold Card follows the original card design, and its color has been revised to rose-gold. In addition, English characters have been added to the professional field to strengthen its identification.

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The Resident Authorization Certificate has a bar code which they scan upon entry and it’s basically a paper version of your Gold Card. The entry is recorded on the system under your ARC Number. The reason you need the Resident Authorization Certificate is if you choose the option to collect the card at an NIA Service Center. If choose to have the card posted overseas then you don’t need the Resident Authorization Certificate.

I just checked the document, the expiry date is the same date as your Gold Card.

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That’s new - any idea where the official announcement of this can be found?

Now that it looks unique I actually want to “upgrade” from my regular ARC :sweat_smile:

in Chinese

In English

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I went from visa free, to a vistor visa issued in Taiwan, to an ARC. But of course every case is different depending on who exactly you are dealing with and your exact situation. Anyway, I’ve always found NIA super helpful and flexible so I’d always try them with an unusual request and hope for the best.

(P.S. replying in this thread as its more relevant to the gold card than to the virus)

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Oh okay, that’s interesting. I’m just reporting what I was told by BOCA a couple of years ago during another stay in Taiwan (I was intending to apply for a job here and asking about extending the exemption then changing that to an ARC, but ultimately I decided against taking the job). I don’t know how it is with the gold card though.

Thanks for moving the discussion. I’m actually also in this thread (I have a recent post above about the application itself), but my question in the coronavirus thread was more relating to the best visa run destinations at the moment until we got sidetracked.

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Yea sorry, I think it might have been me that side tracked it too. :laughing:

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if you get a white collar job, most status can be converted to ARC without leaving taiwan.

https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-166-276-48430-2.html

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So the current situation is that I’m going to try to head over to the Straits Exchange Foundation office today or Monday (no e-mail address I could find on their website, of course) to ask about getting the certificate and patent verified.

Well…this has turned into a major ****ing hassle. I’ve just finished 45 min at the Straits Exchange Foundation office trying to clarify the situation.

The several staff members who assisted me were helpful and understanding, but apparently they can’t do anything with the documents I brought/uploaded (the postdoctoral certificate and a Chinese patent).

For the certificate, I apparently need to get the original notarized in Nanjing first (the original is currently at my dad’s house in the UK, although I guess I could get it sent over). Which seems to mean flying over to China with the original - something I’m obviously not keen to do right now for the sake of a sheet of paper - not to mention the fact that the university is closed at the moment and my former supervisor is stuck in another province for the foreseeable future. After that, and the mandatory 14 days somewhere outside of China before I’d be allowed back into Taiwan, the SEF might be able to help me more once I have the notarized certificate.

As for the patent (which is publicly available online, like most of these things nowadays), the SEF wasn’t quite sure. It may be that I need to first try to get a copy of the original patent certificate, presumably from the closed university, and then do something similar. I’m not sure whether that would also involve a trip to Beijing.

Honestly, this seems close to impossible at the moment. I’m definitely not going to be flying to China to verify a sheet of paper, at least for the next several months. I’m also not sure what other documentation I’ll be able to obtain to confirm what the MOL is asking for. I’m very tempted at the moment to just give up on this and let the application cancel itself in 6 months or whatever. :expressionless:

everything related to Mainland China, they have special regulations.

When foreign workers whose academic credentials issued by Mainland China and with the certificates of working experiences in China, what documents required to be attached?
https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/en/News_Content.aspx?n=35C4C6202979ECD0&sms=2D58889BB41F75D7&s=22BFC5A3D864DB06

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Yea, as I suspected then. I’d imagine most people are in a position where they can get someone to submit if for them to the public notaries in China.

Another layer of catch 22 is that visa agents in Taiwan - as far as I know - don’t process China visas unless you have an ARC, and you cant do visa free for a simple return trip.

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Yup, unfortunately it seems that you were correct…

Anyone knows, how much time we have to make first entry to Taiwan after getting gold card? Is there a limit for that?

Iiuc the post, before the expiration date of your gold card?

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But when does the time limit start? On pick up, or entry? And I was sure that I read that you can pick the card up after arrival in Taiwan …