The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

Beyond me to actually see ppl who think that living in a country without speaking the language of that country is ok

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Q: Working in Taiwan companies as a Gold Card holder.

Question: What are the requirements for companies of different nature, organisations or NGOs to hire Gold Card holders?

On the side of the Gold Card holder it seems rather clear. The Gold Card is itself or is linked to (?) a work permit that is again not linked to any particular company and Gold Card holders could even work at several companies as long as there are no clauses in the work contracts that forbid that.

Furthermore, Gold Card holders should have a salary of NT$47,971per month (or maybe a bit higher now, might be outdated data). (Source: website taiwangoldcard dot com)

Question: What are the requirements for companies to hire a Gold Card holder? Do they need to have certain number of employees, a special permit, a certain field of work… before hiring a Gold Card holder or is that completely independent? And can a Gold Card holder set up companies (yes) and hire herself by these companies (yes) without local employees and does each company have to pay at least 48000 NTD or in total that amount?

Putting it differently what specific rules should companies, NGOs or other organisations think about when hiring Gold Card holders.

Thanks all!

GC comes with open work permit as clearly written on the back of the card, there is technically no minimum wage mandated nor minimum size of the company. Hiring a GC holder is like hiring a citizen, there is no authorisation required nor extra paperwork.

That’s it, as easy as that, you can put the company interested in touch with the gold card office and international talent Taiwan office for clarifications.

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Great Thanks!

Maybe I misunderstood something on the Taiwangoldcard dot com website. But this is fantastic that there is no requirement whatsoever on companies when hiring GCs.

there are a few exceptions though as indicated by the WDA, GC holders can only work in the areas as specified in items 1 to 6 sub 1 par 1 of art. 46 of the Employment Service Act. However there is mention of minimum wage as the employer doesn’t need to seek for a work permit approval.

I think I remember reading somewhere that they reserve the right to cancel the Gold Card if one doesn’t work in their field of experience or accepts a job which doesn’t meet the double-minimum-wage salary requirement, but in practice I’ve never heard about them cancelling a Gold Card after it has been issued.

Yep. Because like the rule for special foreign professionals regarding cancelling the permit or needing to ask for a new one if you work outside of the area of expertise/sector under which you were approved seems only applicable to non-GC special foreigner professionals holders. Yes, that’s a thing! These ppl r foreigner who have been approved for a special 5 yrs work and residency permit instead of the usual 3, but they r not GC holders.

As always, TW bureaucracy is as confusing as it gets

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You might be thinking of article 7 in “The Regulations Governing Employment Gold Card Permit for Foreign Special Professionals”:

In case that the Employment Gold Card holder falls into one of the following situations, the NIA shall annul or revoke his/her Employment Gold Card:

  1. Notified by the Ministry of Labor or the central competent authority of the industry concerned that the Employment Gold Card holder’s situation warrants the annulment or revocation of his/her work permit or eligibility as a foreign special professional.

    The Regulations Governing Employment Gold Card Permit for Foreign Special Professionals - Article Search/Content Search Result - Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (Taiwan)

MOL related FAQ (slightly outdated now though as more fields have since been added and their is the special review route):

Q: What fields of job could Foreign Special Professionals obtaining the Employment Gold Card engage in?
A: The scope of work stipulated in Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act may be carried out subject to the 8 major fields of the technical, economic, educational, cultural and artistic, sports, financial and legal and Architectural design, which are announced by the Central Government Authority.
https://ezworktaiwan.wda.gov.tw/en/News_Content.aspx?n=35C4C6202979ECD0&sms=2D58889BB41F75D7&s=DFD021AC89683025

I think the main point is the work is within Article 46.1.1 to 46.1.6 of the Employment Service Act.

The term “Foreign Special Professional” has been changed to “Foreign Specialist Professional” now also though it’s only been updated in the main Foreign Talent Act so far so might see different terms used depending on where you look but it’s both the same thing.

  1. “foreign specialist professional” means a foreign professional who possesses specific expertise needed by the State in science & technology, the economy, education, culture & the arts, sports, finance, law, architectural design, national defense, and other fields, as announced by the central competent authorities, or who has been recognized by the Competent Authority in consultation with the central competent authorities as possessing specific expertise.
    Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals - Article Search/Content Search Result - Laws & Regulations Database of The Republic of China (Taiwan)
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yeah, that is what I wrote basically, you have to work according to the conditions in those articles, but there is no mention of minimum wage as there is no need to get a work permit.

However, I would hope anyone with a GC earns more than the minimum requirement for having at least a work permit issued normally. That’s already not a lot of money to begin with if you need to rent in the metropolitan area of Taipei.

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Hi! I’m about to start my gold card and I’m super excited! I’m trying to think ahead, in the case that I want to extend/renew it, are there any specific requirements about what you needed to have done during your time in Taiwan to do so?

I got the 3 year gold card and I was hoping to take a year off from working to just enjoy Taiwan before attempting to find work again in Taipei. Would this get in the way of extending when my 3 years is up? I guess what I’m asking is: Is there a requirement that you need to be working the entire time in order to be eligible to renew when it expires?

Thanks!!

GC is strictly about the requirements for eligibility. If you keep satisfying them at the end of the “term”, you qualify for a new GC, regardless of what you do with it (a good thing for some, not so good for the country imho as literally allow ppl just to use as a visa free card to travel instead of coming here and live here, as it was intended, but I digress)

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Not many visas are a requirement to be in the country. I suppose the gold card is more open ended though, with no real requirements to renew in connection to actually being in the country.

Are a lot of people getting it and not living in Taiwan though?

Many. I don’t have solid figures, but way more than the NDC would like.

Gold card is too easy to renew. If you have a phd then there’s no income requirement at all other than holding the degree, same as PR but with extra tax benefits. I’m not sure how that benefits the economy.

Compared with Singapore’s tech pass where you need 270k SGD annual income to renew along with other requirements, or Hong Kong’s top talent pass which has similar high requirements for renewal. Even Malaysia MM2H has pretty high renewal requirements.

Do you find that to be problematic?

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I’m not sure whether it’s good or bad and I’m not an expert in economics, it’s just what I noticed compared to other countries.

I am also guilty of collecting a bunch of these long term residence visas with open work permits and not living there, but using it as a flexible travel visa where you don’t need to book an outgoing flight ticket or how long you stay there as long as you get your tax residency situation sorted out. SG and HK make it difficult to renew if you want to keep doing that.

It has been quite common with a long term immigrants who just relied on their partner or other people to translate everything for them.

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I’d suggest you treat your first year similar to how I’m trying to treat mine: learn the language and culture to the best of your ability. Once you’re working full time, there will be way less time to devote to language study.

There’s no specific requirements about what you do in the first or second year though. If you’re going to apply for APRC after the 3 years is up, then you can use income statements (or a NT$5 million bank balance) from just your most recent year’s tax filing and not care about the first year at all.

In some ways, it is actually easier to get the APRC than to renew the Gold Card, at least for some. Though if it’s going to be easier for you to renew the GC than to get an APRC, that’s fine too. I’m attempting to set myself up for the APRC so I don’t ever have to renew. In that regard what you do by the third year is the most important, or possibly get your second year in order depending on alignment of tax years and timing within your 6-month “work seeking” visa if you do that at the end.

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Anyone else having issues with the website? Keeps redirecting me to a student visa website. Very frustrating…

Just to add a couple of points:

Looking at interviews with entrepreneurs and successful expats in Taiwan, there are some frequently mentioned points:

  1. Language skills are highly correlated with success. If you can communicate in Mandarin effectively, that strongly increases your chances.

  2. Connections. If you have a year to travel around, improve Mandarin and meet people, use that to build some friendships and meet both expats as well as locals, especially in industries or fields that might be of interest to you. This can go a long way.

  3. Think about creating your own job. Taiwan’s job market can be difficult for foreigners outside of teaching English. Hence, some here try to create their own job in a certain niche or exclusively with foreign clients working remotely or sourcing products from Taiwan. That is something you might want to keep in mind.

  4. For Gold Card renewal: All I heard is that APRC and Gold Card renewal is not that difficult, especially if you have 5 million NTD in a bank account and you have a job in the last 1.5 years that pays 160k NTD monthly in an industry that is connected to your Gold Card it is all clear. Even a lower salary should still work out fine as long as it is a couple of time the minimum salary.

As you want to travel around, think about what you want to do and spend more time in places that might get you there.
a. Semiconductors: Hsinchu
b. International trade: Kaohsiung, Taipei and Keelung
c. Bike industry: Taichung
d. Instruments, sporting goods: Taichung, Kaohsiung, Hsinchu
e. Events, media, finance, research: Taipei