The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

Wasn’t this rule rescinded as part of the recent amendments?

According to NIA officials, no :slight_smile: They stress that this card is nonrenewable and you must go through the application process again toward the end of the gold card. One way of looking at that is that the foreign special professional program could change to the point where one no longer qualifies. APRC is therefore “safer” in the long term.

Consider also if the program doesn’t change. For instance, if you fall ill during the term and can’t demonstrate your gold card worthiness due to this, you’ll lose your visa when it runs out. Not so with APRC.

As it’s also buried in the thread, will again note that you don’t get the tax benefits if you’re an existing resident.

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Thanks, it looks like the tax benefit is the only advantage over the APRC,without that then there’s no point.

It’s actually difficult to see any point to the “Gold card” other than the tax benefit.

Compared to APRC you mean …

Compared to a standard ARC even.

Not if you don’t already have an ARC and you are not currently resident in Taiwan – which is after all the target audience, if they’re trying to get professionals into Taiwan.

Hi all,

We are planning to come to Taiwan next year on a Investor Visa but this Gold Card may make more sense as I work in IT and make over 160k NT a month in the US. I just read this long thread and didn’t find an answer to a question posed by another poster somewhere in the middle (a couple months ago). Hopefully someone knows now. The question is does the applicant need to make 160k NT per year in Taiwan while on this Gold Card visa, or just to qualify to get it? And further, does one need to make 160k NT the final year prior to Renewing the Gold Card? In other words can I qualify for the Gold Card, move to Taiwan, and earn less than 160k NT per month once there? Thanks to anyone who may know this, the offical rules don’t get into that detail.

In a recent Q&A, an NIA official stated that they’re not going to take the card away from you for dipping below the qualification during your stay. He was quite jovial about it, joking that you could do basically whatever you wanted after qualifying, since it’s an open work permit.

However, comments about re-applying toward the end of the card’s term were a bit firmer, implying that there would be some analysis of the time you spent on the card.

Personally, I doubt the expectation would be for someone on a 3 year card to have 3 solid years of 160k per month tax returns. Would 1 year be enough? Maybe? Currently the regulations have nothing special in them for “previous gold card holders”, so anything above the standard qualifying criteria might come from the discretion afforded the skills assessment committees.

I agree, APRC is safer. Heck, even an ARC might be safer. I am starting to regret getting this gold card. I have been trying for 5 months to get a residence visa for my filipina wife without success (it’s a long story, which I will put in a separate post).

I thought this special card would make things better but seems it only made things worse.

  1. I went to Tainan immigration to ask whether my wife could get an ARC based on my Gold Card. They had no clue whatsoever.
  2. Then I went to MOFA Kaohsuing to ask if my wife could apply for a residence visa there (she is here on 14 day visit, which is something we have been doing once a month for the last 4 months). They said no! They also didn’t know squat about Gold Card and its relation to residence visa for families.
  3. Finally I went to NIA Kaohsuing and they said my wife and kids don’t even qualify for an ARC !!! Because I am effectively unemployed. They said as far as they are concerned I am on a job-search visa and they have no idea where I work.
  • I tried to explain to them that I am still employed at the same company that gave me my last ARC. I thought I was just upgrading to a Gold Card.
  • They said they haven’t received any instructions on issuing ARCs for spouse/kids of Gold Card holders. They said they are not allowed to do it. They told me I need to bring them my work permit from labor office to prove I have a job and that I can support my wife/kids financially.
  • I showed them back of the Gold Card which clearly states that it includes a “work permit”. They were dumbfounded and told me I need to report to NDC about this issue because they haven’t received any instructions on this subject.
  • In fact they even said that I shouldn’t have applied for a Gold Card. According to them, Gold Card was primarily designed only for people outside Taiwan wanting to come here to work. I explained to them that even foreigner professionals coming from outside do have families and if people coming here on Gold Cards find out their families cannot come then why the heck would they want to stay in Taiwan ? They didn’t have an answer.
  • They advised me to revert back to an ARC. They said if my wife tried to apply for a residence visa in Philippines on the basis of my Gold card, she will most likely be denied. Reason : Because the embassy would have no clue what I was doing on a Gold Card. With ARC they know exactly where you are working. [ “How stupid is that ?” ]
  • They recommended me to get an APRC next year if I wanted to get my family here. !!! ? The lady said “APRC is better”

So I would recommend anyone who is already on an ARC or APRC in Taiwan to hold-off applying for Gold Card (unless your company does it for you and they know what they are doing). Seems like all these different government offices aren’t really communicating with one other.

I am concerned that I have made a mistake by converting my ARC to a Gold Card.

Of course there’s always a high chance that govt. offices down here in the south are incompetent and clueless. I may have to go to Taipei to talk to NIA/NDC there.

PS : NIA Kaohsuing gave me these contacts. If anyone has good Chinese , please feel free to call them to clarify/complain :

Minister of Developing Council
Chen, Mei-Ling
02-2316-5300

Chief of NIA
02-23889393

These aren’t direct contacts but contacts for the offices of the minister of NDC and chief of NIA.

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If it’s any consolation you can always convert back , I just did from a TARC to an ARC.
A TARC is hard to get believe me but it wasn’t much use to me in the end either.

Sorry to hear the procedures haven’t made it South yet :frowning: My suggestion would be to provide your local NIA staff with this list:
Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals-Contact (Chinese version https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/cp.aspx?n=CF6D2CE4909E945F&s=27B3AAEEB86F1B0D ) and help them make the call to their colleague that knows what’s going on.

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@fifieldt : Thank you very much for this detailed response! Based on the responses below yours from a converted ARC>Gold Card holder I may have an issue with bringing my wife and daughter on the Gold Card though. Safer to go with the Investor Visa which provides ARC’s to dependants for certain, though I will keep looking for more details on the Gold program over the next year.

Btw, can spouse work? If they attained the ARC from this Gold Card?

Seems to read somewhere that you will be given 6-month visa to look for employment? Do you get the 4-in-1 Gold Card for 3 years right away? Or use the 6-month visa to look for a job, and then granted the 3-year 4-in-1 Gold Card?

And do you have to fly to Taiwan immediately upon getting approved?

So much still in question!

Capture

When I chose financial/salary of $160,000 NTD or more, this paragraph showed up briefly when I clicked on the blue link. It then redirect the page to an error. Anyone has a full statement?

Interesting that “the most recent monthly salary” can be something from 3 years ago before the application date.

Update: I managed to get the whole statement without getting redirected to an error page.

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Did you try showing them a 在職證明書 (employment certificate) from your employer?

Interesting question. It makes me imagine someone who likes Taiwan enough to be willing to take a salary cut by moving there (which in practical terms may feel like a raise, depending on the difference in the cost of living), but that salary cut makes the person ineligible for a gold card renewal three years later… :ponder:

? Why would you want to go from a TARC to an ARC? Isn’t TARC pretty much the best thing to have, since it leads to “citizenship” and is unconditional (no need to always have a job)? Also do you go to a company and go ‘well I have a TARC and an open work permit, but uh can you guys hook me up with an ARC anyway?’

Cos I had to give up my original citizenship and can’t progress to a Taiwan ID or a proper Taiwan passport for at least two years and have exit restrictions . Not good for me. I have one of the world’s more coveted passports already and I can travel anywhere with that. Most TARC holders must prove they relinquished their original citizenships within 1 to max 2 years. In the meantime they give you a shitty overseas Taiwan (with no Taiwan ID ) passport which you can’t travel to most countries on .

Lots of ARC holders have open work permit such as mine dependent on spouse . I could also apply APRC tomorrow but really not much difference. My kids are Taiwanese so I can qualify for an ARC through them too.

I will attempt to apply for Taiwan passport and ID through another less restrictive route.

Maybe , when the EU structures collapse , it will sway your decision to get a Taiwanese Passport . :blush:I jest Sir . In all seriousness , we are stuck with this unequal system of Dual passports , confused by Taiwan’s ambiguous Status in the World . I feel for you and your family but I see no short- term solutions . My hope is that the US makes a strong stand against anyone who would threaten Democracy and freedoms in Taiwan , and even recognizes Taiwan as a Country . However , as “ guests”, in effect , under the current system , we seem to have no option but to sit it out . :smirk:

“After an applicant is designated as a qualified foreign special professional, the Ministry of Labor will review his/her financial data in the next year, checking if the applicant meets the condition of holding a monthly salary of over NT $ 160,000”

Does this imply that someone on a 3 year Gold Card whose salary does not reach an average of NT $ 160,000 after the first year will get the card cancelled?

Or is it just a case of poor translation…