I submitted 1 year’s W2 and information about the companies I worked at and linked to news articles and things like crunchbase. They needed additional proof that I actually worked for those companies I think, so I submitted:
even more W2s
a bunch of misc employment legal documents, some California-specific with my boss’s name / signature on it
acceptance and resignation letter from one company (with CEO’s name and signature on at least 1 of the documents)
I think the big thing is having a document with your manager’s / boss’s signature on it, but I’d definitely err on the side of submitting too many documents rather than too few. They need to see: that you make enough money, that it actually was in that field, and that you actually worked for the company that you said you did. I think the big thing I was missing was the last part.
I was under the impression that the gold card wasn’t valid for entry to Taiwan right now. I got this impression from the Taiwanese embassy in DC (I believe they told me I wouldn’t be able to enter until later) and the wording of the restrictions:
Holder of ARC (Resident visa not included)
I’m fully vaccinated and willing to move to Taiwan right now, have I misunderstood?
edit:
The Employment Gold Card is a “4-in-1” document that includes a Work Permit, Resident Visa, ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) and Multiple Re-entry Permit.
“Resident Visa not included” is the key here, and as your quote shows, the gold card is a “resident visa.” And your interpretation is totally understandable…somebody upthread pointed out that this wording was going to cause confusion
Reading this forum and looking at the different processing time mentioned by people, I have guessed some information.
For Economy(and probably for S&T too), if you choose the salary option, they want to check just one thing: If you made 160,000 NT monthly in economy field. I think, that is the only information they want to verify.
So, for this you can choose one of two options. One is submitting proof that in past, you used to make that amount in economy field. Or, in future(in Taiwan), you will make that amount in economy field.
If you choose the first option(past income), they need tax document, CV and company letter. Sometimes, except CV it is also possible to verify the necessary qualifications and people got accepted without CV. So, they need to verify 2-3 foreign documents. Thus, the processing time is a bit high.
If you choose the second option(future income), they just need the future employment contract. Because, they can verify all the information they need from that one document. Additionally, that one document is also domestic. Thus, the processing time is a bit lower. In my case, it took just one month.
Just to clarify are you saying that my initial or my new interpretation is correct? While the gold card is a Residence Visa, it also says that it’s an ARC. I’ll check in with the Taiwanese embassy again, but I’m not sure if they’ll be able to give me a straight answer either.
Yes, thanks, I emailed the Gold Card Help Desk but they replied that they couldn’t provide any information about what category I should choose, which kind of doesn’t make sense.
So let me ask the experts (You).
My case: Company: Advertising Agency (Field: Economics? Not sure) Role: Marketing Data Analyst (Field: Science & Technology) Salary: greater than NTD 160K
Should I apply in respect to the category/field of my company and salary (Economics) or my role (Science & Technology)? What would you do?
lol I guess I was not clear either. I am saying that you are allowed to enter with a gold card if that’s what you want to do.
Now to be fair, that is what others have said to me but I haven’t attempted to verify this with any authoritative figures/orgs. So I’d put my confidence level in this statement at maybe 98%, not 100%.
Also, are you sure you would want to go right now? This seems like a very poor time to head over.
I contacted help desk as suggested and something strange happened.
After telling them that my company in the US was an advertising agency and that I’m a marketing data analyst they said “your company and position do not qualify for the Economic Field”, which is totally weird since according to the company codes my company matches with Code 731: Advertising, which is regulated under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
They then proceeded to say that the Ministry of Economic Affairs will be coming out with new qualifications soon but that they don’t know when.
Could be interesting to wait and see, but how long will this take? it could take a very long time, and I don’t have that much time to wait for that, but then again according to what the company codes list says I do seem eligible.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has a regulatory role for all companies in TW. So if you think this means Advertising would fall under the economic category, I’m not sure that’s the case.
I recall reading that TW changed the criteria for the economics category so that you have to actually be employed in some sort of economics role?
@Adam342: I submitted my resume, most recent 2 months of paystubs, offer letter from new consultancy company, 2020 W-2 tax forms (U.S.)
When they asked for supplementary documents, I sent over: Company pdfs and one-sheeters (outlining services we offer, case studies, awards won, industries served and roster of F500 clients), official employment contract/“certificate of service” written by my COO certifying my position, my start date at the company, the dates I was employed, and my salary.
So if you have all this in the beginning, its advised you send it all in one go rather than having them send your application back at you asking for more docs.
The reason why I said Advertising is in the Economics field according to Taiwan is because in the following document (attached), Code 731 is Advertising, and it says it’s regulated under the Ministry of Economic Affairs, which is what apparently would matter to qualify under the Economic category according to the last requirements update, isn’t that right?
I believe there was and still is a period of confusion regarding what “service relating to employment at an economic company or in an economic field” actually is (listed here: Field of Economy | Taiwan Gold Card). Previously, meeting the 160k/mo salary threshold appeared to be enough, but things changed post-pandemic.
I haven’t read whether employment at a company that is (or would be) regulated by the MOEA satisfies it. I believe there’ve been hints that the economic fields are supposed to be interpreted in light of the other ways of satisfying the “Field of Economy” listed on that website. The forthcoming clarity you mentioned will hopefully clear this up.
As a tip of advice from experience, it makes sense to figure out whether the work you’ll be doing aligns with the field that you apply for. The tax break only applies to income for work performed within the field that a Gold Card was granted under.
. Well, time to make travel plans then I suppose.