The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

yes, correct.

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Which TECO office did you submit at?

Hello all,

I am a bit stuck on the application, or so it seems. I am an Civil Engineer by trade, but with a very broad spectrum of experience, so on paper I am eligible to apply under Architecture or Economy (160k requirement). Nonetheless, here is the status update on my application process so far.

3 Apr - First application, applied under Architecture
13 Apr - Supplement personal information
28 May - Ministry of Labour (MOL) replied asking for official proof of information from my previous companies (architecture requires 5 years of experience).
1 June - Since in order to gather all the abovementioned information would require too much effort, I decided to change to the field of economy using the 160k requirement and resubmitted.
17 June - Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) replied stating that, since I am currently employed by an Engineering Firm mainly working on engineering or technical projects, they advise me to change the field of application.

What I could gather from the timeline of events is that, the first application didn’t get pass MOL, while my second application was passed on to MOEA swiftly, so the MOEA really is sieving out people who are not “economic” related.

But here is what I don’t understand. Knowing the MOEA is tightening the 160k requirement based on other fellow members’ experience on this forum, I have already finetuned my CV to be more “economic” related. The projects I work on related to both air traffic forecast (airlines supply and passengers demand) and engineering planning, so I have already included more aspects on the former.

My next move is to get my local contact to speak to the MOEA contact person, and hopefully I can get more pointers. If not, has anyone here got into a similar situation that MOEA is saying their field of work is not economic related?

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I wrote again to help@taiwangoldcard.tw to verify that the field I was applying to was the correct one and they replied the same thing again (it seems that it’s the same person)

“Currently your company (Advertising Agency) and position (Marketing Data Analyst ) do not qualify for the Economic Field. We do not review applications, but from experience, there have been applicants with a similar job position/company such as yourself who have applied and been rejected.”

Despite what this official document says about code 731 being Advertising which is regulated under the MOEA.

So let’s say I choose to ignore what the official document says and go with what the person from the help desk says. There still has to be category I can choose from. Would my company/role qualify for Science & Technology? Since it’s a marketing data analyst role in a pharmaceutical advertising and marketing agency, which is also all intertwined with my background that has to do with biomedical engineering? I saw there is a Science and Technology category for applicants who are above 160K NTD.

That person from the helpdesk is driving me insane and what they’re saying doesn’t seem logical, at the same time I don’t want to completely disregard what they are telling me.

Please advise.

Iiuc, your company should be in a semiconductor, optoelectronics, ICT, or other such fields, to apply for the Ecomonic Field.

Looks like they’re clear, no. I don’t think repeated emails is going to change their mind.

I think you’re confusing regulatory authority with immigration requirements.

I think currently in the taiwanese gold card language, “economics” limits to mostly manufacturing, where they are listed under one of the criteria, semiconductor, transportation tools, etc.

The MOEA contact person gave an example, saying recently there was an international firm trying to send people to taiwan for a major civil infrastructure project and applied under the 160k requirement. Although the infrastructure construction is going to benefit the economy, but all of them have been rejected under the field of economics.

And according to her, this caused them to think about opening a field specifically for engineering and construction companies and they are already in the process of passing the legislation.

Not sure how far they are at in the legislation process, so it would be nice if anyone could share their insight on this if they have anything.

There is no such category called “economics”

These gold card categories are some bureaucratic nonsense, I hope they get rid of categories and just have a generalist track that they forward to individual ministries. One gold card category is enough.

Is it possible to enter Taiwan with “Resident Authorization for Overseas Applicants” under current restrictions?

Yes, see How can I enter Taiwan during the pandemic? | Taiwan Gold Card

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Thanks for quick response.

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Thanks for all the advice here - I initially applied in the economic category then changed to technology and today was approved!

Timeline
• April 3: initial application
• April 5: request to fill in a missing field
• May 10: request to provide proof of economic category then changed to technology category
• June 23: request to submit passport

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Hi all, This forum has been very useful.

My gold card application is currently being reviewed and I am applying from Australia. I have submitted under the ‘Finance’ category as my prior jobs were in big well known global banks and meet the minimum income levels in the past three years. As part of my application I have submitted a CV, tax/PAYG summary and employment certificate. This is my timeline so far:

3 June 2021 - Submitted application
23 June 2021 - Received a response in Mandarin from the relevant Taiwanese department. I was unable to read the response.
24 June 2021 - Received a response in English (after requesting a translation) from the relevant Taiwanese department… I was requested to provide a salary ‘certificate’ to support my tax/PAYG summary.
24 June 2021 - I responded with a query on what is a salary ‘certificate’.

I wish to ask if a salary ‘certificate’ is the same as a salary slip/statement? I have asked the department for a clarification and exact details they need to see in the salary ‘certificate’. However, I haven’t received a response yet.

Much appreciated if anyone can give me guidance based on their experience on what is a salary certificate? Thanks if anyone can help. I hope to share further details of my application journey as I proceed under the ‘Finance’ category for the benefit of others applying in that category.

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I’m unfamiliar with Australian taxes. As an American, though, I submitted paystubs/slips and a tax return (prepared by me/my accountant). I still had to follow-up with an employer-provided income tax statement called a W2 in the States (this is prepared annually and shows gross salary income). Maybe they’re looking for the Aussie equivalent? Hope this helps.

08-Dec — Initial application under “Science & Technology” w/CV, 2019 W-2s & 1099s (U.S.) and 2019 1040 Tax Return (U.S.)
13-Jan — Received email they needed more documentation; Decided to just switch to “Economic” field and reapply.
13-Jan — Changed to “Economic” and verified with Mr. Wang & Gold Card Helpdesk; Was told to check back early Feb on status.
14-Jan — Status Change back to “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency”
12-Feb — Chinese New Year
22-Feb — Sent emails to check on status
24-Feb — Still waiting…
15-Mar — Emailed Helpdesk on status. Told it was still under WDA Review.
03-Apr — Pretty much given up at this point, 5 days shy of 4 months.
15-Apr — Reached out to Mr. Wang to see if he’s able to get an update.
12-May — Finally received an email from Mr. Wang that he pushed my application again back on 23-Apr.
01-Jun — Received email the Ministry of Economic Affairs needed more documentation.
27-Jun — Tired of the run-around so sat on my butt for 27 days and decided to try again before the 30 days are up for me to submit more documentation. After reading more recent posts here, I decided to change my application BACK to Science & Technology, submitted the same documents but this time included an open letter, two letters of recommendations, and more “official” proof of my employment.

Frankly, I’m tired from all of this and if this takes any more work to get to the approval stage, I might give up getting to Taiwan via this route. It’s exhausting and coming up on 8 months…

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sorry for your crappy experience. I know this is no consolation (the opposite in fact) but your timing was very unlucky. Had you started off in economic I think you would have made it, but they basically advised you to change to economic just as they were preparing to change the guidelines of the economic pathway. Ugh…feel bad for you :frowning:

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Hey mate,

I understand a salary certificate to be a group certificate that you get from your employer at the end of the financial year. So, it shows a balance of your total earning for that financial year.

No, your slip you’d get every week or every fortnight, yeah? But then around July/August, you’d get a big consolidated one reflecting your earning in the previous financial year.

If you’ve worked for more than one employer at any time in the past financial year, you’d end up with more than one group certificate.

Now, I don’t know if this is exactly the document that they’re after (cause I got my gold card through another stream). But that’s my reading of it. All the best in your application!

I’m worried about extending my gold card beyond the 3 years under economy. Need to think of something else. I want kids to complete elementary here.