Foreigners (non-APRC) and Investment

Business Money
1

Hello, and please accept my apologies if this is something widely know but the latest post I saw about this is from Nov 2000, so I would like to ask the more senior and fellow members of this forum for advice:

Is it legal in Taiwan for a foreigner on an ordinary work ARC (non-APRC) to invest (buy stock, or just go to a bank and buy financial products). I have been living for years here under the impression that we are not allowed to do anything that is not listed in the work permit, and assumed all along that the people investing were on APRCs or other kinds of l/t visas.

If it is possible, does one need to ask for a special investment permit? are there limitations? How does one do it?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

2

legally possible, practically difficult, banks dread opening investment accounts for foreigners for some reason, you might be rejected by your bank because they think it’s too much work, so they will tell you foreigners can’t open an investment account.
many of the posters here find the ui of the local banking platforms difficult and operate through overseas brokerage.

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3

Thank you so much for the answer! So it is OK to invest through overseas brokers? No ARC or work permit-related limitation (as in considering this financial work or something like that)? Thank you!!!

4

It’s fine as long as you conform to tax regulations.

I also have an account at Yuanta Securities for local investments. Was not difficult to set up. Just one of those things where you sit in their branch for 2 hours and fill in copious amounts of paperwork.

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5

yes, completely ok.
unless you plan to run an algo trading company from your apartment :slight_smile: you should be ok

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6

Thank you both! very helpful. I am 30+ and would like to start to do some investments. Now next step is to learn how, I’ll do some forum searches.

7

I am a master’s student in Taiwan holding an ARC too. I don’t have much experience in the stock market, cannot speak Chinese and don’t have much money too :cry: but I want to get to know more about it? I hope Yuanta staffs is friendly and helpful? What is the minimum investment in Yuanta Securities?

Thank you

Thank you

8

They’re fine, don’t worry.

There is no minimum from Yuanta. However, because Taiwanese stocks usually trade in batches of 1000, you’ll need to be able to put in at least a few 10,000 NT$.

Also, if you don’t read Chinese, the app will be challenging to navigate. It might be easier to open an account at an overseas broker and invest in the US or other more internationally accessible markets.

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9

Thank you so much for your reply.