I didn’t try the Gold Card because I read alot of rules that made me think I wouldn’t qualify. My friend here just got his approved using only his W2 that showed he met the income reqirement. So if you meet that (around $70k USD/yr), you should definately try that option first for $300 fee and see if you get approved.
Rep office is also an option if you already have a US company, but its very restriced for work purposes and only valid for a year at a time I believe. My friend above runs a company in the US and still decided to go the Gold Card route.
So basically you just open a bank account in Taiwan, transfer $200K into it, buy some bonds and apply? How long do you have to keep the $200K in the account?
Not exactly, you need to use a CPA here to help you set up a special account that is only for funding a company here. Then the money is sent by your US bank to the TW bank and verified by the MOEA and they then approve your Visa. Once the funds are in the special account, you will setup a 2nd “business” account tied to your new business and that account is used to invest the money and/or fund your business operations. Note that setting up this “business” is part of the Investment Visa process and required, even if you never run it as a true business in the normal sense…