Getting ARC by investing in Taiwan (not by opening a company)

Legal Visa & Residency
21

thank you

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Hi, shen_shung, thanks for you advice. I will look at the possibility of investing 200k USD in overseas bonds and stocks, but with the 200k USD amount invested in a Taiwanese bank or institution such as Bank of Taiwan. That is what @Bimmerjeff said he did to receive a resident visa. Is it really that simple?

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Yes it really is, but it’s not “easy”. Paperwork end to end is demanding and varies depending on your passport. The requirement for a Resident Visa by Investment is to have invested $200k or more into a Taiwanese company, see Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China(Taiwan)-Resident Visas for Investment - after you have that, you can apply for the ARC.

I suggest you engage a CPA familiar with the process. CPAs are better than the immigration firms, they’ll charge a fortune for being the middle man.

Also be warned, it takes a long time to process the investment application, and if they have any questions in the middle, it delays the process by weeks each time.

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Thank you very much!

If I may ask a few questions:
In addition to a CPA do I need a lawyer separately or will a CPA’s work also cover that which a lawyer would deal with?
What sort of fees would you think are reasonable for such work?
Would you refer to CPA are you only referring to the smaller firms or do you also include big four accountancy firms?

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25

Wait bonds and or stocks

Or

A tw company?

Those are two different things arent they?

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I would also like to know this. Anyone willing to reply? Thank you!

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27

Hey Bimmer,

What special account are you referring too? I am curious if I am able to just waltz in and do this myself with sinopac bank. I speak chinese. Or do I NEED a CPA?

thxz bruv

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Hey Tango,

Can you clarify a bit on this? (I searched forumosa)

So you need to invest 5m THEN have an extra 2m that is maintained?

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29

Hi All,

I can answer some of these recent questions, I’ve been on my Investment Visa for 18 mos. now. The “Special Account” I referred to is a transfer account, set up by a local bank to recieve the $200k in USD from your bank, then convert it to TWD. After this, you set up a second “business” account, which the money goes into. At that point, you can invest the money in whatever you see fit in TW, but it has to be spent in TW. The easiest way is to use your banks investment funds they offer in house, this is what I did (EM bond fund and, recently a international tech stock fund). They have many portfolios that include all stocks/bonds pretty much. The key is that you are buying the fund via your TW bank, so it is considered a TW investment, not investing directly in the foreign fund(s). You have to pay TW taxes on any capital gain or dividend you get each year, about 20% rate, after any and all business write offs (There are many, I even bought my car as a business expense for example so I can depreciate it aginst my income over 3 years). Yes, you will need a CPA to set up the initial business and transfer account, and they will use a lawyer internally you don’t need to hire one outside. It was alot of hassle to set up all the accounts, but once done it has run seamlessly for 18 months now. Hope this helps!

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Oh, I also set up a stock trading account at Bank Sinopac Securities, but I never used it. This is for trading TW stock only. It’s a pain to set up for the bank, so you may have trouble finding a rep to do it for you but I did. Normal Banks (including Bank Sinopac branches), don’t do stock trading, only the “securities” firms.

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Oh man!! Jeff you are beautiful! thanks so much for the reply. If you don’t mind checking every other week or so, I may have a couple more questions. Wish you peace and happiness here!

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@buyit, no problem glad you got some useful info. I also recently made this reply on a PM so I’ll share it here as well:

Yes, the business is stand-alone, and yes you can do as little as invest in stocks/bonds alone, no actual “business” acitivity. You can do much more obviously including consulting. I only take the dividends due to excessive payroll taxes and NHI costs if you are an “employee” of yourself. Just be an “owner” and get yoru ARC and NHI that way. Also US taxes may apply there, but not on investment only income. Note you can only use the dividends you get for business expenses, not rent/food/etc. So if you need to use the proceeds to live, you must be an employee and pay yourself. I use it as pure investment so I don’t need to employ myself, and let the divs collect in my account. Yes, if you keep the business active for 5 years you can convert your ARC to an APRC (you also need to reside over 180 days per each of the 5 years in TW soil for APRC). I used JusRegal but I do NOT reccommend them, tho they did complete the process correctly and speak English. They ripped me off at the last moment when I was pressed for time on my Visa and drastically overcharged me for the final form I needed them to complete, a position their prior actions put me in. Please don’t use them unelss you find no other option that works for you. They are a bit pricy too overall, but that wansn’t my issue with them.

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This is worth gold! Thank you.
Question… If i go this route after my 3 year of gold card, does the clock reset for APRC?

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@pin2xbo: You’re welcome, and no the APRC eligibility is based on 5 consecutive years of living in Tawain and being on soil for more than 180 days per each of those years. I don’t think it matters what type of visa you are on during that time, but I’m not 100% positive on that the rules are complicated. But that’s my understanding of the rules as a non-TW person. You’d have to ask an immigration agent to be sure.

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I am curious, do you have to show your money in the Taiwan bank at every renewal?

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I’m not sure, my renewal is coming up in June. My CPA warned that I must keep my account active and not transfer the money out to the US in order to maintain the visa. I can take money out to invest in anything within Taiwan, so the balance doesn’t have to remain over $200k. In this regard I don’t think they will ask about the account balance when I renew. My guess is that they rely on the bank to report you if you move money outside of TW from your account.

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So the first visa is good for 2 years?

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Just for someone’s information,

15M NTD investment with 5 local employments will give you a plum blossom APRC after 3 years without the 180d/y residency requirement.

Amended Instructions on Document Submission for Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (Plum Blossom Card) Applications by Foreigners Who Have Made Special Contributions to Taiwan or Are Senior Professionals or Investment ImmigrantsSerial No. 0917)
2020-12-31

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I read somewhere here that switching between student arc and work arc will reset the clock. I hope the investment arc will not.

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Student ARC is not counted for APRC anyway. It was said that changing between work and marriage reset the clock, but it seems not so in recent years. You could ask at NIA.

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