Gold Card and timing with suspension of visa processing

Legal Visa & Residency
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#1

I will be coming to Taiwan as a visiting scholar in early 2022, and as I want my kid to be allowed to go to school for the 6 months we’re there, I have been encouraged to apply for a Gold Card. (The visa the university can get for me cannot convert into an ARC).

Right now we’re in South Korea but will be going to stay with family in Canada in late July, and will be there until late January 2022, when we have to stop back in South Korea briefly for visa reasons. Then our plan is to head to Taiwan the first week of February (or maybe second, due to the timing of the new year holiday in 2022).

Especially given that visa applications (including the Gold Card) are suspended until at least June 18th, I don’t even know if I will be able to submit my application in the system. If I can submit it (but the understanding is that it will not be processed until after June 18th), that doesn’t seem to give me much time to do a passport check in Seoul before we have to head to Canada.

I could check that I will be applying from Vancouver Canada and picking it up in Vancouver too, but I’m worried about timing there as well. We will have to complete quarantine in Canada when we arrive, and even after that there is no guarantee we’d be able to travel to Vancouver when called, as we’ll be on Vancouver Island and there is restriction of movement in Canada now due to the pandemic measures (though hopeful that won’t last for too long).

Any recommendations for what to put in for:

  1. where I’ll be applying for the visa and
  2. where I’ll be picking up the card
    in light of these circumstances?

Also, in terms of getting the visas and ARCs for dependents, I should fly into Taiwan with my family either with the Gold Card or the receipt saying I will be picking up the Gold Card, and then they will be granted an ARC, correct? (Of course, this is assuming that tourists are allowed to enter by Feb. 2022).

Thanks a lot!

#2

To clarify: since it says I need to “submit the passport” (I’m assuming that’s the passport check and has to happen before the application is processed), but visa application processing will happen on June 18th at the earliest–and I will be using that same passport to fly to Canada on July 23rd–I’m concerned about parting with the passport in case I don’t get it back in time to fly).

#3

Canada. Processing times are through the roof - based on the dates you’ve provided, you’d be in Canada by the time you would need to do the passport/visa step.

Canada. Based on your plans, you have sufficient time to get the card mailed to Canada from Taiwan (it can take a month). Having the card physically there will avoid any issues if you need to apply for visas for your family.

#4

Thanks a lot. I will select “Canada” for “place of application.” My worry with having the card mailed to Canada is that I am rather far from Vancouver (Vancouver Island, so not too bad, but still can’t just pop over).

Under normal circumstances my husband can enter Canada visa-free (and I’m hopeful that by Feb. 2022 we may be back to more-or-less “normal circumstances”). Can anyone chime in about the process of entering Taiwan with dependents with 1) the receipt saying you’re going to pick up the card in Taiwan and 2) the Gold Card itself?

#5

Whooops. I put “Vancouver” as the place for my passport check when I applied for the Gold Card a few weeks ago. I will be arriving on Vancouver Island on July 23rd, but then have to quarantine for 2 weeks. I am in South Korea and will be here another month, but was advised by several people to put “Vancouver” for the passport check because of processing times. Well…I just got an e-mail to proceed to Vancouver for the passport check! Um…what should I do?

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#6

Wow, you must have some great qualifications! Congratulations. I have not seen an application that speedy in some time.

If you want to change the location, I believe you can do so through the application portal (a fee may be involved and it takes some time). However, at the moment, the Taiwan embassies are generally not processing Gold Card passport inspections. That may change after June 28, however you could end up in a situation where you change it to South Korea and have to change it back later. Maybe you can try calling the local embassy?

The alternative is just to wait until you get to Canada, which would be fine - the application is not going to expire over that short period.

edit: also - you probably can’t do something like get the passport inspected in Korea and have the card mailed to Canada. Both activities likely need to be in the same place unless you pick up the card in Taiwan.

#7

Yes, the time is pretty sensitive. If the Seoul “Taiwan mission” would process the application after June 28th, that might be enough time before my trip on July 23rd. But is “passport inspection” just showing your passport at the embassy? Or do you have to actually submit that passport and they send it somewhere? Because I have to fly with that passport on July 23rd.

Doing it in Seoul before I leave would be much, much easier–and definitely worth the passport inspection location change fee–as Vancouver Island is pretty much a full-day trip to actual Vancouver city. But I don’t want to risk running out of time. I thought I read that you have to do passport inspection within 30 days of getting the notice? The earliest I would be able to do this in Vancouver is about 50 days from now…

We’re not going to Taiwan until 2022, so the timing is no problem in that regard…

#8

Re: the passport inspection and card pick-up, I originally picked Vancouver for passport inspection and Taiwan for card pick-up. Again, because of it being a pain to travel from where I’ll be in Canada to Vancouver. If it’s going to be this speedy maybe I should rethink things though…just don’t want to mess up along the way and have my application cancelled.

#9

Each embassy has their own local rules. Some take 15mins, some take 2 weeks. According to this post in Seoul it was more of the former.

#10

Ha, that’s pretty typical of Korea. Expect something to take 2 weeks, it takes 15 minutes. I will try calling the Seoul Taipei Mission!

#11

Okay…going nuts, this is way too complicated. I received instructions to verify my passport in June 21st, last week. This was much faster than I expected (I thought it would take several more weeks after application). Since I’m in Korea and not going to Canada until July 23rd, it would be much easier to do the passport verification in Korea now. But since all visa affairs are suspended, when I called the Taipei Mission in Korea they said I should call again on July 12th. They said passport verification would likely take 3-4 days then. That would still give me enough time, but in case visa processing actually doesn’t resume until too close to my departure…I asked if I can just wait a while before verifying the passport, and they said within a month. But I’ll have to quarantine once arriving in Canada…the timing just doesn’t work.

Does anyone have a good contact e-mail for someone to explain this situation to? I really don’t want the application to be cancelled and lose the processing fee.

#12

Hi @tillandb , you should reach out to the Gold Card Office and explain your situation: help@taiwangoldcard.tw

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#13

Thank you very much!

#14

I e-mailed the e-mail address you gave me and they got back to me in 20 minutes to let me know there is no time limit on the passport inspection! Great news. (And pretty amazing customer service). I can wait until I am in Canada and not stress about this now, then.

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#15

Hi there-
Similar issues here regarding passport inspection- don’t know when it will be possible. My qualification check took about 2 weeks, now just waiting to see how to proceed. The current expiration for the halted passport inspection is 06Sep, but they seem to extend it every two weeks.

I’m starting to run out of time (must travel in Nov), and a special wrinkle that I’m located in Shanghai where there are no TECOs. I also can’t leave and come back to China easily.

Anyone ever have success with mailing your passport for inspection? Macau insisted it must be in-person, but I can’t even travel to Macau at the moment as a foreigner. Not to hijack the thread, but seems to be in a similar vein or waiting for inspection.

Thanks!

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