I applied for Gold Card under the Education field but my application got rejected without strong reasons. It was stated on the portal I have 30 days to appeal but the option suddenly closed on me.
When I approach the Gold Card office, they mentioned I need to pay again and reapply under these 2 options.
1. Previously or currently holding a position at an economic company or in an economic field in a foreign state or in the ROC with a most recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000.
Q1: My working experience is in the Education sector. How could it be relevant to the Economic field? However, the criteria is very generic which makes it seems easier to qualify. Has anyone successfully applied under Regulation 1 of the Economic field before?
(12) Has other professional skills or transnational experience for which there is a pressing need in our country, and with a current or previous most recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000 in this or another country.
(8) Subparagraph 12 sets forth a general eligibility condition encompassing those who possess other professional skills or transnational experience for which there is pressing need in Taiwan.
Q2: This seems hard to fulfil as I do not know if my working experience is a pressing need in Taiwan. Has anyone successfully applied under National Development Council (NDC) under Regulation 12 before?
Applying in the economic category they would usually check if your experience is economic related. If the Gold Card office suggested that then maybe based on their experience of seeing applications they could think the experience is economic related.
In regards to option 2 of the NDC Special Review, my understanding is you don’t apply directly for that but rather if your application doesn’t fall under any field they will review.
I’ve actually not heard of anyone making an appeal and if so what their outcome is. Not sure if could possibly find out from the Ministry of Education more details of why the application was rejected.
I think I haven’t read about a case in the gold card thread were they outright rejected an application without first asking for further documents etc. Sounds like you definitely got a bit unlucky in that regard, too
Is it possible that you misunderstood or missed some qualification criteria?
Economy category used to be something anyone with over 160K salary could apply to, not sure how it is now. The Gold card thread has some recent experiences. Maybe it means if your employer brings economic benefits, which is quite broad?
Not sure about your circumstances, experience, or rejection reasons so I am just guessing here, but if you are trying to qualify under PhD category it could be that the school/program is too obscure for NIA to understand what it is or how it could be applied in Taiwan? PhD in Manga studies at University of Tehran for example?
Did you include a cover letter? I don’t know if it helps or not but I always included one to describe my professional experience, public talks / works, references in Taiwan with contact # to vouch for my experience, how I could contribute etc. If your original application had lack of details then you could try appeal with a cover letter. I am not sure how subjective the review process is these days.
For context, I applied on the basis I have 5 years of experience in providing educational administration services.
Documentary evidence that the person has been or is currently employed in a public or private school, college, university, or educational organization in another country or in Taiwan and for at least five years has provided services as a teacher or researcher or provided educational administration services.**
I was given a chance to upload more supporting documents but still got rejected in the end.
Reasons for Rejection**
One of my ex-employers was officially registered as a Private Education Institution (PEI) with the Committee for Private Education (CPE) but not considered a recognized public, private, or educational institution in the eyes of MOE.
*MOE: Although the company was once officially registered as a private education institution with the CPE, it was a for-profit entity and therefore did not fall under the definition of public or private schools or educational institutions.
You may refer to the official definition of an educational institution here: https://edu.law.moe.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?id=FL009127
*
From my understanding, as long as a school is called a private school, it’s for-profit. I don’t understand the logic here.
I own .edu email which only government registered schools can own and I believe it is the same in every country. This point was not taken into consideration in the review.
MOE: Proof of service certificate (which should specify the actual period of employment and the content of the position, and bear the relevant logo and signature of the issuing institution.
When I check with Gold Card office, I was told I could use my own company and need not follow exactly the sample template.
That set of criterion requires an average salary too. Being self employed has been an issue for other applicants. Where they didn’t receive salary, and instead only had drawings or dividends. Part of reasoning would also be that the claimed position is not at arms length.
Another point would be that being the owner of the company and having a .edu address might not be enough if other evidence is lacking. Otherwise people could manufacture these scenarios.
Many private schools aren’t for profit organisations but are instead privately run not for profit organisations. I’d hazard a guess this was an easier way to make the decision rather than to delve into your duties, self ownership and the veracity of your claims.
If they were to accept this type of proposal literally anyone, regardless of skill level, could just buy a school in an African country with a .edu website, hold it for x number of years, pump some money into it to draw a salary, then get a gold card.
That wouldn’t really meet the purpose of a skilled program like the gold card.
