Gold Card economic category questions

Legal Visa & Residency
1

Hey everyone,

Been a lurker around here, but it’s the first time I’m posting, so I’m pretty excited! I know there is probably oversaturation with Gold Card topics, but I wasn’t able to find the exact information I need by searching so I’ll try my luck on a new topic.

I’m a frontend developer from Israel that is looking to move back to Taiwan in the near future (I was living and studying in Taiwan for a year 2 years ago on the Huayu scholarship), so I was checking out the Gold Card option as a viable way to move and stay in Taiwan again.

Most of my salaries this year weren’t quite reaching the <NT$160k/m requirement, but my last month’s salary (11/2020), with some bonuses and benefits, was able to surpass the salary amount that is required to qualify.

Now, from several posts I have read, I understood that the requirement is to be able to prove that one has made <NT$160k/m salary at any point in the last 3 years, which I guess makes me qualified to apply. I have contacted the Taiwan Gold Card Help Desk (I guess it’s an official body?) via email to try and confirm this, and although they’re quite quick to respond, most of their copy-paste answers just left me with more questions eventually.

However, the answer that they have provided me discouraged me a little bit. Regarding the timeframe for the economic category requirement, they said this: " Your Israel 106 Form must show that you have held a monthly salary of NT$160,000 or above within the three years preceding the month of the application for at least one year or more ". Upon trying to clarify the “at least one year or more” part, they have replied with this: “the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) will take the amount on the tax form, divide it by 12, and see if the average monthly salary is at least NTD$160,000”.

So basically they are saying that the requirement is to have an average of <NT$160k/m for a whole year to qualify. It does make sense for it to be this way, but then again, it wasn’t implied or specifically stated anywhere (as far as I know?), and some other posts stated that “latest salary” <NT$160k should be enough to qualify, so it got me confused.

My questions will be:

  1. Can anyone shed some light on the meaning of “the latest salary”? Will it be possible to qualify with a single month’s salary of over NT$160k?

  2. Another question is regarding the proof documents: I know that the standard way is to provide a tax declaration document. The thing is, my tax declaration for 2020 will only be available around March. Will it be possible to provide a pay stub as proof? (of course, it has all the tax information on it, and I’ll have it translated to English by a certified lawyer).

Thanks a lot in advance and sorry for the long wall of text, trying to provide as much info as possible.

2

Hi,

Did you get any informations about the salary stub as proof ?
My 2020 tax document will be available in February but I would like to apply now (my 2019 tax document doesn’t have the amount requirement). I would like to try with salary stub since there is my current annual income until now on it (which is over 1 920 000 TWD).

Regards.

3

I recall seeing this topic addressed in one of the main Gold Card threads, but it is scattered and hard to find. From my understanding, the annual tax documents are generally needed. Another option is to have an employment contract that shows you will be making above the required salary going forward. But I am fuzzy in details.

Good luck!

4

In case you have not found it yet, here is a great Gold Card information resource:

1 Like
5

Hum i have been in this company for 2 years, my old salary on my contract is not actually enough.
I am not sure about your link. I saw on another forum that this is not an official source.
For example they are talking about annual financial check by ministry of labor to see if you still have the amount requirement which doesn’t make any sens since you can have the gold card for 3 years and i didn’t hear about some people getting their gold card revoked this way.
Another example is if you go on the link “Do i qualify fo the gold cards?” And answer “My salary is over 160k TWD per month” This website will say that you need to have a proof of this amount requirement like tax document AND a taiwan job with salary over 160k TWD per month, which is again not true. I am not an expert though.

6

I gues this is this thread you re talking about ? I just posted there too : "Employment gold card" for some foreigners

7

I think you’ve misread something here, as it clearly says “please prepare either” and “you must choose only one of these options”. I can see how the tickboxes might be a misleading choice of symbol for the bullet points though, if someone isn’t reading it carefully.

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I don’t know what you’re referring to with the annual financial check by the MOL, but I suspect you’ve misunderstood something there too - it wouldn’t make sense for the reasons you’ve mentioned.

It’s not an official source - it was prepared by some people who already have gold cards to help others get them. But I get the impression that those people have taken the time to make the information accurate.

1 Like
8

Ok you are right for the first one, sorry, my bad. Not sure to know the difference between tax and salary statement (=salary stub?) but my last salary will be on 24th December and will show more informations about my income. Maybe i can try with that.

For the second point it is here : https://taiwangoldcard.com/goldcard-holders-faq/at-work/#can-i-just-not-work-at-all

9

Yep, that’s it. I’d read that before but couldn’t find it just now and had to get moving. I think you’re being thrown off by the “yearly tax return” in this part:

If qualifying under one of the the ‘salary’ criteria, the MoL will review your financial data (basically, your yearly tax return). If you do not pass the review, your work permit can be cancelled. (Source: Application Portal)

I kind of agree that this is ambiguously written, but I think what they’re mostly saying here with “can be cancelled” is that people will likely have a hard time applying for a second card if they haven’t been using the gold card for the stated purpose (i.e., to work) during the period of the first card, or have applied for the card under false pretenses.

The rest of that answer goes on to explain that in more detail - it’s partially just speculation by the authors on the FAQ page, but the point is that the gold card is intended for working. They’re not really suggesting that it’s a requirement to keep meeting the original application requirements, or that the card will be cancelled if someone doesn’t for a particular year.

10

Ok, i see, thanks !

11

Not explicitly, but from their previous response and reading some other posts it seems that they’re insisting on a tax document.

12

I think if your upcoming job in Taiwan is meeting the requirement you don’t need to show your current job salary details.