As many of you suggested, I went ahead and applied for a Gold Card. Thanks for the advice. I think I’ve passed the skills assessment because yesterday I got an email to drop off my passport (for ID verification).
So, my question is: what’s the timeframe between ID verification and me being summoned to collect my Gold Card?
I know that for many people this is just about driving down a few blocks to the embassy. But I live in a city without a Taipei Economic and Trade Office. So I need to actually go interstate to submit my passport (and go through a Corona testing each way). So, I’ll need to plan my travel properly. If possible, I want to stay in the city where the trade office / embassy is while waiting for my card so I won’t have to go back and forth. But I’m just not very sure how long the waiting period would be - especially during Christmas.
It seems to depend a lot on your TECO. I heard that Seattle is fast. LA is not (Mine took about 4 weeks). Not sure about others. I chose the option to pick up the card in Taiwan so cannot comment on delivery times. There is more information on the main gold card threads.
Thanks again for everything. My application has just been approved. Apparently sending my card from Taiwan to the nearest TECO will take some time. But I was able to download my resident authorisation document. So, I’m happy and I guess I’ll just wait.
They held my passport for a couple of days and I had to go through an interview. Luckily it was conducted in English - cause my Chinese isn’t great.