So I didn’t really read the part that unless I provided tax records then I could show a work contract but I missed the part that it had to be a Taiwanese company or a company based in Taiwan.
I own 100% of my EU incorporate business. I am Canadian. Engineering Degree from top 500 University, etc.
I don’t give myself a high annual income because my spending is quite low - so my annual personal income is around USD$20k.
My company that I own 100% of shares, etc. Makes significantly more and I have tax records for that. My company is based in the EU but I work from anywhere on the planet.
I don’t have tax records on my personal income showing more than $5k/m income because I am not an insane person. I keep most of my profits under my company since I get a lot more legal tax breaks.
I applied for the income one and my EU company wrote myself a letter saying how much I would be making but obviously that got rejected because not based in Taiwan.
Is there an easy solution to this? I emailed the helpdesk but I am wondering if you guys know of an easy way to fix this/get the gold card giving my situation.
They rejected it because you are paying yourself a salary of 20K/yr. That’s not going to work. They don’t care about dividends or rev from the company, it’s 100% based on your salary.
Just provide them with the required documentation showing salary and you should be fine.
Not really unfortunately. They really like to see “wages” in the technical sense. One option is to increase your wages for this year and then apply once the year is done.
to live in Taiwan. I’ve lived in China and I’d like something similar but not China. I thought Taiwan would be the one but I guess it’s not possible based on the response from the application and help desk.
If Taiwan actually wants young tech entrepreneurs, then the requirements need to fit the actual profile. TW is trying to attract talent from a global talent pool - I understand why the program gets so few people.
anyways, I’ve lived in China - I was hoping the Taiwanese would be more practical but it feels like I am back in the PSB trying to prove that the letter “M” under gender is not a visa category on my passport.
I don’t have much gold card experience, but if you’re running a successful business already, there are options to live here and set up your company here instead that are easy as well.
I looked into those - but the commitment is too big. The nice thing about the gold card is that it would have let me test the waters for 1-2 years first before committing too heavily into the process.
The program has been a total failure. It was largely a Covid refugee pass for spoiled diaspora that only have a US passport. The more interesting story is how many people are departing from Taiwan to China now that it has opened up.
I don’t really want to get in trouble with faking documents tbh. I would be ok in China where I know the region well but doing that in TW, I am just not familiar.
First, what were you looking at that caused you to think the commitments were big?
I wanna assume you were looking at the $200000 US requirement?
There is a visa that only if you import $500000 TWD in cash that will grant you a usually-three-year ARC to set up a business. You can do whatever you want with the business. You don’t have to spend the $500000 TWD. Just bring it in and drop it into the business account.
You can continue as normal, issue receipts. On the third year, you should gross $3 million, which you do already. Pay the VAT on that and you are good to go!
In reality, it’s just a work ARC that is just like any other that is tied to a company. Except the headless company hired you as the specialist to run it. The requirements are not for the ARC, they are for the work permit. For virtually all work ARCs, the only practical requirement is the work permit. I call it the entrepreneur ARC. But it doesn’t say this officially.
The expensive $200000 US one is the investment ARC.
I can recommend my CPA to you. He does free consultation. He can explain more. If you find yourself not liking it after two years, you can just close the business. No harm no foul.
You do need to record your sales and pay the 5% VAT (I like to call it GST). On the third year only, you need to prove you grossed $3 million TWD. APRC requirements are, in a nutshell, five years of unbroken residency, making twice minimum wage.
After 5 years total, you can get the APRC and break from the restrictions.
Would you like me to recommend my CPA?
And now you have a few different options, either gold card, or business etc…