Yeah, it really feels like a rotten compromise: Pretend to change something (“make the numbers for the foreigners more similar to the Taiwanese ones!”) while actually not doing anything at all (and causing issues and lots of work for everyone involved…).
Maybe they actually started out with the idea of unifying the numbers - but then were met with some resistance and instead of stopping the project, they ended up with this mess…
That is exactly what to government should have done: DUE DILIGENCE and a RISK ASSESSMENT on all the impact and provide a letter ( a book) to all the A(P)RC holders what are FOR SURE and POTENTIALLY could be impacted and WHY, but out of laziness they did not and many organization to not auto convert with the thought of the prophecy of the government management that "the ID would only make things easier " so probably nobody in the government dared to raise a concern (you may lose you job having an concern or opinion) , so they left foreigners swimming and guessing and bump into the walls
EAZYWAY (the import app), confirmed you can’t change the APRC#, You need to apply for a new account.
Companies (broker) that handle the stocks for the companies of which the stock you own (otherwise they withheld the tax)
Youbike ? (I dont use it)
There are lists on some other website, but all very incomplete.
And SINOPAC said:
Actually, foreigners who apply for banking services must bring valid documents. Please bring your APRC and passport to the branch. Thank you.
So, an older NHI card seems NOT VALID even the ID is on the back of the APRC and the NHI refuses to send a new card.
Uhm uhm… so one should call insurance company then? : that may help but insurance company (mine) did not release paper version of insurance proof anymore, so the inspection station went back an forth with the car insurance company then finally “finding the information”
I’ve just kept using the old number, though I recently needed to update the expiry date and uploaded (if I’m remembering correctly) photos of my new ARC with the new number. Seems you’re right that the number itself can’t be changed.
This has been a bit annoying. Dealing with it at the moment. I was intending to just leave it with Shopee and keep using the old number, but problem here is that once you update your ARC number on your bank accounts, withdrawals from the Shopee Wallet (for refunds etc.) fail because of the mismatch. Pretty irritating!
One question, this year I’m getting the new number and next year I will be applying for naturalization, will the number change again ? Double trouble ?
Yes and that can also mean making new accounts from your previous foreign account. Much easier as you can do online nowadays. When I changed my FET phone account to my new ID at the time one of the staff assumed I was changing it to my wife’s name. I told her, look at my ID card, I don’t have a wife, cause I’m gay. Saying so in the 1990’s to a clerks face got them all in a tither. Some accounts under my ARC name I just closed and opened new ones back then.
When I got my tarc it was a different number from my ARC and my ID card number was different from my Tarc number. That’s over 2 decades ago so not sure how it works.
Fuzzy BBQ wrote on getting his mortgage once he swapped from Gold Card to Taiwan ID.
You could ask him is his thread.
Your current ARC/ARPC’s UID will remain the same when you get the TARC but once you get a Taiwan ID, it will be a totally different set of Alphanumeric characters…it’s something like starting over a new life with a blank page.
Oh yeah for me it was one of the best decisions I ever made. I thought long and hard for a over a year before saying damn it, I want to be a citizen here. I knew I would lose my birth citizenship with no possibility of resuming it. My country did not allow dual citizenship anyway until years later. I did not become a citizen here to be concerned about having another citizenship elsewhere.
Why do you have to change? I’ve been lazy doing this, I got a new passport last summer and have not changed my APRC so it has the expired passport number on it. Doesn’t seem to cause any issues with the passport number being different on the card when travelling. Only thing that does not work are the E-gates, have to go to a desk. Sometimes they mention that I should update but I now have a dozen entry and exit stamps.