BLUF: I’m discharging from the military this year and want a change of pace that’s outside the U.S. and just do something different with my life for awhile.
Applied for chinese language school (accepted), applied for an HES scholarship (got it), but need an updated picture on what Taoyuan is looking like since most threads on the location are older than 2 years.
I’m still researching threads for apartment hunting and setting up bank accounts on this site, but pointers on that would be appreciated as well.
It’s just me moving and my initial plan is to study the language for a year or so and then choose to either pursue a job or get a MA for the purpose of getting a job.
Questions I have are:
Would it be better to apply for a gold card or a student visa before arriving in Taiwan?
[I know I can’t work while on a student visa, but is it possible to apply for the gold card while in-country?]
Are consumer services paid in person or online (internet, utilities, rent, etc.)
I’ve read fairly consistently that it’s cheaper to eat out than to cook at home. What does the variety of food and fare tend to be for Taoyuan and Taipei?
Is Taoyuan still a fairly run-down area or has development improved the city in the last 10 years? [basing this off another thread I read]
others may answer about gold card. perhaps time might be an issue, as might not get ducks all in a row in 2 months
all consumer utilities/cell phone bill can be paid at various convenience stores
eat out is ridiculously cheap. if you cook yourself, you’ll need time to buy groceries, cook, and then worry about potential cockroaches. choice of food is huge. You’ll even easily find SE Asian food.
Taoyuan City is very not “rundown”. many new apartment buildings. Most districts in Taoyuan also pretty up to date in new apartment buildings. Taoyuan has both MRT and airport MRT, along with HSR (city) and TRA.
Will you be in city or elsewhere outside of downtown?
It is possible to apply for a gold-card in country. It’s also possible to start the application overseas and finish it in country.
However, student visas can be relatively restrictive - in particular, you generally can’t convert from a short-term student visa to other types of visa while in-country. Also, some student visas allow for a part-time work permit.
If you qualify for a Gold Card, it’s probably the best option, particularly since you plan to stay for a couple years … the pathway to PR is rapid. You can apply for it in parallel to other kinds of visas. If/when it’s approved it’ll override the previous visa.
Recommend you make judicious use of the Gold Card Office helpdesk, they’re quite decent Help Desk | Taiwan Gold Card
Not sure where I will be ending up in particular, but I’m eyeballing Zhongli district and the nearby neighborhoods in particular that will be close to school. I would like to be near some parks or outdoor areas for exercise purposes and I would prefer to avoid the rougher neighborhoods if rent and cost-of-living permits me to.
As far as food and grocery shopping is concerned what do the average prices tend to be?
Examples (all USD amounts): Whole milk is about $5 gal, wheat bread is about $3, white flour is about $1.50/lb, white onions $1.40/lb, and red lettuce about $2 each head.
Thanks. Still mentally adjusting to the impact of hanging up the uniform, but more than ready to move on to something else.
The parallel route for Gold Card and student visa sounds like the best option, but I’m not sure if I qualify for the GC just yet. It’s an option on the table that I’m still validating, but it also works best for all scenarios that may come up. I’ll contact the help desk and pick their brains about it for more info.
I don’t mind spending the money on a parallel route for student visa/GC, but I also want to make sure I don’t cause my own paperwork SNAFU because I applied for both documents simultaneously.
You’ll be fine Basically, the strongest visa wins & if there are equal visas, NIA asks you to sign a form saying you’ll agree to choose the Gold Card over your existing visa.
The only thing that can happen is if you hold certain types of visa you may have to leave the country and re-enter to switch.
There are no rougher hoods as far crime (ha, maybe Taichung to locals, but that is central Taiwan), some areas look better than others, but looks(run down) does not really mean high crime in Taiwan (and Japan my home). There are lots of newer high rise flat homes for rent if you prefer new, I like older single unit homes like I have here in South as they tend have more room.
As far as food, you can go to Costco and membership is worldwide so you can show use home country card. I like costco for meat, cheese and items in the chiller.
There is local chain of PX (not army PX, though if you have access you could fly to Okinawa haha) supermakets, in general most newer ones will have most basic items you need.
Making an update post in my original thread as I wasn’t sure it would justify it’s own post:
So I’ve made it past TSA and boarded a plane to Taiwan on the 31st of August and have been here for about 3 days. Recovered from jetlag, went apartment hunting and found a decent spot in downtown Zhongli for 10.5k/mo. with washing machine, stovetop, A/C, full-size refrigerator, bed, and other newly furnished items for the suite I’m renting. Landlord used to live in the U.S. and speaks basic conversational english so I jumped on this rental because I doubt I’d be able to get another landlord that would be as understanding or accommodating to the FNG on the block.
I’ll be closing out my hotel stay later this week or early next (free happy hour drinks are hard to give up as is being fed for free twice a day) and moving into my new place.
Questions regarding my next steps are thus: What companies provide both cell and home internet services and what price range should I be looking at (ie. what would be considered an unreasonable amount and I should be looking for data/phone plans below that price point). I plan to video call with my parents back in the states when I keep in touch with them and would watch Netflix/Amazon Prime on our family account via VPN on occasion (more like binge-watch whatever show happens to be good).
