I lived and worked in Hsinchu in 2005 until August. I received my tax rebate which was put into my China Trust account. This was deposited by a friend as the rules state that it has to be collect personally. Since I left in August 2005 I was happy for the refund to be deposited into my account around January this year as I have retained my bank card which is usable all over the world. China Trust have since told me that my ARC must be currently valid to be able to withdraw any funds.
Do you know if this is a law imposed by the government or if this is a China Trust policy?
I have tried to speak to someone at China Trust but have not had any success in finding out the answers.
No-one at the tax office that we registered our claims made any comment about not being able to withdraw out funds and we did mention several times that we would not be in the country when the refund is issued.
If you have an ATM card, quickly FedEx it to someone in Taiwan and have them get the money out, or try doing it yourself from abroad (no harm in trying but thye may charge you like $20 if you’re successful). I don’t know the status of the law re bank accounts, or if it’s just individual banks playing games, but I’ve also heard that certain accounts will no longer honor ATM cards with just the magnetic stripe as of Mar 1 (they want the chips now) and I don’t suppose they would issue an ATM card to access YOUR legally earned money unless you still hold a valid ARC.
Sheesh. Even after I left Taiwan the ridiculous laws still have the power to annoy.
I can’t say whether he will reply or not, but I’ve done the only thing I can think of and written to a member of the Legislative Yuan I interpreted for this past summer. He was quite sympathetic to foreigners’ issues when I was traveling with him (I admit to having bent his ear quite a bit at the time, too).
We’ll see what he can come up with. I pointed out that demanding a valid ARC to withdraw money earned legally is ridiculous, if that is in fact the case. Hopefully he will be able to let us know what the “true” situation is at least in terms of the law. Apart from that the bank may be doing its own thing.
That’s bullshit! I don’t have an ARC and I currently have a Chinatrust bank account. No problems depositing or withdrawing cash, although my Chinatrust ATM card doesn’t work overseas. I do have a ChangHwa card that will allow me withdraw funds overseas, though. And I haven’t had an ARC since 2003.
You need to calll them and demand that they give you access to your funds. Don’t take no for an answer. Keep calling and calling and calling and calling. Eventually you will get your money, but it depends entirely on how persistent you are. You have to be aggressive to get anything done in Taiwan.
Yeah, people should get the message that Chinatrust sucks. I only opened an account there because the company I worked for used them. CHB (Chang Hwa) is much much better.
Kingdom, I suggest you take Ironlady’s advice and send the card to someone in Taiwan who can make the withdrawl for you. The part about the ARC is ridiculous. If they try telling you that you can’t access your money because you don’t have an ARC, tell them you know that’s not true because you know people without ARC’s who are still accessing their funds. Then tell them you will not give up and you will keep bothering them until you get your money. Keep calling nonstop. Eventually they’ll get tired of you and give you your money. They want you to go away quietly, but if you do you’ll likely get nothing.
Tell them you have a reporter who’s interested in this story about how their bank steals money from foreigners, and ask if they really want bad publicity like this.
My company banks with China Trust. Here’s a good joke: All cards have to be changed over to those IC cards by [whenever]. However, China Trust thinks foreigners are not allowed to have IC cards (yes I know) so won’t give them to foreigners.
This Foreigners Cannot Use Banking Services After ARC Expires is brought to you by the people that brought you the driving licence fiasco…
The only way to deal with a bank here is to withdraw all your salary in cash the day you are paid and put it under the mattress or wire it to a real bank in a country that allows foreigners access to their own money.
Yeah. I do legal work for a government organization in Taiwan, am paid with 20% tax taken out (which I can’t even apply to get back because I’m not in Taiwan but that’s a separate issue) and now who knows, if they won’t let me get the money out of my own bank account anymore I suppose I won’t be able to translate for…um…the government. Yeah. The ones who are making it impossible for me to get my own pay for working for them.
xtrain, I have banked at Chinatrust for about 5 years, and yeah, things have changed recently.
So far as what I have been told, you do need to have a valid ARC on file to withdraw funds from overseas. And if you have a credit card, it will be put on hold and will be unable to be used as of one month before your arc expires. If you can furnish them will a copy of a renewed arc, you are set, they will send you a fresh card, and you do not need to reapply for the card.
Could it be possible that you could solve this problem by registering for a “tongyi bianhao” through the Foreign Affairs Police?
I ask because I was reading the Post Office Chinese web site last night looking to find out what document was required for foreigners to have a Postal Savings Account in Taiwan. According to their site (I will phone to confirm later tonight if I have a chance) you can open an account with a passport as long as you have the “Unified ROC ID Number”. I Googled that and got the following from the police:
外國人部分： [Non-ROC citizens:]
一、 受理單位：臺北市、高雄市政府警察局外事科；臺灣省各縣市警察局外事課；福建省金門縣、連江縣警察局行政課。
[I. Unit handling requests: Taipei City, Kaohsiung City Government Police Foreign Affairs Office; Taiwan Provincial county and city police Foreign Affairs departments; Fujian Provincial Jinmen County, Lianjiang County Police Administrative Departments.]
二、 應備文件： [II. Required documentation:]
(一) 已入境者： [A. For those already in the ROC:]
申請表一份。 [1. Application form.]
護照正本、影本各一份，正本驗畢後發還。 [Passport and copy. Passport will be returned after inspection.]
委託代辦案件(非委託案件免附)：[If applying through an agent (not necessary if not applying through an agent):]
(1)委託書一份(或直接於申請表上填寫「委託聲明」)。 (a) Agency agreement certification (or fill out the “Statement of Agency” on the application form itself.]
(2)受委託人身分證明文件：身分證、居留證或護照等。 (b) Identity documents for the agent: ROC ID card, ARC or passport, etc.
(二) 未入境者： [(II) For those not currently in the ROC:]
申請表一份。 1. Application form.
護照影本一份。 2. Copy of passport.
委託書或授權書正本一份(或直接於申請表上填寫「委託聲明」)。※ 委託人簽名字樣應與護照上一致。 3. Copy of agency agreement or authorization (or fill out the “Statement of Agency” on the application form itself.) *Signature of person authorizing agency must match signature on the passport.
受委託人身分證明文件：身分證、居留證或護照等。 4. Identity documents for agent: ROC ID card, ARC or passport.
三、 處理時間：隨到隨辦。 III. Processing time: done while you wait.
四、 費用：免費。 IV. Cost: free.
五、 注意事項： V. Notes:
(一) 適用對象： (1) Persons requiring this service
未曾配賦統一證號，而有銀行開戶、報稅、申請健保或申請中華民國駕照需要者。 [1. Those who have not yet been issued a ROC Unified ID number, but who require it for an ROC bank account, tax matters, applying for National Health Insurance or for a driver’s license.]
曾領有外僑居留證或外僑永久居留證，而目前欠缺該證件可供證明或該證件非為十碼證號者。
[2. Those foreigners who used to have an ARC or PARC, and who currently do not have such documents and require them as proof, or whose ARC or PARC lack the 10-digit number required.]
(二) 證號效用：本項「統一證號」為當事人在中華民國註冊登記之「身分統一編號」，一人一號，終身使用。
(2) Uses of the Unified ID Number: The “Unified ID Number” is a permanent “Identification number” for the individual while in the ROC. Each individual has one number which is used for life.
(三) 證件名稱：本申請案件經核可後，發給「中華民國統一證號基資表」。
(3) Name of the document: after the application is approved, applicant will be issued with an “ROC Unified ID Number certificate.”
現行健保IC卡及汽機車駕駛執照，均已全面使用該證號。
[1. Currently National Health IC cards or drivers’ licenses will all use this number.]
自民國九十三年起，外國人前往銀行開戶均須提示「統一證號」證明文件(外僑居留證、外僑永久居留證或中華民國統一證號基資表)。
[2. Beginning in 2004, foreigners who open a bank account in Taiwan must show a “Unified ROC ID number” document (this could be an ARC, a PARC or the Unified ROC ID number certificate.)
自民國九十三年起，外國人在華工作所得扣繳申報或年度綜合所得稅申報，均須填寫當事人之「統一證號」。惟對於短期來臺工作之外國人，為方便所得扣繳作業之申報，其例外規定如下：對於無統一證號而有中華民國來源所得之非中華民國境內居住之個人，請依舊制稅籍编號填寫。稅 籍編號共計十碼，按所得人護照上之資料，前八碼填上西元出生年月日，後二碼填寫所得人英文姓名欄前兩個字母。例如：ROBERT W. DAVISON出生日期JULY 12,1942，稅籍編號則為「19420712RO」【以上摘自「外僑所得扣繳憑單填報說明」五、(三)】◆ 非中華民國境內居住之個人：指同一年度內在臺居住不滿一百八十三日者。
[3. Beginning in 2004, foreigners who work in the ROC and file tax returns for annual income tax must fill in their “Unified ROC ID Number” on the return. Only foreigners working short-term in Tawian may use an alternate regulation as follows, to facilitate their payment and filing of taxes: for foreigners without a Unified ROC ID Number, but who have ROC sources of income, and who do not reside within the ROC, please use the old system of tax ID numbers. This number had 10 digits in all, and was based on the data on your passport. For example, ROBERT W. DAVISON, born JULY 12, 1942, would have a tax number of 19420712RO.]
[The preceding is taken from the “Foreigners Income Tax Form Instructions” V (3)] * Foreign individuals not resident in the ROC: this means anyone who does not make 183 days of presence within a year.
The point is that you do NOT get one (the actual certificate) if you have left Taiwan. Your ARC expires or is invalidated, and you then have no ID as far as the bank is concerned. The Post Office wants a “Unified ID Number Certificate” in lieu of an ARC to open an account, therefore, it’s possible that another bank might at least let the poor original poster get his money out if he presents the same thing.
There are a number of us who are no longer in Taiwan, but still have money in Taiwan which we earned legally and on which we paid taxes. It is ridiculous for a bank not to let us keep the money there or take it out when we please.
Chinatrust doesn’t use the tongyi bianhao as the identifying number for foreigners. It uses something like the year of your birth plus the fist two letters of your surname. The ATMs also are not aware you have a credit card, so the “Pay Your Chinatrust Credit Card” option doesn’t work. And so on.
Okay, I had a phone conversation with someone at the Post Office headquarters, who assured me that foreigners CAN get IC cards, they CAN open and have accounts without an ARC using the Unified ID number.
If anyone has a valid phone number for ChinaTrust, I’d be happy to give them a call and see what the deal really is. Sometimes going higher up the food chain helps (and sometimes not…) but the call is cheap enough that it probably wouldn’t hurt anything.
I bank with china trust I have a vip credit card, atm card that works overseas, do card payments in the china trust atm machine, and have online banking. i have an arc.
anyway, tollfree no. for china trust - 0800-24-365.
tel. no. of the financial advisor of wenshan branch - james yang 2933-5358 ext 107. not who you are looking for but could put you in touch. hope that might help.
