I called the Banchiao Branch of the National Immigration Agency at 2:20pm on 12-4-2009. I spoke to Miss Cho (周小姐), the person in charge of processing APRCs at 8964-7960 extension #403. Here are the answers she gave regarding income requirements for APRC applicants.
She stated that in August 2008 the policy regarding income requirements for APRC’s had changed. The new policy is as followed:
You no longer need to show your official tax certificates for the past 3 years before applying for the APRC. Now, you only need to show your official tax certificate for the past 1 year before applying. So, if you apply in 2010, you will only need to show the official tax certificate for 2009! Keep in mind that you won’t be able to apply before May 2010 because the taxes for 2009 won’t have been filed and the official income tax certificates required won’t be available, yet.
a. For employment based ARC applicants, you are still required to show at least 2X the basic wage or higher for the past year. That currently would work out to be $17,280(basic wage) x2=$34,560/month x12 months = [color=#FF0000]$414,720/year or more.[/color]
b. For JFRV based ARC applicants, you are required to show your official tax certificate for the past year, but there is no required income threshold. Spouses get a break on this one. However, if your past year’s income tax certificate is very low, you will be required to show a bank savings of at least $200,000. She didn’t stipulate how low “very low” was for the past year’s income tax certificate to be in order to require the $200,000 savings. Additionally, she didn’t say whether that amount had to be in the account every day for the past year or just had to show that the applicant has $200,000 in savings.
Employment based ARC applicants and also JFRV ARC applicants are also allowed the option to show $5 million in cash savings, or property, or businesses or a combination of these as long as they have a value of $5 million or higher. JFRV applicants are allowed to use their Taiwan spouses and/or their Taiwan spouse’s family’s property and land holdings as well in the quest for the $5 million in assets if the applicant decides to pursue this avenue. This policy isn’t a change, but a reiteration of the $5 million asset policy.
here’s a question about the “$5 million dollar visa”
if you have a mortgaged property, does that count? or only the sum of the mortgage which has been paid?
is there still a 3 year marriage requirement for the same visa?
can you join a 2 year ARC with 1 years from the JFRV?
ie, say I have properties worth 5 million (but mortgaged) and lived in taiwan for 3 years, but the first 2 were on work based ARC, could an application be made?
Just starting the realise the JFRV visa isnt the best for me and should have waited and gone APRC
[quote=“itakitez”]here’s a question about the “[color=#FF0000]$5 million dollar visa[/color]”
if you have a mortgaged property, does that count? or only the sum of the mortgage which has been paid?
is there still a 3 year marriage requirement for the same visa?
can you join a 2 year ARC with 1 years from the JFRV?
ie, say I have properties worth 5 million (but mortgaged) and lived in taiwan for 3 years, but the first 2 were on work based ARC, could an application be made?
Just starting the realise the JFRV visa isnt the best for me and should have waited and gone APRC[/quote]Whew! Ok…here goes. Firstly, you mean, “Show $5 million in assets to apply for an APRC” not “[color=#FF0000]$5 million dollar visa[/color]”, right? I don’t want to embarrass myself by answering the wrong questions.
According to the person I talked to, yes, mortgaged property does count. It’s not the amount of the property you actually own, it’s the current market value of the property. So, if you bought a condo which has an official appraisal value of $5 million, but you only put a down payment of $1 million and have made payments over the past few years totaling $1 million, you still get to count the full $5 million of the official appraisal value and not only the $2 million of actual ownership. However, getting the official appraisals are very time consuming and expensive. That’s why I didn’t use this way when I applied for my APRC even though I own over $5 million in property. Too much expense and hassle! And again, as you can see CitizenK was told a different story. I suggest you make a call and get a third opinion. The most consistant things in Taiwan are the inconsistancies!
No. It’s five years of marriage or five years of employment. It’s only 3 years of marriage to apply for naturalization. See my quote below from a posting I made last summer.
No. Yes. Maybe. When I first applied for my APRC through the FAP in 2005, they wouldn’t allow this. They denied me because I had a one year employment ARC and a four years of a JFRV marriage visa and they wouldn’t add them together even though I had no break in ARC status and I stayed in Taiwan over 183 days for all five years. I appealed as high as it would go and they they still denied me. I waited one more year after I had the total five years under my JFRV status and passed my APRC in 2006 without a hitch. Call the phone number and ask Miss Cho this question yourself, then report back so we can all know the answer to this one. Who knows what they will or won’t allow nowdays! :fume:
Hope this helps.
[quote=“Northcoast Surfer on July 3, 2009”]I just got off the phone with the immigration department in Banqiao and here’s the answer they gave on July 3, 2009 at 16:00. Here’s the phone number in case anyone else wants to call and ask. 8964-7960 ext. 403.
The basic time qualification for people who have a Taiwanese spouse to apply for the APRC is FIVE YEARS of marriage. It’s not three years and it’s never been three years.
The basic time qualification for people who have an employment based ARC to apply for the APRC is FIVE YEARS. It used to be seven years, but the law was amended and the new five year requirement took effect August 1, 2008.[/quote]
I am just assuming about the property regulations, since the other way makes absolutely no sense. By that reasoning, someone could put down 1 or 1.5M on a 5 or 6M dollar house and be told to proceed to go and collect $200 dollars (and an APRC). I never had to bring my property in, so I don’t know.
[quote=“citizen k”]I am just assuming about the property regulations, since the other way makes absolutely no sense. By that reasoning, someone could put down 1 or 1.5M on a 5 or 6M dollar house and be told to proceed to go and collect $200 dollars (and an APRC). I never had to bring my property in, so I don’t know.[/quote]Oh yeah,I agree with you completely. It makes no sense whatsoever! But that’s what I was told when I initially went in for my pre-application interview. However, that was back in 2005 with the FAP and they said all I needed was two independent property appraisals from qualified companies which could show the total appraised value of the property in my name (wife’s) was at least $5 million! No mortgage or banking statements or record of payments made toward the mortgage were required. What a joke, huh? Anyway, I went the show income for the past 3 years routine because I believe that to be the simplest. I mean, who doesn’t make at least $415,000 per year??? Who is unable to show official tax certificates showing at least $415,000 per year? Come on. It’s nothing!
Northcoast, that’s a really helpful update. Thanks!
I think I know the lady you are talking about. Is she the lady on the 2nd floor that sits on the front row desk, on the far right? Perhaps mid 40’s, friendly lady?
Regarding the changes to no longer requiring the individual tax withholding certificates - do you know if there are any other changes? For example do they still want to see all previous primary work permits, and secondary ones also, for the last x years? I also imagine they still want to see the yearly tax statement (showing total earnings) for the last x years.
[quote=“BlackAdder”]I think I know the lady you are talking about. Is she the lady that sits on the front row desk, on the far right? Perhaps mid 40’s, friendly lady?[/quote]Sorry, I don’t know. I’ve never met her in person. Miss Cho is new for me. In the past I dealt with a Mr. Huang, also a very helpful and professional officer. He was located on the second floor and you needed to make an appointment to meet with him. Walk-ins weren’t allowed. So now I just have the phone number to call whenever I hear rumors about changes in policies or laws. I’m too lazy to drive all the way from the northcoast to Panchiao just to ask a question anyway.[quote=“BlackAdder”]Regarding the changes to no longer requiring the individual tax withholding certificates - do you know if there are any other changes? For example do they still want to see all previous primary work permits, and secondary ones also, for the last x years?[/quote]Sorry, I don’t know about that, either. I’ve always helped spouses of Taiwanese apply for the APRC and that’s never been an issue for me. Hey, you could call Miss Cho and ask her and then report back to us so we all know, too.[quote=“BlackAdder”]I also imagine they still want to see the yearly tax statement (showing total earnings) for the last x years.[/quote]Yes. That’s correct. However, like I said in the initial posting, you only need to provide an official income tax certificate (pictured below) for the last 1 year prior to applying for the APRC, not the last 3 years. Additionally, your consolidated gross income needs to be [color=#FF0000]equal to or greater than $414,720[/color] which is 2x Taiwan’s current basic monthly wage.
Northcoast - thanks for clarifying, I’m pretty sure I dont have the requirements since i havent been here for 5 years yet. Im just weighing up all options of staying in TW vs returning home to work and the residency is a BIG Carrot/Stick
maybe this is a little off topic, but im now at a time in my life where I need to start focusing on/building my investments for later life and these are country specific (unless you know of any ‘international life insurace plan’?!) However, if i cant get residency then Im going to be “investing in TW”, but unable to guarantee my future here, which is a massive ‘stick’ against longer term plans on the island.
This piece of paper caused me no end of trouble. If you are married and you ever intend to apply for your APRC, for the love of God don’t let your spouse file as primary taxpayer with you listed as “spouse”. You’ll need his/her permission to get this thing if you do, because according to Taiwan’s tax code you surrender your rights to obtain your 綜合所得稅納稅證明書 in perpetuity when you are not listed as the primary taxpayer .
[quote=“citizen k”]So your spouse wouldn’t give you access to this? Strange…[/quote]No. It’s not strange. When a marriage with a Taiwanese woman ends for whatever reason, the following usually apply. You can see many Forumosans posting articles regarding these points below. I’ve had personal friends who have gone through all of these and most of them have gone through all three with the same woman!
Won’t grant a divorce until you pay her big bucks! Why she demands and thinks that she deserves a pay out just to agree to a divorce is still beyond my reasoning. However, I think it boils down to simply, because she can.
Wants to have you deported from Taiwan. Either you must agree to leave or she won’t grant the divorce. If she can’t force this issue, she’ll try to find some other way to prevent you from staying in Taiwan. Either a frivolous lawsuit, or withholding any documents she can that would help you change your status to APRC or naturalized citizen. (tax forms)
Keeps the children away from you, whether or not it’s in accordance with the law, a court order, or just plain common deceny.
Before I get blasted, allow me to acknowledge that this is a generalization and that not everyone’s marriage to a Taiwanese woman ends up this way, to include mine, so far.
My marriage had already broken down irretrievably and events proceeded exactly as Northcoast Surfer described, except that I don’t have any kids.
My ex-wife deliberately withheld documentation until my other documents (police check, health check) had expired. Or at least, that’s what she believed. I’d actually lied about the expiry dates to her and still had a window of about six days to complete my application.
In the end, the only way I could get her to agree to sign the divorce documents was by pretending that my APRC application had failed (due to her delays in giving me documentation) and I had to convince her that I was leaving Taiwan anyway and would just get a divorce settled overseas without her. Oh, and I had to give her a large sum of money that I will be paying back for a long time.
Regarding North Coast’s original post and the first point made :
You no longer need to show your official tax certificates for the past 3 years before applying for the APRC. Now, you only need to show your official tax certificate for the past 1 year before applying. So, if you apply in 2010, you will only need to show the official tax certificate for 2009! Keep in mind that you won’t be able to apply before May 2010 because the taxes for 2009 won’t have been filed and the official income tax certificates required won’t be available, yet.
If this is correct then this means they only take applications from May onwards :s and NOT before. So if Ive prepared all the info before May then Im screwed…??
I find this quite unbelievably bizarre if it works like this ? So all the past five ( infact a lot more) years that Ive been working wont count only the last year which I cant get and all the paper work Ive prepared is void coz I cant get last years tax form .
[quote=“raja”]Regarding North Coast’s original post and the first point made :
You no longer need to show your official tax certificates for the past 3 years before applying for the APRC. Now, you only need to show your official tax certificate for the past 1 year before applying. So, if you apply in 2010, you will only need to show the official tax certificate for 2009! Keep in mind that you won’t be able to apply before May 2010 because the taxes for 2009 won’t have been filed and the official income tax certificates required won’t be available, yet.
If this is correct then this means they only take applications from May onwards :s and NOT before. So if Ive prepared all the info before May then Im screwed…??
I find this quite unbelievably bizarre if it works like this ? So all the past five ( infact a lot more) years that Ive been working wont count only the last year which I cant get and all the paper work Ive prepared is void coz I cant get last years tax form .
Appreciate any info.
Many thanks for your time guys.[/quote]That is absolutely correct! If you had submitted your application successfully before January 1, 2010, you could have submitted your tax form from 2008. However, seeing as how 2009 is finished, you will need to provide that tax form instead. Also, you most likely won’t be able to submit your application before June 1, 2010 because the tax office will not have entered your taxes into the computer system until after May 31, 2010 (last day for submitting taxes) and therefore your required official blue governmental tax form won’t be available for print out until aproximately June 2010 at the earliest. Sorry for the bad news.
A friend is now applying for his APRC and I believe ran into this problem. But the NIA office in Taoyuan seems to be allowing him to submit income evidence for 2009 using bank statements instead of requiring the 2009 tax certificate that he cannot produce now. So there may be a workaround.
I dont understand coz Ive told them Im applying in Jan / Feb 2010 and even told them last year in Nov/ Dec 2009. and they didnt say anything that I couldnt so when I saw ur post North Coast I was …Oh fcuk !
And Nicole( second row who is now taking charge if APRC applications) from the Ban Ciao Branch has been helping me with certain details and she’s never said I cant apply Jan or Feb . Infact I mentioned this to Bonnie( first row) last year going through all the steps of application and I told her I would probably apply in Jan / Feb and she didnt say i couldnt either .
i just hope they do that to me man , it would be such a pain in the .
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i just hope they do that to me man , it would be such a pain in the 
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