My wife is Taiwanese and I’m Canadian, we’re currently residents in Canada and not Taiwan. However, I want to open up a bank account (and anything else that I can without having to live there) in Taiwan in preparation for some plans in the near future. I spoke to someone from the gov immigration agency half a year ago he said that I’d need something like a “uniform ID number” or something (sorry, I can’t remember the actual name of it), before I can open a bank account.
Can anybody give me guidance / advice on what it is that I need to do and prepare? I’m heading to Taipei mid-Feb and would like to have my ducks in a row before going.
I think the post office used to allow people to open a bank account without an ARC but with a Uniform ID number, but they don’t anymore. Even with an ARC they ask for your reason for opening account.
Why not open it in your wife’s name since she is Taiwanese? Most virtual banks are not available for foreigners even if you have APRC / permanent residency in Taiwan. Some options are:
HSBC One
DAWHO
Line bank
etc..
These have no minimum balance requirements, free local transfers, but require Taiwanese ID card
There are no good options, after the international transfer I sent myself took 3 weeks to reach my account in Taiwan, I now resort to ATM withdrawals from overseas account, then cash deposits into Taiwan account. They’re cool with that because there are no boxes to tick, but wow it looks dodgy!
i’m not necessarily planning to just bring this money over there to spend for personal reasons. I’m actually considering investing this money or some money into a business or venture there at some point. I was just thinking to park some money there before that investment happens.
You can easily get an ARC through your wife and then use that ARC to open a bank account.
However, not sure if that’s worth the trouble if you’re only planning to open a bank account and then basically let it being cancelled again (which would also most likely lock your bank account)…
Foreigners are not allowed to invest money into a Taiwan company using funds from a local Taiwan bank unless you have previous Taiwan tax filings proving they were earned locally in Taiwan.
foreigner can deposit taiwanese dirty money into foreigner’s fake company, then company can slowly clean the money by sending wires to “random” other companies or people
if foreigner gets caught, then try again with a new foreigner and new company. rinse and repeat
but even if the initial capital comes from overseas, some CPAs or the Ministry of Economic Affairs will ask for your overseas tax filings, salary slips W-2, brokerage statements, etc to prove it’s not overseas dirty money either
crypto/bitcoin reminded the public how many bad actors are out there
Transferring money from overseas doesn’t exactly prove it’s clean. Might even be higher risk that it isn’t. Likewise, proof of paying tax doesn’t mean tax was paid on the capital amount.
The whole incorporation process in Taiwan is whack…. They should be focused on risk and only flaging applications where the person is high risk, eg politically exposed person, high risk jurisdictions etc. But instead they tick boxes and follow their SOPs for every application. Which means lengthy application timelines, and they probably don’t identify the high risk ones either. Case in point would be the Cambodian scam holding companies.
Until they don’t, I had a request for client who couldn’t prove source of wealth for an investment visa in a developed country. They requested the evidence and I provided a statement about the privacy and company laws in the British Virgin Islands and a chronological account of how the wealth was generated, which couldn’t be substantiated…… they accepted it.