Options to stay in Taiwan: Get a job? Setting up a rep office? Invest USD200K?

About no. 3, I wouldn’t consider it an investment.
AFAIK, the money needs to be there only when you open the company. After the process is done, you can take it back.

I thought you have to keep the money in a Taiwanese bank account for as long as you want to reside in Taiwan?

That’s not my understanding, but I might be wrong.
Maybe @Marco knows better?

$200k option takes time. You have to start a company and apply to the MOEAIC, all of which takes time. You then have to remit the $200k from a foreign bank account or if you have funds in Taiwan, you will need a tax certificate to prove your income. If you are here visa-exempt, they would then ask you to leave Taiwan to apply for the resident visa. May be possible to bend that last rule, I’m not sure. But time is the big problem.

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Yeah, I figured this wouldn’t be a very straightforward option… how long do you think it’ll take?

This only applies if I have the funds ready in Taiwan, right?

This wouldn’t be a problem when Taiwan reopens its border.

Sorry I didn’t figure out quoting yet:

US$200k investment option, a few weeks to create the company (including get lease, and bank account), then 4-6 weeks (or longer) with MOEAIC if you are from a less high risk country (Canada should be fine). The MOEAIC is two steps. You apply for approval. If they say ok, you remit capital, and then you apply for verification. If all goes well they will issue a certificate which allows you to get a visa. If you remit capital from overseas bank and you’re not from a high risk country like Canada, then the remittance is usually enough. If you remit NT$ from Taiwan, then you must provide a tax certificate showing enough. Note certain visa exempt countries do not require police certificate or health check for the investment visa option, so you’d be spared that. Anyway, I wouldn’t expect to get everything done in less than 6-8 weeks (to get your investment certificate). You can save some time by investing in an existing Taiwan company of course.

Im i missing something about the usd 200k?

I thought its an investment not a business

I thought the Business was 500k nt and needs things like a lease… ie a real business

And investment residency does require you to exit and return with a visitor visa remarked “A” , is this correct?

Im learning,
Thanks

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You can highlight the text you want to quote.

Any existing Taiwan company? Do you still have to create a company to invest in an existing company? I read that you can also invest in government bonds…

Excuse me?

You can create a company and invest in that. Or you can find an existing company which wants investment, and invest in that. Some kinds of businesses are off limits or require extra (time consuming) approvals. The bonds option is NT$30M but that cannot represent more than 30% of your net worth. I heard (unconfirmed) there are no more bonds to buy anyway, as the banks ate them all.

I think he meant Canada is not a high risk country. :grinning:

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Yes, LOL.

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All are investments. For less than US$200k you can only start your own business, and hire yourself as a manager. The min investment here is NT$500k. Recommend more or MOL wont grant you very long on your permit. To maintain your ARC you have succeed in running the business according to their metrics. You must invest in your own business (ie start your own business). You will need a lease to form a company.

Investment of at least US$200k entitles you to residence by investment visa. For this amount you can either start your own business or invest into an existing Taiwanese enterprise. After 5 years, you can apply for a APRC. You must maintain minimum residence in Taiwan during this period, more more than 90 days out each year.

Investment of NT$15M into a new or existing enterprise entitles you to a residence by investment visa, and ARC. If you create 5 full time jobs to Taiwanese, paying the minimum set salary, and maintain that for 3 years, you can apply for a Plum Blossom card after 3 years.

Do you have to keep the US200K in Taiwanese investment after you get the APRC?

Once you have your APRC you can exit the investment.

Can I invest in a friend’s company? Does the company have to generate a certain amount of revenue per year?

I saw this on another website:

After 5 years of consecutive legal residency, you may apply for a permanent residence permit. To qualify, you must have been physically present in Taiwan for at least 183 days each year, your monthly income must be at least twice that of the minimum wage set by the council of Labor Affairs and your net worth must be valued at over NTD5,000,000.

If you investment more than 1000k USD, you get APRC after 3 years.

Article 12
The National Immigration Agency may grant permanent residency to aliens applying for investment immigration to Taiwan who have met one of the following conditions:

  1. Having invested worth over NTD(New Taiwan Dollar)15,000,000 in a for-profit enterprise, and having created five or more job opportunities for ROC nationals for over 3 years;
  2. Having invested worth over NTD (New Taiwan Dollar) 30,000,000 in Central Government Bonds, for over 3 years.

Actually it’s a but more nuanced if I remember correctly: For the US$200k option, each year you must accumulate enough days to be tax resident which is 183 days. But you also cannot leave for more than 90 days at a time each time you leave. If you don’t meet that requirement, your “continuous stay” will break, and your clock will reset. You need 5 years continuous stay.

The net worth and salary issue is not related to $200k investment path. It’s related to starting a business and hiring yourself as a manager. Salary currently needs to be min NT$47,971 per month (twice the national average). I don’t recall the net worth requirement, I think that is related to the Entrepreneur visa.

Overall there are 5 schemes each with different criterion. There are two sets of criterion. One is what’s needed to renew your ARC (like a business needs to gross certain amounts). Then the other is requirements for getting APRC after you accumulate the necessary years (5yr resident, 3 years resident, or 3 years without being resident depending on the investment path).

  1. Start a business and hire yourself as manager (min NT$500k)
  2. Entrepreneur visa (min NT$2M)
  3. Invest US$200k with residency requirements
  4. NT$15M and employ 5 people for 3 years
  5. Invest in bonds totaling NT$30M for 3 years

You can of course get someone you know to hire you as a manager of a company, but you’ll need to satisfy the eligibility requirements (e.g. education). If you start your own business and hire yourself as the manager then those are waived.

The MOEIC needs to approve all these “investment” paths, and that’s not guaranteed and will depend on your circumstances.

Anyway, IANAL. Hope the information is roughly helpful.

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$200k option is subject to approval by the MOEAIC (as are all investments in Taiwan, foreign or domestic). As far as I remember, $200k option has no particular revenue requirements, but it has residency requirements.