Hi,
I am a US citizen since 1979 but was born in Taiwan 50 something years ago. I am considering retiring in Taipei in about two years. Here are some questions that I researched in vain on the internet and need your help:
Do I have to pay income taxes for my US pension and US social security income to Taiwanese Government?
Is it easy to apply for Taiwanese residence as a retiree? In Panama, they will give me a residence card as long as I have a minimum pension of $1,000.
I am covered by Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance in the US. Will I have problem getting a receipt in English in a Taiwanese hospital when I get treated?
Is there any immigration attorney in Taiwan that handles residence applications for a retiree?
As far as I know you don’t have to pay U.S. savings which were accrued whilst in the U.S. to the local government.
It isn’t easy to apply for anything here. I’m not sure you can apply as a retiree. You would normally be required to make investments over several million NT in order to apply for an A.R.C.
You most likely can’t easily obtain English receipts in most hospitals, although they do hold official stamps in which to approve translations I suppose.
Sorry. Can’t help you with the last one.
As a side note. My father is retired and he is set to begin a stay in Taiwan beginning next Feb. I too would be interested in any other experience gained by retirees in Taiwan, so I can pass on any valuable information.
Taiwan has a pseudo-retirement visa (‘long stay’ program) available for Japanese citizens aged 55 or over but the idea is to come live in Taiwan for a few months then go back home. The last time I checked this was not available to citizens of other countries and does not allow for any kind of permanent retirement.
I checked up on the situation for retirees pretty recently but things change all the time so your first port of call should be the National Immigration Agency - +886 2 2388 9393. Fortunately the older and more polite you are the more likely they are to bend some rules.
From my experience and research your most realistic chance of retiring in Taiwan long term without working is to set up a shell company and get your ARC as director. In this case your easiest and cheapest option is to set up a representative office of a foreign company - a Taiwanese CPA can do this for you and that will get you up to a 3-year renewable ARC. If you don’t want to do any legwork at all and just want someone to handle it all for you I would expect to prepare around NT$80,000-$100,000 for the CPA, visa fees, foreign company registration, courier fees etc. If you speak Chinese and want to do most of the work yourself you can do everything for maybe $15,000.
[quote=“sulavaca”]1) As far as I know you don’t have to pay U.S. savings which were accrued whilst in the U.S. to the local government.
2) It isn’t easy to apply for anything here. I’m not sure you can apply as a retiree. You would normally be required to make investments over several million NT in order to apply for an A.R.C.
3) You most likely can’t easily obtain English receipts in most hospitals, although they do hold official stamps in which to approve translations I suppose.
4) Sorry. Can’t help you with the last one.
As a side note. My father is retired and he is set to begin a stay in Taiwan beginning next Feb. I too would be interested in any other experience gained by retirees in Taiwan, so I can pass on any valuable information.[/quote]
You do get receipts in hospitals in English. In Adventists you get them bilingual.