Same-sex marriage between a Taiwanese and a foreigner

[Andrew]

@name_hidden

I would like to clarify further: so you were able to apply for APRC after 3 years on Gold Card even though you were not employed in Taiwan?

Yes. You don’t need to be “employed” in Taiwan AFAIK, just demonstrate sufficient income in the previous year, for example by using the income tax certificate for that year. Mine was from freelance work for overseas clients.

There’s a whole separate thread about this, btw:

APRC After Gold Card - What are the rules?

If we get the APRC thru the GC route, but stay outside of Taiwan for extended periods ( say 2-4 years), do we still need to do any of these: Keep asking for permission to stay abroad every 6 months ( I read this somewhere for some category of aprc) Contribute financially towards some minimum tax, NHI, etc? Any other thing I don’t know ?

It tends to work out as a bit longer than three years because it takes some time to file taxes and get the tax certificate then to apply — for me I had my first three-year gold card from March 2020 to March 2023, got a second three-year gold card in January 2023, and in the end applied for the APRC in June or so after getting the tax certificate. For people with local employers, I think they can use alternative documents from the employer from January onwards to apply for the APRC, but I believe that isn’t an option for people with overseas employers/clients (if there’s a workaround, I’m not aware of it).

@name_hidden

If I were to apply for APRC after the 3rd year on Gold Card, I would just have to be earning the income requirement for APRC?

Right, in the calendar/tax year preceding the time of application after three years of residing here with the gold card (subject to the above).

So having a local employer would probably make things easier/faster in terms of the timeline, but it’s not a requirement. And prior to the last year, it doesn’t matter AFAIK.