FYI my application has been in ‘Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency’ for about 7 weeks now. I’m guessing the timelines have lengthened with a larger number of applications.
So I’m guessing you applied right at the beginning of the new year?
Did you apply under “Economic” or under “S&T”? Have they requested for more documents?
I would probably think CNY had an effect on the timeline of your application but I agree that the timelines are averaging around 5-10 weeks now vs the older 2-3 weeks.
Hello guys, my first post here.
I feel like I already looked everywhere and I just couldn’t find any information whether anyone got approved under the Other potential contributors to Taiwan’s… (I guess it’s not only available in Science and Technology) qualification?
I’m in a situation where neither my income nor my experience fits the requirements, but I still earn enough to live comfortably.
I work remotely as a software engineer and I’m about to finish my grad school, but I don’t know if there’s even a chance of getting a gold card under the paragraph I mentioned above, so I figured I could ask you guys (I tried asking the office, but as many mentioned before, it wasn’t really helpful). Thanks!
18/01 Application
19/01 待二審
22/01 Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency
22/02 Mail telling me to bring my passport
Economic field (I provided my tax receipt and a COE only). My job was related to IT and business.
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Congrats!
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I just got approved the other day under Technology. I applied back in November but then I found this forum and thought that I should have changed to Economics. I stuck it out since I meet the salary requirements and I have over 20 years experience. January they requested more info in 3 different confusing comments which all equated to I needed to give w2’s. Originally I provided pay stubs. The only other document I originally supplied was my resume/CV.
I haven’t sent my passport yet because TECONY is haven’t a COVID issue and aren’t answering phones. https://focustaiwan.tw/society/202102230014
Nov 28 - submitted and paid for application
Nov 29 - pending
Jan 7 - Request for more info
Jan 7 - Info provided
Feb 22 - Passport Submission by Bureau of Consular Affairs or Overseas Missions of R.O.C. (Taiwan)
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For those who have gone through the passport submission stage, what did you send to TECO if you did it remotely, just your passport, an envelope and passport submission notice?
My journey so far…
08-Dec — Initial application under “Science & Technology” w/CV, 2019 W-2s & 1099s (U.S.) and 2019 1040 Tax Return (U.S.)
13-Jan — Received email they needed more documentation; Decided to just switch to “Economic” field and reapply.
13-Jan — Changed to “Economic” and verified with Mr. Wang & Gold Card Helpdesk; Was told to check back early Feb on status.
14-Jan — Status Change back to “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency”
12-Feb — Chinese New Year
22-Feb — Sent emails to check on status
24-Feb — Still waiting…
Correct, applied under Economic at start of the year.
18/01 Application
19/01 待二審
22/01 Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency
22/02 Mail telling me to bring my passportEconomic field (I provided my tax receipt and a COE only). My job was related to IT and business.
Hm, I applied before 1/18 and am still stuck in ‘Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency’. What does that mean? 
I applied on 1/14 and still stuck on ‘Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency’ as well 
I am waiting for gold card application processing based on PhD from top 200 university in education field. Application made February 8. Now under professional review since February 20. Gold Card helpdesk said, due to increase in applications, it’s now taking 60 days to process. Problem is I am here on visitor visa. I went to extend for 90 days but they only gave me 30 as my marriage certificate was not authenticated by TECO overseas (even though they granted me original visa). TECO is taking minimum 20 business days to authenticate now, taking me over my maximum stay. Grateful for any ideas. Can I,for example, seek change of status to employment seeking visitor visa? I meet those criteria so long as I can apply within Taiwan. Frustrating that immigration office can see status of my Gold card application but still only allowed 30 days. I guess I may need to go out and then come back once gold card issue? A lot of time and expense with quarantine a both ends so I’d rather avoid if I can. Better to change pick up location to overseas or leave it as Taiwan for when I get back?
They told me it’d be 60 days as well, and then it was 30. I know of two people who also just got approved under Economy in about 35 days. So from what I’ve seen there’s really not much of a delay right now.
Did they say you could only extend once? I was able to extend by visitor visa past 180 days for 30 days at a time, so you might be able to do the same (go in 15 days before your current visa expires, and request an extension). It’s a bit of a hassle, but I think Taiwan generally is OK with extended visas while the pandemic is still ongoing
Thanks for this. To get the 30 days,I had to sign a piece of paper to confirm I needed an authenticated marriage cert for further extension. Gold Card phone line person was surprised by this but can’t help. I will do my best and go back come the time if needs be.
Thank you! Just sent you a DM.
Timeline update (approximate since I didn’t keep track of all dates):
12/9/2020 - Applied from within Taiwan under economy based on salary from previous year with W2 and additional supporting documents, since I had read 1099 income was tricky.
~12/26/2020 - called office and was told to wait since they were backlogged.
~01/09/2021 - called office again and was told I would need to re-apply under education since my tax document from 2019 came from an educational institution. Explained my current job was more related to the economy field (finance industry) since I left my previous role in the education space to work in finance, though I’m a better fit for “economy” than “finance” since I don’t obviously meet the criteria listed for inclusion under the “finance” category, like I don’t work at a bank, and I don’t have a CPA or CFA certification. Was told my application would be sent to the ministry of economy / 經濟部 for review. Called contact at 經濟部 and was told all I could do was wait.
~1/16/2021 - was told I’d have to alter my application to the “education” category under the “salary + 5 years of experience” provision, since my 2019 tax document was from an educational institution. Did not have to reapply or pay a second time when changing the application category. Altered application after it was re-set for me by the helpful folks processing my application.
~2/1/2021 - call to check the status, nervously because Chinese new year was coming and I knew the offices would shut down. Told everything looked to be in order and would likely be approved post-CNY.
2/04/2021 - received notice to drop passport off at BOCA.
~2/18/2021 - Passport pick up from BOCA. Notice of application approval.
2/19/2021 - Notice to pick up gold card from NIA / 移民署.
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Thought I’d ask here before pestering the Gold Card support again :): I’m planning to apply with a Swedish salary, and since it’s most likely going to be quite a close cut because engineering salaries are not super great in Sweden due to high social fees, I asked the support about what kind of exchange rates they use and they referred me to the Bank of Taiwan: https://rate.bot.com.tw/xrt/history?Lang=en-US
Now there’s buy/sell rates on there, and the difference is quite large, expectedly - does anyone have experience with /what/ actual exchange rate value they use? Buy makes sense, but also makes for a ~$1000 difference in my currency (SEK) :).
Are you sure about that? I would have thought they’d use the rates published by the National Taxation Bureau/Ministry of Finance.
Not sure at all, it’s the link they sent me. Thanks for that link, that makes a lot more sense, seems to be a mid-point between buy/sell.
My application was sent back to me even though my industry clearly falls into one of the industries that are listed for “economy.”
Upon calling the office, this is what I gathered:
(1) At this point because of the large number of economy applications, only a small number will go through. Even if you meet the salary requirement and are in an economy industry, you will most likely not get the gold card through the economy requirement. There is some internal pressure from higher up in the immigration office to greatly reduce the number of economy applications that go through.
(2) Your chances are greater if you apply through another avenue (i.e. science and technology, education, etc.). When your economy application gets returned to you, they will actually try to recommend another avenue to apply for. My advice would be save yourself some time and skip the economy application.
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