Wow, thanks for the tip! I’ll see if my company fits under any of those codes.
Thanks for everyone’s answers and support!
Do you guys think 857 and 858 would fit consulting / education in other fields?
just to clarify; is that a general-purpose reference list with which all manner of companies can be referenced? or is it specifically for gold card qualification?
Yes I believe it is a general purpose list that the gov uses to help associate and classify businesses into their respective categories and designations. From there the appropriate ministry is assigned or is charge i.e. Ministry of Economic Affairs
Anyone still waiting for their Gold Card? It’s been almost 4 months total for me… (Applied on 1/14, re-applied under Science and Technology on 3/22) Unfortunately the Help Desk is unable to give me much info in terms of timeline 
Interesting choice of image for the article
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They also misspelled “Pixabay” in the image source haha.
Yup. 12/08/20 for me. Almost 5 months.
Just received my gold card today. I probably hold the record for the longest application process time. Thought I’d provide a timeline and summary as it may help some others.
Background: Co-founder of a small/mid sized company in the travel industry. Was unsure which category to apply under. There was a category for founders of companies which have been acquired, and also science and technology, as my educational background is computer science and mathematics. I applied under the economy category, as it seemed to require the least amount of documentation.
November 15th: Initial application under economy category.
December 3rd: Request for additional information, due to not accepting the supplied tax form. Called contact person referred to in the message. She was kind enough to list all the acceptable tax forms, one of which I had. Resubmitted with explanation in mandarin.
December 17th: Request for additional information, as letter from my company wasn’t considered an acceptable proof of employment. Resubmitted additional pages of my tax return which showed the company name.
February 3rd: Informed that my application did not qualify under the economic criteria, as my employment is in a company related to travel. Called the same contact person. She gave some suggestions regarding additional documentation that could make a case under the economic category, and I asked about changing categories to the founder of an acquired company. I got off the call feeling uneasy, not only since getting this documentation would be very time-consuming, but also I was confused as to what exactly said documents needed to say. Having already had two rejections due to documentation didn’t help my confidence either.
February 10th: Changed category to Science & Technology, provided my resume. Crossed fingers and submitted with explanation in mandarin.
March 26th: Received passport inspection notification.
April 2nd: Passport delivered via mail (walk-in drop offs not allowed) to TECO Los Angeles. Included paid return envelope.
April 6th: Received congratulations approval email.
May 5th: Passport and Gold Card arrived in the mail.
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Hi Vance, would you mind sharing the name + contact info of the person you were working with? I’m getting the runaround when I try to get a hold of someone in LA TECO and I’ve been stuck between your Apr. 2nd and Apr. 6th milestone for over a month now.
Has anyone actually been able to speak to a live person for TECO Los Angeles? I sent in my passport into TECO Los Angeles on March 25th along with the passport inspection notice and there’s been no update in my application since then (it’s stuck on “Passport Submission Notice”).
I’m getting worried that my passport is stuck or lost somewhere and I can’t move my application forward. I called LA TECO and they tell me to call the office in Taipei, and the Taipei office tells me to call LA TECO but I just get stuck in their automated phone system. Anyone have advice for this situation?
Hi, I received a passport submission email today. My centre is in Toronto. The email asks to carry the passport and the passport submission document. Any suggestion on what else needs to be submitted?
During my application, I chose the Taipei centre as the location to collect the Gold card, was planning to travel there on Travel authorization certificate. Any suggestion on if I should call them and change this option?
The person that I mentioned talking with in my post was a contact at the Taiwan Gold office in Taiwan. This was the contact listed on the online portal after receiving the request for more information.
However I did also call LA TECO before mailing them my passport and got someone on the line. I was worried about having a situation similar to yours, as I have an international trip coming up soon and wanted to ask them if they could send back my passport first, in the event that the card was taking too long.
I rang them at the number listed on the bottom of their website. Google lists their office hours as 9 AM - 12 PM, but their website lists their hours as 9-5. I called them a few minutes past 9 AM. As I remember, all I did was choose the English language option, and someone answered straight away. My advice would be to ring them right around 09:00 LA time.
Hi, did you select the gold card pick up location as Taiwan? If yes, is the resident authorization certificate is the document required to travel to taiwan?
I was curious about economy qualification 4… Which is 8 years experienced. Does anyone know they only see the pass “experience” you did or they only see the “company” you working as is in related in their field?
My application got moved to “Under Inspection”/"待審核” just today - anyone know what that means? My mom called the labor dept and they said my application should be approved soon, so hoping this is a good sign!
It means under inspection. They’re inspecting it. It’s being inspected.
Nah, I think it should be fine. See link attached: “You don’t need the physical Gold Card to enter in Taiwan during the pandemic.”
Thank you!
However, I faced a weird situation during passport submission today. I reside in Canada on Work Permit and I hold an Indian Passport. Since there is a lockdown here in Ontario, I called the TECO Toronto office to get an appointment, however, the lady who picked up the call said that she isn’t sure if non-canadians can submit their passport to their office. I mentioned to her that the “passport submission letter” specifies to submit my passport to TECO Toronto and it also recognizes me of IND nationality, however she dint have an answer. She said she would ask her supervisor and asked me to call tomorrow. I was wondering if anyone else faced something similar. I asked her where should I submit my passport instead, and she had said “I don’t know”. I will call them up tomorrow but I am feeling very lost now. I am so close to receiving my gold card and then this happens!!