Does your GC application still proceed (pending inspection) in this case?
At the time, I had an urgent need to go there for work purposes. I emailed the help desk & simply stated that my customer in Taiwan requested my presence, and they put in a request with NDC. NDC approved and got the ball rolling. They got my passport verified at the passport verification stage and after that it was quick. Once my passport was verified at TECOLA, it took less than a week.
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Any chance or rumours that the mandatory quarantine will be reduced after CNY or feb 14?
I hope so
Unlikely. In the best possible scenario, I would say that the current rules (14, 10+4, 7+7 depending on the situation) will remain or maybe, big maybe, back to home quarantine all the way. Taiwan seems still far away for the āliving with COVIDā mindset.
Did anyone get a Gold Card APRC yet? Eg. Apply for APRC while on a gold card?
If so, how does this APRC look like ā¦ does it mention anything about āgold cardā?
Iām in my third year of gold card, but already more than 5 years in Taiwan on work ARC and Gold Card combined. Thus, as far as I can tell, I could apply for an APRC now, and that APRC would then have the gold card benefits like for example
Parents and grandparents are eligible to apply for a 1 year multi-entry visa for a maximum stay of six months at a time. This visa can be extended in Taiwan to allow for a maximum stay of one year at a time.
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I applied for the APRC after 3 years on a Gold Card. There isnāt anything that is on the card to distinguish it as based on being a foreign special professional. Though the benefits are retained so if you want to apply for the extended family visa for parents/grandparents or your spouse/dependants want to apply for APRC after 3 years then they just look it up on the computer.
Had a ceremony awhile back with the NDC for being the first to obtain the APRC from Gold Card after 3 years:
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I see, thanks a lot!
So that was after 3 full years on gold card. Hmmmā¦ Iām wondering if there is any benefit in waiting for 3 years on gold card before applying, or if for their computer itās the same as applying after for example 2 years gold card + 3 years of work ARC before that. If noone has this case yet Iāll go ask 
Same here. Though I guess speedy immigration and other little perks are lost since as you said there isnāt anything on the APRC card to distinguish it.
Can we start a new thread for Gold Card applying APRC?
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Maybe there is one already. Kinda:
I agree. Since the new rules have already kicked in a few months ago, it would be good to have a dedicated thread to share feedback and experiences. From what I have been reading so far, NIA is (unsurprisingly) not making things easy.
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Thank you so much for explaining in so detail. So in my case, I have applied in May 2021 but in June and July, it was back and forth from the WDA as they asked about proof of work experience as I was applying under the specialized category in the Economy field. After that, I could not submit my document because it took time to get it from my previous employers, and then finally I have submitted it around the end of December 2021.
After that like you mentioned, it immediately went to Consulting with the ministry for almost 3 weeks, and just recently when I logged in and checked that, it moved to Review by the WDA. So, It means that it is almost approved? Haha, I am kinda excited and also nervous.
I have another concern. in between the process I have moved to another country from the place where I applied. Is it possible to change the country if Passport inspection at this stage? Thank you so much and looking forward to hearing from you.
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Yes. You can change your passport verification process on the boca.gov.tw website.
I had to change from Taiwan to LA.
I hope that you donāt have to go through LA. They take a long time.
Good Luck!!
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Once again the date has been pushed back for non-urgent cases, to Feb 7 now.
Interestingly, the way Iām reading this, they are no longer processing new applications. They are still āacceptingā them but they wonāt be processed, or evaluated, until they resume on āFeb 7th at the earliestā
Iām currently in passport submission phase and just arrived back to Miami for a week (15 minutes from the TECO). After CNY I will be on the move, mostly in Mexico, and will find it rather inconvenient to submit my passport until early May when we are back in Miami again. Anyway, donāt know if thereās anyone else out there in my position, but I am now planning to just sit tight and hope they either 1) continue postponing until April or 2) make an exception for me and allow me to wait beyond one month after they resume normal passport submission.
I wrote the new wording. It was designed to say that applications are still being accepted and processed - just not finalized (the āpassport inspectionā stage at the end is the only part with issues). Previously, with the old wording, people were thinking that they could not even apply. Itās a good idea to apply - since the skill assessment part is the longest part of the process and that is still operating fine.
Since you have troubles getting to a TECO from February onward, why not do your passport inspection now while itās convenient? Surely your uncertain/contradictory schedule is an urgent reason to get it done? Itās reasonably difficult to change the TECO that will do the inspection once at this stage.
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Gotcha. I was thrown off by the next sentence āIf you have just applied or your application is under reviewā which I took to be juxtaposed with those who have not submitted applications and therefore will not āproceed until it reaches the passport inspection stage.ā I know itās nitpicking but Iād suggest including new applicants in that sentence then, perhaps with: āIf you have applied or will apply during this periodā¦ā Anyway, itās hard not to be confusing when the subject matter is confusing and constantly changing, but just sharing my interpretation as I read it.
This is a fair point. I had been coming with the perspective that the urgency needed to be for entering Taiwan (which would be odd since we are coming in late July) rather than just an urgent need to do the inspection. Iāll send them an inquiry now. Admittedly I also preferred waiting to avoid āwastingā so many months of my gold card time.
Thanks for the info. I have changed now Hope it wont affect the process.
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Just sent an email. But Iām skeptical Iāll be able to do it in the next week as reports from others above made it seem like the TECO needed to receive approval to perform inspection, and this was taking a couple weeks to completeā¦
We shall see. Iāll update the thread
So basically the Taiwan Gold Card office told me I can wait until May because there is no time limit for completing the Passport Inspection Stage. Over the past 6 months I have asked them 4 times about a time limit, 3 times they said there is none and once they confirmed there would be one. So obviously inconsistent and my guess is there will be one but not everyone there knows this yet.
For me, it was too late to go the urgent route, get approval sent to TECO, and then go to TECO myself, so Iām just gonna cross my fingers and also show them the many times they advised me that there would be no time limit and hope for an exception if it comes to that.