Absolutely you can. It’s open work permit as an APRC or JFRV.
And you don’t need to request anything further from WDA/MOL, it’s all embedded in the card itself.
No it is not the same thing.
Article 51 of the Employment Services Act exempts, among others, foreign spouses and permanent residents from the restrictions on working or hiring foreign nationals in Taiwan. It is properly referred to as an ‘Article 51 work permit’.
In contrast, Article 9 of the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals provides that special foreign professionals who receive employment gold cards can engage in professional work in Taiwan. Professional work here means technical/specialized [professional] work, teaching, athletics, and art (and couple of other things).
There is a difference in the scope of work that PRs/spouses can do and that EGC holders can do. They are also based on different provisions of different laws. They are not the same.
There is no work permit “embedded in the card.” Permission to work in Taiwan is an abstract legal concept. You applied for and received the work permit when you aplied for the Gold Card. That’s why the Ministry of Labor reviews the application. Your EGC is simply documentary evidence that you have the requisite permission to work within the scope of professional work.
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I guess these perceptions come from how the government describes the gold card:
is a 4-in-1 card, that includes a resident visa, work permit, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC), and re-entry permit
Open work permit. Work for any company you want
In the FAQ, limitations are mentioned, though. So @foc is right I’m afraid.
I guess @fifieldt can help shine a light on this?
@fifieldt is more busy than normal this month. Colleagues at help@taiwangoldcard.tw will be able to respond more quickly.
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What kind of light is needed? I think the FAQ clearly says that you can NOT just do any kind of work you want:
The Employment Gold Card includes an open work permit that allows the holder to engage in all white-collar jobs in Taiwan.
I would suggest making this clearer on the website itself, though.
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So, I’m taking a half hearted stab at the gold card again. Turns out I’ve automatically qualified since late 2021, lol, with a patent and at least “8” years of experience.
4 of those years were at a major multinational corporation. This company was bought by a larger mnc just before I left, but apparently the new one doesn’t retain the records of my employment, even though they took on all legacy HR functions of the acquired company.
I’ve asked the gold card live chat about possibly using my W2s to demonstrate income and employment by the acquired company. Their response was to use other work certificates. cool.
Anyone know of an agent who’s willing to charge a reasonable fee solely to run this W2 question up their channels to see if it has any legs? Aside from these 4 years of work, that I now suppose shouldn’t even be on my resume, this application should be a slam dunk.
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I don’t follow your reasoning: Why would you leave out 4 years of work experience on your CV just because the company no longer exists / cannot verify your employment any longer? It’s not like you’re making up those 4 years.
I would suggest just sending your application with all the documents you have - the application fee is probably less than what you would need to pay for an agent (who, in the end, might give you the same recommendation to just trying to apply…).
Do you still have a signed contract from that time? Maybe that could work, too.
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It’s not meant sarcastically, but along those lines. Potential employers need/want to verify a candidate’s work experience.
So hiring HR minions look up the company where I claimed work experience. Oh, they were bought by Acme corporation. The hiring HR minion gets on the phone with an Acme HR minion, who promptly states “we have no record of such and such”. Kthxbyyyyyye.
It might be better to claim a prison sentence, because who lies about going to prison?
Edit - I was looking over my linkedin last night, I might be able to scrape the requisite years together without this chunk.
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Seems like you’re jumping through a lot of hoops for something that may not be an issue. Put your HR hat on, call Acme, and just say you’re trying to verify prior employment of so-and-so, (yourself, but they don’t need to know that). Or simply ask HR directly, as yourself. Or, heck, ask a former manager to vouch for you… the options are limitless! 
Are you American? You may be able to generate an acceptable work history from your employment report. Equifax (same company that does credit reports) generally has employment histories for Americans, at least for W-2 jobs.
That might be considered an acceptable official document of your employment history. I know for me it includes two companies which have gone out of business, but the history and evidence I worked for them is still in my report.
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Completed my passport inspection today, very happy to be nearing the end of the process.
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Looking back on this thread, it appears you submitted the application September 23rd, so 76 days (2.5 months) from application until passport inspection. Is that correct? That sounds pretty decent compared to at least one post I saw this year where they spent 4.5 months on the whole process.
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It depends entirely on the field you applied in, how many applications they are currently processing, and how straightforward or not your case may be. Others have been approved in as little as 3-4 weeks, albeit not common. While some less convincing and more complicated cases I’ve read take much longer. I had to switch fields twice and my application took ~2.5 months. I think 2-3 months is right around the average wait time for an otherwise straightforward application.
I started by asking chat gpt if I could collect my W2 data from the US gov’, but per the IRS page it said it was only kept ~7 years. I will look into it, but with even bankruptcy falling off a credit report in 7 years, well, I’ll be surprised, but thanks, it seems an excellent idea.
Do you have a copy? Who did your tax returns? IRS won’t provide previous tax returns to you, and they probably won’t pickup the phone or respond to mail either
Your Social Security record will have your lifetime taxed Social security earnings and taxed Medicare earnings.
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I got a message saying additional documents are needed for my GC application. Is there a way to send messages/questions to the reviewer in the system to ask for clarification? I clicked around in the system but didn’t find a way to do that. I know I can just email them. I’m not sure if that’s the best way to ask a question specific about my application.
Also, the email notification says “You must provide the required supplemental information within 30-days of receiving this notice (or 6 months if you must obtain additional documents abroad).” Does this mean that my application will be automatically rejected in 30 days if by then I haven’t uploaded the required files? If I need more time to produce the document, is there a way to ask for an extension?
When I applied for mine, it told me what documents you needed in the area where you have to upload documents.
The website isn’t the best, but there will be a message in red telling you what they want.
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Thanks. Yes, the red message is there. I am trying to see if I can message back, say, for the purpose of asking a question.