Does anybody know how much time we have to upload and send the additional materials? I thought I read somewhere that said one month. But one month from when? (when they requested the additional information or one month from when I submitted my application?)
Also, has anyone heard about requesting an extension to supply the information? Is this something they’re willing to grant?
(I think this may have been discussed earlier but the search function on this site isn’t great. Or at least, I haven’t figured out how to use it well)
The clock starts from when they make the request, but how long that is may be variable, though the minimum seems to be at least a month, and certain actions, (e.g. emails asking questions) seem to reset the timer as well.
Also the clock running out may not actually be a big deal.
The industries that fall under the economic category are listed in the Gold Card FAQ. Look for the “How do I know if I qualify as holding a position at an Economic Company or in an Economic Field?”
Number of valid Gold Cards only rose by 2 in December!
Today, the Gold Card office updated their December numbers. Was looking forward to reading that update and checked their website daily for it as I expected it to be interesting - and yes, interesting it was. About 200 new Gold Cards were issued in December, but because of people moving out of Taiwan, not renewing their Gold Card or getting a different visa or permanent residency, the number of valid Gold Card holders increased only by 2 (less than ever before).
Personal update:
Was asked to provide more information. In that regard, has somebody verified documents from mainland China? Is that a simple process or quite complicated? Seems like possibly I would have to go to mainland China and the process is complicated, but would love your take on that. Thanks!
Suggest searching in this thread for “straits” (for “Straits Exchange Foundation”).
When I looked into doing it in 2020, it seemed to be somewhere between a massive pain in the arse and next to impossible, so much so that it was far easier to switch to a different category. YMMV.
So a lot of information still says unless you become an employee for a local company, to wait 6 months for NHI. However, I’ve seen some references that there’s no required wait for gold card holders now. This is on the Gold Card website:
In accordance with the Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals, which went into force on Oct. 25, 2021: foreign special professionals and foreign senior professionals who meet the criteria for being insured as employers or self-employed business owners may apply for NHI immediately upon receipt of their Resident Certificates. This policy extends to their dependents (spouses, minor children, and adult children who are unable to live independently) who have obtained their own Resident Certificate(s).
I guess the part I’m not sure about - NHI views people who work for foreign companies, it seems like it doesn’t matter if you’re an employee or contractor, if it’s a foreign company, you’re viewed as unemployed? Not sure if this section applies after Oct 2021.
Anyone who’s gotten the gold card after Oct 2021, did you have to wait 6 months for NHI?
I was just emailed notification for passport inspection. I am not planing to move until this summer. If I wanted to maximize the time available on my 3-year Gold Card, I could put off doing my passport inspection until a month before I leave my home country, correct? I realize there’s a 6 month maximum for this step too - will make sure not to pass that.
So I found some discussion in this thread back from around that time. It seems like not a whole lot different changed… If you find local employment, NHI kicks in on the first day of work. However, if you’re working for a foreign employer, or freelancing for foreign clients, it seems like there’s still the 6 month wait.
It seems like it was originally supposed to be a perk of the gold card, but didn’t actually get pushed through. And the update in 2021 applied to self employed people, but… not really foreigners with no local clients, as they have just moved to Taiwan.
Yeah, I got a gold card around that time and it’s still not at all clear to me whether anything actually changed with that development for the majority of the people who might have been affected.
I suppose there might have been one or two edge cases who got NHI immediately when they wouldn’t have done before, but it was never really obvious to me how the purported changes made any difference.
I submitted the application and it returned to request me to submit an Taiwan address proof, such as a lease agreement.
Do you guys see the same requests? If I don’t have a lease agreement, what else I can use?
Currently I live in an airbnb for a month, but not with a formal lease. Not sure if I can use bank statement or if the Mega bank can provide monthly statement?
Does anyone know if there is a deadline for the collection of an updated gold card? All i did was update my address, I’m in hong kong for a few weeks for business and want to know if there is a deadline for colleciton. It seems pretty unclear. my ID number is the same, nothing has changed but the address.
Hey @Andrew,
a quick question (I think I asked it before, but can’t find it anymore): Do you write your invoices in NTD or EUR/USD or both?
If you just use EUR/USD and on taiwan tax day you convert your total income to NTD for the current day, doesn’t it seems a little weird, since the exchange rate could change quite a lot in a year?
It’s not uncommon. When doing US or Canadian tax returns with foreign income, you can convert each deposit with that day’s conversion rate, or use the averaged yearly rate
I write invoices in whatever I’ve agreed with the client for the work - for my three main clients at the moment, that’s GBP, JPY, and USD. I don’t write anything about TWD on these invoices, because they’re not paying me in TWD.
Yep, the exchange rate can vary throughout the year, but that’s nonetheless what you do. The NTB (or MOF, don’t remember) publishes a list of the annual exchange rates every year.
I don’t know that there’s the option in Taiwan to use the daily conversion rate (as @citizen86 said for other countries). The tax software just takes the annual rate when you input foreign currencies, and I think I’ve read that in some guidelines somewhere too. The tax office previously checked that I’d used the annual rate as well.
When I did my tax declaration last year, I used (as written in the guidelines) the December’s exchange rate published on the MOF website. I’m paid in USD.
