Yesterday my card was finally approved. Thanks everyone who help me answering my questions. People in this forum are so helpful. I hope to meet some of you when I get to Taipei.
I applied on May 27 and it was approved on July 1. But I took around 2 weeks to submit the additional documents that they requested after the initial review.
Fast turnaround! Congratulations to you!
Guy
Hi,
I was born in Taiwan but immigrated to US as a kid. Now Iām working in Taiwan and have an ARC. Iām interested in the gold card because of the tax benefit.
Couple questions
Thank you
if you are now on an ARC, I think you donāt have an active household registration. The regulation says a dual citizen with an active household registration should inactivate it.
im going to try to get something like this, I donāt have a degree, but I have special experience in a financial field. and I can perhaps get a letter of recommendation from a congressman, and I have a job offer from a company in taiwan in that field. wish me luck.
A blog post here about the process of one recent successful applicant. Hope you find it helpful!
https://allhandstaiwan.com/2019/07/29/what-is-the-taiwan-employment-gold-card/
Great entry! Thanks for sharing this.
Guy
By the way, paying for the application by TW credit card is a royal PITA. There are several options, two of which accept credit card. Others are like online ATM or pay at 7-11.
It seems the first option only works with foreign credit cards. When used with a plethora of Taiwanese cards from multiple banks it always gives useless or misleading error messages:
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Transaction failed. You have not paid successfully. Please refer to the error message ā{0}ā. Check your card machine, financial account, chip financial card , or card reader.
The Chinese says something like āVerification failed or credit card has been reported lostā, which is both BS.
The last option seems to be the only one working with TW credit cardsā¦
Oh, it only works with cards from certain banks (HSBC ādoes not participateā, First Bank does).
Oh, this option is in Chinese only. Bonus: āĀ© 2008ā or something like that
Oh, and it works only with cards featuring CVV numbers with 3 digits, 4 digit ones seem not supported.
Oh, and after successfully paying, the payment window closes without a message
Oh, and after the payment window closed, the gold card application website automatically ālogs outā.
Oh, and after logging back in, it first shows still unpaidā¦ only after a while it shows as paid.
Let the NIA people know about this (i.e. tell them it makes Taiwan look terrible)! If it makes the application process look bad, they willāto the extent they canātry to smooth things out.
Guy
Will do, after maybe collecting more from the rest of the process.
By the way, what was the experience of others here with paying? All good due to foreign credit cards?
I didnāt find if this was answered, could anyone please confirm? So, if a company wants to hire a gold card holder, is it more mafan than hiring a local Taiwanese?
The gold card is an open work permit.
As an employer, I just take a copy of the card, sign an employment contract, and submit some forms to NHI for the new employee. Technically, easier than hiring a Taiwanese because they also need forms for the pension 
Just curious who has applied for this from overseas? Mostly, I would like to know what the time allowed is from when you receive the visa/card, to when you must enter the country ā¦ Really, how far ahead of time can you/ should you apply before you plan to go to Taiwan?
In my case I received the card in December and moved here in July after 1 visit in May. I obviously lost 6 months of the value of the card but this was less important than other factors specific to me.
So did the Visa activate upon receipt, or upon entry in May?
The 3 years starts when they issue the card. In my case, from December 2018.
So what was the experience of others here regarding paying? All good, due to foreign credit cards? Or anyone successfully used a local credit card to pay using the English (first) option?
I donāt remember having a problem paying & I used a local card. Donāt remember which payment option it was though.
This thread has been an interesting read. I lived in Taiwan for years, have a dual citizen son, and am certainly a professional teacher. Iām a professional TEACHER. Classroom teacher. Not a lecturer. And the only time Iāve ever earned 160,000 NT was when I lived and worked in Abu Dhabi. American teachers just donāt earn like that, at least not in the south. I taught in a university program in Abu Dhabi, and for a short time in NTU ā just after the Kitten was born.
Iām fully licensed, I have an MA, I have many years experience. And after the Kitten is through high school, we both talk about maybe returning to the island. The professional āgoldā card would seem to be a great fitābut no. I guess they just donāt my kind of professional.
This reminds me of the low birth rate special incentive 30,000 NT bonus offered to new parents in Taipei back when I was pregnant. But you had to be new parents of your third or fourth child!
As far as I can tell, the 160K is not required for any gold card category. Here is what qualifies someone as a āspecialā (=gold card) professional in the education field. Meeting one of these 4 criteria seems necessary: https://foreigntalentact.ndc.gov.tw/en/Content_List.aspx?n=F594015A8118DD32 But indeed, this seems to be targeting mainly the university crowd.
I hope there are other programs and ways that fit your situation. Professional teachers should be also sought, would definitely help Taiwan a lot. Maybe more than engineers or the like
Taiwan would love to have you back, and of course the kitten too 
I remember many a post from you, from back when I was here for the first time 