The Employment Gold Card Super-Thread

Did anyone go through the process to change their address on the gold card yet? I filed the change in the system under ‘Application’ – ‘Information Change of Employment Gold Card’ and received a '送件成功, 收件號: ’ but no confirmation email nor a place to monitor any progress etc.

Any help appreciated as always, thanks!

After you submit the application there is no confirmation email. Maybe you can try the case status check function.
Though if all goes well you should receive an email saying the change has been approved and it’s entering the re-certification stage.
A few days later you should receive another email stating the certificate is finished and you can pick it up at the NIA Service Station you selected during the information change application.

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Thanks, guess I’ll wait a week and see if anything pops up. Cheers

If it is still at MOL, I’d call to confirm. Things are backed up over there.

I submitted my application a couple days ago under Technology, but looks like applying under Economics might be easier. Did you switch to Economy after submitting under Technology? If yes, did you just call/email them? I’m currently in Taiwan under visa-exempt and have about a little over a month left.

I’m intending to post a longer update on my own experience later when I have time (just got the e-mail approval this morning!), but I’d suggest getting on this quickly given that the government has just stopped visa exemptions for foreigners.

I also originally applied under Technology on Dec. 31 and didn’t hear anything back for about 5 weeks until I started e-mailing people, which seemed to kick something into action as I then got a request for additional documentation - documentation that I couldn’t provide as it was originally issued in China and needed to be notarized there first.

I discussed this back and forth with the NIA, Straits Exchange Foundation, and National Development Council but, long story short, I switched to applying under Education on the basis of having a PhD from a top 200 university, which was basically the only requirement for that category and much easier. As I understand it, Technology seems to be the strictest of the usual categories and they do note somewhere during application that they undertake extensive examination of each application.

I’d suggest contacting them before changing the category. I did ultimately just change mine on the system, but it doesn’t really seem set up for that - the website is still quite buggy, and for mine the original category and documents were still showing until submitting everything, with no way to see whether any of the changes or new files had been saved (there are different document upload fields for each category, and the ones for the new category simply didn’t show prior to actual submission).

I’d suggest calling Mr. Huang at the Ministry of Labor/NDC (see the contact list) - I think that’s who I spoke to, and he was really helpful. I wouldn’t leave it too long if you need to leave in a month. It’s been about 2.5 weeks since my revised application (with a couple more phone calls to confirm everything had gone through), and I just got the notification to drop off my passport last week and the one to collect the card this morning.

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[quote=“Noel, post:833, topic:159653”]
and then what?

Do we just provide copies of the proof of Gold card receipt for the office (and all other relevant documents), and all is good? It just seems that many of the offices overs
[/quote

And then what ? I don’t know :slight_smile: everything was handled for me by a big consulting company so I don’t even know how they did it or where. But ya essentially you just submit the GC approval and you’ll get your physical GC here.

@wfh-jjw I assume you actually visited their office to show the passport? In my case, they called me the following day asking for proof of medical insurance, 3 months of bank statements and a marriage certificate …none of which I was anticipating (based on the available info or others descriptions here) - basically I think they are unfamiliar with the process and making it up as they go along!

Yes I dropped off the passport at the BOCA in Taipei. I didn’t receive any follow up requests from them (or NIA) after that. The only messages I received were from that niasys email address (one saying I had been approved, another saying the card was printed).

I’m not sure what BOCA really does during their check (or what info. they have access to). My paystubs show my insurance coverage, so maybe if you proved income in another manner, they might be following up on that. Still, I don’t know if they’re supposed to check for that.

I have a hard time understanding this email I got from NIA:

“Please bring your passport and the original copy of your passport to Visa Application which you filled in on your application for inspection.”

For those that have applied overseas, what did you exactly bring for passport submission?

Below is the same message in chinese (I think):

“請攜帶「繳驗護照通知單」及護照正本,親臨下列申請地點/館處報到,以辦理繳驗作業。”

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So it seems that message is in case you got a new passport between the time you submitted your application and the email, in which case you should bring your previous (canceled) passport as well as your current passport. If you’re still on the same passport then just bring that.

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Please bring the “Payment Notice for Inspection” and the original passport, and report to the following application locations / libraries in order to complete the inspection procedures. "

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Print the passport verification certificate. It is under the application drop down when you are logged in. It took me a while to find it. The wording is funny, but take that and your passport to the consular office.
Problem now is that the consular office is closed :pensive:.

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Offices – nothing about libraries in there. :slight_smile:

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@Bree

I called and was told to email infoseattle@ because the lady is working from home. I explained everything and the response I got was still to come to verify. Below is the exact email. Weird, sounds like she/he didn’t even read my email.

Please bring your passport and the receipt to our office for verification.

We will contact you once receiving your gold card from Taiwan if you would like to pick it up at our office.

Oh, so they are mailing it to Seattle? Nice.
They aren’t answering my emails or phone calls in Houston.

Well… they are supposed to mail it to wherever you choose the overseas office to be.
image

I thought I’d get a temporary paper, then pick up the actual card when I arrive in tpe. I like this way much better.
Good luck to you

I finally got my gold card last week and thought I’d give a final update on my experience with the process and ask a few questions to anyone who’s already been through the next steps. Be forewarned: long post ahead.

My experience
Dec. 31, 2019: Applied under the Technology field under “Holders of a Ph.D. degree who possess special expertise that is lacking in Taiwan.” Had I applied sooner, I probably wouldn’t have applied under this category, but almost all of the other categories in Technology require evidence of academic research in the last 3-4 years, which I don’t have as I stopped working in academia in 2014. I submitted a cover letter explaining my intentions and why I felt I possessed “special expertise that is lacking in Taiwan,” my Ph.D. certificate, several reference letters and first pages of scientific papers verifying my foreign work experience as a postdoc (ca. 4 years total), a copy of a Chinese patent I’m listed as an inventor on (had to submit something under “documents verifying technology”), and a copy of my Chinese Postdoctoral Certificate (had to submit something under “documents verifying receipt of awards”). Paid 6633 TWD for 3 years (application fee plus payment fee, UK citizen).

January 2020: Nothing happened. Application status remained at “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency.”

Feb. 4–7, 2020: Started e-mailing a few people from the contact list. First at MOST, who told me that my application was still with the MOL and hadn’t yet been passed to them, then at MOL. Following these e-mails, I finally got an e-mail from the system stating insufficient documentation on the basis of some of my documents being issued in China and needing to be notarized. Longer version here.

Feb. 10, 2020: Went over to the Straits Exchange Foundation to find out about notarizing the above documents. The staff were helpful but apparently couldn’t do anything without me first getting the original documents notarized in China. This would have been close to impossible as I would have needed to either fly over there (and be quarantined upon return) or pull in some serious favors to get someone in China to help me with the notarization and do things like obtain the actual patent certificate from the university. Longer (quite frustrated) version here.

Mid-to-late February 2020: Gave up on the idea for a bit and had to do a visa run as my original visa exemption was expiring, then started looking at other options for fulfilling the requirements. Got an additional reference letter from a former long-term freelance client from several years ago to verify my professional experience without relying on the time in China.

Feb. 26, 2020: Went to the MOL to try to find someone there to discuss the situation with and what alternative evidence they might be willing to accept. Not the right place - nobody at the service desk seemed to know anything about the gold card scheme, so they called up a few people who also didn’t know about the scheme until putting me through to the Workforce Development Agency (which I gave them the contact info for). Walked over to the WDA in an effort to speak to someone there, and they phoned me back while I was in the lobby. Discussed the requirements and possible solutions on the phone with a friendly Mr. Huang, and he said he needed to check a few things and would call me back the next day.

Feb. 27, 2020: Mr. Huang called me back and confirmed what I’d suspected, that I’d basically be unable to apply under the Technology field as I couldn’t supply “documents verifying technology” or “documents verifying receipt of awards” without the notarized Chinese documents. Without either of these and/or demonstrable academic experience in the last 3/4 years, none of the Technology categories really seemed to work. I inquired whether I might be able to apply under Education instead on the basis of having a Ph.D. from a top 200 university, and he agreed that this would be a possible solution.

Feb. 27, 2020 (continued): So I did that. I wrote another cover letter focusing more on the education side of things and submitted that alongside my Ph.D. certificate after changing the category on the system. I will say that the system doesn’t really seem set up for this, and none of the modified information showed up on the system until after resubmitting the application (i.e., the category was still showing up as Technology, and I had no way to see whether the modified documents had successfully uploaded). I remember also that the “please enter your opinions to the reviewer” box requests the response to be written in Chinese and was limited to some low number of characters, so the website was throwing up vague “send failure” messages until I figured that out (I just submitted a truncated response in English). More details here. Called Mr. Huang again a couple of times over the next few days to confirm everything had gone through correctly and the process was moving along.

March 9, 2020: Received an automated e-mail telling me to take my passport to BOCA after printing out the passport submission notice.

March 10, 2020: Did it.

March 16, 2020: Application status suddenly changed to “Under inspection” (it had been something else in the preceding few days, but I forget what).

March 17, 2020 (8 p.m., oddly): Received an automated e-mail telling me my application had been approved and to wait for the next e-mail telling me I could collect the card.

March 18, 2020 (10 a.m., so surprisingly fast!): Received an automated e-mail telling me my card was ready and I should go pick it up from NIA after printing out the payment receipt. Did it, after going first to get my passport back from BOCA. Just needed to show the payment receipt to the guy at the first desk to the left of the door and he went through a stack of gold cards and ARCs to find mine. I found it mildly amusing that the gold cards were in plastic covers and the ARCs weren’t.

Tl;dr: should probably have applied under the Education category in the first place.

My plan/intentions
There are a couple of things I want to do with the card. The first is part-time science tutoring, which I have previous experience with, probably up to 10 hours a week but typically less (maybe several). The second is scientific editing, which I also have previous experience with and contacts for. The former would obviously be in Taiwan and paid in Taiwan. The latter may include Taiwan in the future but would initially be for foreign companies and the payment could either be remitted to foreign accounts or a Taiwanese account (when I have one). I’m considering setting up a small (Taiwanese) company for the latter, but that’s a future goal rather than an immediate one as I need to do more groundwork/research first.

Questions
NHI: I’ve discussed this in another thread and confirmed this information with the NHI over e-mail, and my current understanding is that I won’t be eligible for NHI until six months after the gold card was issued, i.e., September 2020 (my previous stay under a visa exemption doesn’t count). I could potentially be covered by NHI immediately if I found a regular employer, although I don’t intend to do that as stated above. The explanation I got from the NHI regarding what constitutes a “regular employer” was quite vague (she just referred me to the Employment Services Act, Article 46, Paragraph 1, Subparagraphs 1–6, which only describes permitted occupations for foreigners as far as I can tell). Tando gave some information in the other thread regarding the minimum requirements for NHI enrollment, and judging from this the part-time work I have in mind wouldn’t count.

I suppose an alternative idea for obtaining NHI may be to start a company earlier than I would prefer and enroll myself through that, although I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle at the moment. I also understand that there’s some act going through at the moment that might eventually change the NHI situation, but I haven’t kept up to date with that. I realize I haven’t asked a question yet, but if anybody sees a problem with what I’ve written here or has found an alternative (private insurance?), please let me know.

Employment/accepting work: Is there anything I need to be aware of here with accepting work from Taiwanese/overseas clients while under a gold card? Example 1: If I agreed to do a few hours of tutoring at a test prep organization or similar, would I need to do anything except sign a contract, receive payment, and put some aside for eventual taxes? Would I need to receive approval from the Ministry of Education or do a background check or something? Example 2: If I edited some paper for a Taiwanese researcher/university in a self-employed capacity, would I need to get permission from someone or issue a fapiao (I’ve read about the gaofei exemption but still don’t fully understand the implications of that, and the total annual amount would presumably exceed 180k TWD). How about for overseas clients?

Taxes: Somewhat related to the above, but do I need to do anything with the tax office prior to working, like register for self-employed work? Or is it as simple as just making sure I keep say 20% aside and submitting a tax return and paying them whatever they ask next May?

Thanks to anyone who made it this far. I realize that some of these questions, especially those regarding company formation, will probably require me to visit an accountant or JusRegal or something (after doing more research), but I just thought I’d give an update and throw some questions/discussion points out there to anyone who’s already been through it.

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Great post. Congratulations on persevering and getting the card!

Guy

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