I get the impression that’s one of the harder categories to apply under. The relevant ministry seems to do extensive verification and have quite strict requirements compared to the other categories.
From what I hear even if your industry is Science and Technology if you are applying under the salary requirement then its easier to pick Economy.
That’s surprising given that the $160,000 salary requirement is peanuts for a lot of people in this category.
Are they making it difficult for people to get approved even if they meet the requirement? Or is the program just not that appealing?
This.
To qualify under Article 1 in Science and Technology, you must also prove skills - merely proving salary is insufficient. MOST has re-interpreted the prerequisite to mean that the following documents are required to satisfy it:
Documents verifying salary or income tax payment relating to employment at a technology company (if the company’s manufacturing or R&D achievements, and the individual’s contributions as a participant, are consistent with the fields listed in article 2 or 3 of the eligibility/prerequisites column).
So, basically to qualify under Article 1 (“salary”), you must also meet the requirement for Article 2 or 3 (“unique/outstanding talents”). This is despite the regulations declaring it is possible to qualify by meeting only one of the Articles.
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That’s kind of silly. So you could be, say, a freelance software engineer or web developer making $175,000/year (USD) and it sounds like there’s a decent chance you wouldn’t qualify.
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Given the numbers, it appears that most people are applying via economy based on the salary requirement alone without having to demonstrate any expertise
The full list is here. The issue as I see it is that almost every subcategory seems to require both proof of technology (e.g., patents or licensing agreements) and international awards, in addition to academic achievements/experience.
You’re right about software engineers etc., but I doubt many people in academia would be able to meet the salary requirement, and even the above requirements aren’t that trivial for youngish academics, e.g., postdocs or early-stage researchers (i.e., people who might actually be willing to emigrate), who won’t necessarily be able to demonstrate patents and international awards. And, although they’ve graciously made the gold card available to Nobel laureates, the subset of those who want to apply must be pretty small…
The issue in my case was that, although I could provide (somewhat tenuous) proof of these things, some of the documents came from China and would have been difficult to get notarized and obtain the official copies of. In the end it was far easier to apply under Education.
as for those people, having own residency may not make it easy for them to get their desired jobs. They may want to move other places when they lose their contracts in Taiwan.
Yeah, sure - I think postdocs/academics on fixed-term contracts can still get jobs via the regular route rather than needing a gold card.
Nonetheless, the requirements do seem to focus quite heavily on academic work (journal publications etc.), especially in certain fields considered of special interest to Taiwan like materials and condensed matter physics, which then raises the question of who exactly this category is intended to target…?
I don’t think established professors etc. are going to use this scheme to move their research groups over to another country, for example (this would presumably be done via negotiations with the university and grants from funding bodies). I can see how it might be applicable to, say, academic researchers who wanted to work in the semiconductor industry (but haven’t yet, because their academic work needs to have been published in the last 3 years)…but then they could presumably get regular work visas too. 
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Hello Guys,
Since the Taiwan Government has decided to do not issue Students Visa for the time being, I have applied yesterday for a Gold Card, under the Science and Technology field, since my class will start in September. Trying a different route.
My Profile:
I am 29, have about 8 years of experience in multi-nationals and startup, and held senior roles for the last 5 years.
My monthly salary for the last 4 years has been in the 260-360.000TWD monthly.
I have a bachelor degree (no masters unfortunately), and a couple of IT certifications.
Right now I provided:
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Payslips of this year + last 3 years full tax returns
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Degree paper + certifications
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A letter with some reference about some blog articles I have written for my company, a recording of a webinar/video session I did for one big player in the industry, plus a couple of links proving my participation as a speaker in another couple of events.
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Passport and Picture
I paid, and right now my case is “Under Review”.
We will see how this unveils according to the next steps - I will share them here and hopefully can help people who wants to apply as well.
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Nice! Life in Taiwan should be quite decent with such a salary 
If I come to Taiwan will be for studying Chinese, so I will have to resign from my work 
I am not able to work remotely since I work in solutions sales.
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I saw dtan’s post and was inspired to look into the Employment Gold Card. Here’s my situation:
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Lived and worked in Taiwan from 2016-2019 (had ARC).
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Moved back home to America last summer for a job in the Bay Area.
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Fiancee, Taiwanese citizen, is still in Taiwan. We applied for the K-1 fiancee visa for her to move to America with me.
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Her K-1 was accepted in January, and she was set to have her interview at the AIT in Taipei, but it was postponed because of the coronavirus. We were supposed to get married in April, but we’re stuck in separate countries now indefinitely. And we’ve been living apart a year - it’s taking a huge toll.
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Now, it seems even if the visa thing becomes possible again, it’s not worth bringing her here to America with the economy/immigration being hit worst. I would gladly return to Taiwan, but right now, that’s nearly impossible. We talked to so many government authorities and finally found out that Taiwan can grant me a special visa to enter the country if we are able to get married directly, but that’s a very complicated matter that I won’t get into here.
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It appears I meet the requirements for an Employment Gold Card under the Economy section. I’m 32 and have an MS in finance. I do business research and have published some reports and hosted an online session with CEOs I could use as supporting documents. My salary also exceeds the minimum requirement. An added benefit: I’ve talked to my CEO about our situation, and he is 100% supportive of any way I can return to Taiwan to be with my fiancee (I can work remotely). He offered to write a letter or do anything else that might assist in the cause.
Does anyone know about getting an Employment Gold Card and then getting married to a Taiwanese resident? Do you keep the Gold Card or switch to a marriage-based ARC?
And if I only have ~1 year of work experience at my current company, does that matter?
Finally, even after reading through many of these posts, I still can’t tell for sure if people can continue to work with overseas companies in Taiwan with the Gold Card.
Any other considerations before I apply?
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I’m pretty sure 1 year is not enough.
I have like 5 years total, including 3 in Taiwan as a writer, and 1-2 in America before as a research analyst. But the 1 year is with my current company and is the most professional of the jobs I’ve done. I don’t see any requirements for work experience if applying using monthly salary.
@dtan, good luck to you! What program are you interested in for studying Chinese? I heard the ICLP one at NTU is exceptional and started looking into it as well. https://iclp.ntu.edu.tw/
@pin2xbo, congrats on the approval! Are you planning to use the Resident Authorization to enter, or have them mail the gold card to your location and enter with that?
Re: The comments on Science and Technology rule interpretation also put me on track for just applying on Economy instead. I submitted a copy of my 2019 US tax W-2 for income, a cover-letter like description of myself and skills/education, and diploma (figured it couldn’t hurt). I could have dug up or asked my previous managers to write a description of how I directly contributed to R&D, but I figured it was better to just reduce friction for now.
My current timeline, to add some data
Wed 2020-05-06 Submitted. “Under Review”
Mon 2020-05-11 Changed to “待二審” (3 business days)
Tue 2020-05-12 “Under Inspection by Workforce Development Committee” (not sure of exact wording, could have been the same as the next one)
Fri 2020-05-15 “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency”
Really hoping this works out, based on everything in the thread, should be able to work out most details after calls or emails if necessary.
As another tidbit for travel numbers based on this article, as of April 28, 2020 there were only 296 entries and 152 exits at TPE. This is down from 12,000 total on March 17, 2020 and down from 133K daily in 2019. Picking a route, SEA->TPE flights I think totaled 4 in May and is scheduled for 9 in June
https://tw.news.yahoo.com/航空業開源-客艙不載客座上貴賓是-這個-145755288.html
From hitting 500 total gold cards approved on November 29 2019, we are now at 720 on April 30 2020, which implies 1.44 approved per day in this time period. September 4 2019 to November 29 2019 went from 400 to 500, or about 1.15/day.
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You have more overall work experience than many other posters who have been approved, so from my (research-only) POV should be well qualified. I also only had about 1.5 years at my most recent company, but 6 years of overall work experience. AFAIK, they only ask for your most recent income to prove qualification under that rule. From the regulations and what other posters said about the non-employer-sponsored Gold Card, you are allowed to start your own company, do contracting, work for other companies, etc. (less restrictive than a work visa that is employer sponsored). At first, I thought you may have to be careful about overseas income and taxation, but it looks like you are exempt for 3 years. https://www.foreignersintaiwan.com/blog-370963385326684/taiwan-employment-gold-card-faq
It seems like the people in the contact lists are quite responsive too Act for the Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals-Contact
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I got married to a Taiwanese citizen while on a Gold Card. It had no effect on my visa/residence status - I just kept on the Gold Card.
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@lin_ts Thanks!
I’m planning to wait for the gold card. Need it to apply ARC for family members. I cannot use the single entry authorization.
Hi 
Yes, the ICLP.
I have asked for a few info, and I will send my application for the Fall Term next week.
For me the Gold Card will substitute the student visa for the first 10 months of my life in Taiwan, then we will see once I know enough Chinese to work if I will decide to continue in Taiwan or come back to Singapore/Hong Kong.
It will depends on opportunities and the salary!
Fingers crossed for us! 