TECO Seattle is no longer answering to my emails!
When is this gold card going to be mailed out?
@Bree How you doing in Houston? @skilmosa Are you waiting for yours too?
Ahh…
As an update.
After my application was stuck for a while, I contacted someone on the list looking after the Science and Technology, and they asked me for Academic Work, which I do not have.
So I had to withdraw my application, and reapply under the Economy field.
I was asked for a pic, passport copy, payslip and that’s it.
From thinking I would have the card by the end of June, I think it will be a miracle to get it by middle of July? Chances to come to ICLP are getting slim, but I have to try.
New Timeline:
2nd of June: Under Inspection.
Ok. No wonder I’ve not heard of it since I guess in practice it’ll only apply to citizens from rich countries who don’t need a visa to enter and stay in Taiwan for quite some time.
If you need a visa you anyways have to show all kinds of financial support, employment etc.
I don’t know if they request additional documents to applicants from countries without visa exempt.
the card includes visa.
I know it includes visa. I’m saying you couldn’t have a previous history here without the ability to enter right?
I’m not sure if we are talking on the same thing.
People can apply from outside without a previous history and a future employment in Taiwan.
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Where would past performance come from?
Yes I know we can apply from outside without it that’s what I did. But you were talking about past performance. I assumed you meant past performance within Taiwan. Sorry guess I misunderstood the part about past performance.
Still nothing. NIA isn’t answering the email from TECO Houston nor the one I sent myself. I need to pick up the phone and call.
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Yes, but I gained insight today when visiting their office to collect some other legalised docs. The guy chuckled when I asked about the gold card, said I should not expect it to arrive, pointing out one of the notes on the PDF intended for collection - which is contradictory to my application and another note - so anyhow I’ve concluded it will need to be picked up in Taiwan, regardless. For the the resident visa (to gain entry in times of covid) I selected the employment category and entered the gold card application number in place of the employer company name and provided a copy of the PDF. That was accepted for processing. Let’s hope it’s a step forwards!
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…and 2 steps back! Today their office called me (a different person) with the news that my application could NOT be accepted in that category with the gold card. Further that I will also need to provide a medical certificate (signed by a doctor, then validated by medical board then legalised) in order to qualify under a different category (I did not dare to ask!).
Plenty of scope for expletives here, but I’ll maintain dignity and proceed with the paperwork.
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I’ve been following a few posters’ Gold Card progress and felt I should provide a timeline of my own here. I decided to apply under the Economy category using salary. I provided a W-2, copies of this year’s pay stubs, a letter stating my salary, my diplomas, and some reports I’ve done just in case.
Timeline:
2020-05-21 Submitted; “Under Review”
2020-05-25 Changed to “待二審”
2020-05-26 “Professional Review by Workforce Development Agency”
@lin_ts I feel we’re in very similar situations. I’m applying from California, and because of the delays I saw in some others’ applications when trying to get the card sent overseas, I opted to pick up in Taiwan. I was told the digital Resident Authorization Certificate would work. But I’m curious about the status of your passport submission - you just mailed a notarized copy of your passport but not your actual passport? What did the LA TECO advise for this step, and when do you expect your passport to be processed? It feels like this phase of the process shouldn’t be that complicated.
Also, after the passport phase, you expect to receive the digital Resident Authorization Certificate?
@skilmosa Sorry to hear about your situation. You’ve been at it since February? From what I gather, you applied in the Economy category, and opted to pick up the Gold Card overseas (from Europe), but then it never got delivered overseas and you were told you’d need to pick it up in Taiwan. Then you tried to apply for a special visa to enter Taiwan.
If that’s the case, are you going to completely re-apply for a Gold Card, or re-apply for a special resident visa? What kind of medical certificate are they referring to - a health check? And which category are you applying under?
The GC is granted already. I dearly hope that is not undermined! I plan to update my GC address detail once in Taiwan then pick up a replacement locally. The special/covid/resident visa is in progress, hopefully allocated to whatever is considered by the office staff to be the correct category once I’ve got the medical (health check on vaccinations and TB etc. according to a standard form). The original GC application is in the economic category.
I get the feeling that a behind-the-scenes policy is place blocking overseas delivery and that the maximum number of criteria are being applied to visa requests.
Anyone else here have some pointers on this?
Passport submission during TECO office closures in COVID:
@crs125, yes, I put a notarized copy of my passport, plus the passport notification paper, and a short note, and sent it via USPS priority mail. The passport submission was complicated because the TECO Los Angeles office is closed for physical work due to COVID-19, and I think TECO LA closed in March and didn’t resume mail service for non-emergency cases until May 1, so there was already a backlog of cases. USPS picked up my package June 2, I expect it to arrive June 3, them to look at it and process it sometime by June 17, and then relay the confirmation to the central department and the next stage should be IC card printing and then get the digital resident authorization PDF.
Since each TECO only receives very few gold card applications from overseas, and probably only a few TECOs have received gold card applications while there are shelter-in-place orders, I think it just took a while to get someone at the right department to confirm I could do this (there was one specific person I had to get routed to). They are working quite hard to keep things going though, someone even called me back on Saturday. I was actually going to pre-emptively just mail the notarized copy of the passport last week based on @pin2xbo’s instructions, but was told to wait for confirmation first since they wanted to see if I had to send it to another address. I also called someone at TECO Seattle, who knew about the notarized copy (after all, if I’m going to mail it, it doesn’t really matter which TECO right), because @pin2xbo had submitted that way, but they said I had to submit through TECO LA since I wasn’t in their jurisdiction. The LA office is quite busy now, but if you call and leave a message (ideally during business hours) someone will return your call same-day. Since the health department says stay at home orders will likely stick until the end of August, you may have to mail in your notarized copy too if you are in TECO LA. If you are TECO SF, I also suggest contacting them pre-emptively to just get them familiar with passport submission.
If you are applying through TECO LA though, it should be much faster for you now that they are familiar! There are also stories like some TECO offices not taking FedEx, and the BoJack poster having his (different visa) submission messed up because he chose early morning before-8am UPS delivery, and UPS tried to deliver before 9am and it failed, since TECO Houston was only open there 9am-12pm on Tuesday/Friday back then. Bojack Comes Back. So USPS Priority Mail is probably safest
^I basically followed that instruction
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Entering with the PDF digital Resident Authorization Certificate 電子許可證明 during COVID-19 entry restrictions (passport, ARC holders and special permission only):
So far at least @crs125 and I have received info that the Resident Authorization Certificate 電子許可證明 is good for entry even under the COVID entry restrictions starting March 19, because we have an Alien Resident Certificate and number, even if the physical gold card is in an office in Taipei. They luckily have also created this handy poster today:
So most of us would fall under “Foreign National” and "Holder of R.O.C. (Taiwan) Residence Certificate.
I also received this email from the immigration office in TECO LA:
“2.您持有「電子許可證」即可進入臺灣，很抱歉本工作組無法提供任何證明文件 ，如果航空公司有何疑慮，他們會逕向臺灣有關單位查證 .”
When I fly, I plan to just use the PDF certificate, print it out, and if the airline has an issue, have them call NIA Taiwan or TECO LA. Luckily I have a direct flight so things are simplified. A nontrivial number of airports are not allowing transfers except under limited circumstances, which would complicate things.
https://www.immigration.gov.tw/5475/5478/6928/6940/212474/228470/
The original text of the guidelines:
https://www.boca.gov.tw/cp-220-5081-c06dc-2.html
“1. Taiwan will bar foreign nationals whose flights depart after 00:00 Taipei Standard Time (GMT+8) on March 19 from entering the country in accordance with measures announced by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC). Exemptions will be granted to Alien Resident Certificate holders, personnel on diplomatic or official business, persons who can prove they are fulfilling commercial and contractual obligations, and persons requiring special permission.”
@skilmosa, it seems you are applying for the resident visa because you are bringing family members along who need the resident visa? In an earlier post you alluded to the resident visa being (“superfluous”) for yourself, because you already had the gold card and the PDF digital Resident Authorization Certificate, but you would need the resident visa for your family members.
Re: Gold cards in an office for people who originally asked to have them mailed overseas, I wonder if in the recent disruptions, the gold cards are just in an office in Taipei somewhere. If someone manages to get transferred to the right person we can probably figure out how why/if they are actually there.
Just in case, has anyone managed to enter with one of these PDF Resident Authorization Certificates after March 19? If not, one of us will be the first guinea pig.
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I notarized 3 pages of the passport per the advice of the notary that i visited. The page with photo, visa stamped page (i only had one), and another that i don’t remember. I did it to be safe, since TECO email wanted “entire” passport.
I submitted the notarized copy with self-addressed prepaid regular envelope with a stamp. I included my payment receipt of the gold card. Passport submission notice from the website. Email copy that have the instruction. I also downloaded and filled out a form from TECO LA website (Application Form for Authentication).
https://www.roc-taiwan.org/uslax_en/post/134.html
Not sure where I read, but someone mentioned about submitting notarized copy with that form.
Mailed in a regular envelope to TECO, attn: Employment Gold Card Application, on 5/1/2020.
TECO confirmed receipt on 5/4/2020.
Status changed to “Under Inspection” on 5/7/2020, then to “IC Card in Process” on 5/10/2020.
I received an email that the application is approved, and was able to download the Resident Authorization form.
Status changed to “Completed” on 5/12/2020.
Still waiting for the card to arrive.
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LOL ironically TECO LA didn’t bring up any of the other forms. No wonder my envelope felt so light. You are working with TECO Seattle, right? I also only did 1 page of my passport (the photo and facing page), we’ll see how this goes haha.
It was probably an over-kill from my end. The payment receipt was used to pick up the gold card from previous poster. Anyway, sorry my post was late. Yes. TECO Seattle.
Edit: I also included the passport submission notice! Changed my post.
No worries, it’s not late haha. Thanks for adding this info
Thanks for the info. I’m in the Bay Area so am relying on the SF TECO. It’s very hard to get hold of them, but I’ll keep trying today so as to get some info on what to expect in the passport phase and if they have prior experience with it.
Hope yours goes smoothly, and keep us updated!