My impression is it is overall much easier to get the Gold Card. Gold Card has no cap and in fact they seem to want more people to receive it. QMAS is capped and you’re competing directly against many other competitive applicants.
You won’t qualify under Science and Technology.
I am sorry to break it, but there are zero chances under that.
You will need either publications, patents, very strong academic background or at least a mix of them. And my understanding is that under Science and Technology you will ALSO need to hit the 160.000.
I have applied under science and technology with:
- Salary that is above 300k+ a month for the last 3 years;
- Below 30 years old of age
- 8 years of experience as a Technical Sales and Solutions Architecture
- Speaker at cloud events with audiences of several hundred people
- Several technical articles/blog posts written alone as well as with certain cloud/technology provider
- bachelor degree in computer science from a reputable institution in the UK
And I was told after 3 weeks of waiting (I applied on the 18th of May) that I would not be able to qualify under Science and Technology due to my lack of publications and a weak academic background, and had to move under Economy (kinda ruining my time-line since right now is still under review since the beginning of June).
So I am not sure how could you be able to stand a chance under the same category.
It seems that initially some people have been able to get away with some extremely technical content they created/published, but I can tell you quite before hand that this is not anymore the case.
My recommendation is to look under Economy, and if you do not qualify or you have no requirements simply let it go and wait when the border will re-open.
1 Like
Word.
I think you got that a bit mixed up. My understanding is that if you apply based on salary, you also need to have the experience, i.e., papers, patents, etc. But you don’t need to have the 160,000 TWD salary if you meet the other requirements. In contrast to the other common categories, where salary alone seems sufficient.
But yeah, I also thought that when reading the above post earlier (having previously applied in this category as well).
Are they specifically looking for patents and publications for the science and technology category, or is it pretty subjective case by case basis? Also can you submit additional docs if they say you don’t qualify?
I sent in a cv but didn’t include any publications (I only had two from college, which was too long ago). I submitted 1099-misc showing about 24m TWD / 800k USD for last year but didn’t include anything else since i thought that met the req of “at least one”. I’ve been waiting for about a month now. Probably better to wait for a result than switch to economy category at this point.
There’s a detailed list - see the link in this post. (And they do seem to be strict on these.)
They won’t take a 1099-misc. It has to be a w2.
Maybe due the amount of it though they’ll make an exception. I wouldn’t hold my breath.
I took a look at that list of reqs for science and tech and, wow 22 pages, I think I got lost after the 2nd page. I didn’t see the list while applying online through the gold card website. Maybe I qualify for a few on there, but some of them seem rather subjective. If I move to economy category it would probably restart the process from reading replies, so I’ll just see it through the sci/tech category and will report back if there’s progress.
I don’t understand to be honest - you need to choose a subcategory from this list and upload the corresponding documents when you apply.
You mean you already applied and paid without choosing the most suitable subcategory and providing the required evidence?
When I went through the online gold card application website, it asks me to choose from several categories. One of them is science and tech, which lists the requirements as having “at least one” of several requirements, the first of which is 160k TWD req. So I applied under there because I meet the “at least one” requirement, submitted documentation for it and payment. There’s no link to the document you mentioned. I think this is why everyone is not applying under a general economic category, because they meet the requirements of their subcategory already. Maybe something got lost in translation?
IIRC, there was a link on that page underneath the category you chose, which directs to the list of requirements. Not the most obvious, but it was there (at least when I applied). I think I’ve seen it in other places on the website too, such as the information section.
I’d be tempted to contact them rather than wait, if that’s the case - I applied back in January before the current backlog and had some issue with some of my documents because they were issued in China. They didn’t bother contacting me for 6 weeks or so until I started chasing up my application, and I can’t imagine they’ll be faster now. Or just wait if you want, but I suspect they might ask for more documents for the technology category (I think there are some posts about this above - don’t know whether you’ve read the whole thread or not).
I went through the application again and I see the link to the documentation now. Though it says “at least one” in there as well, so it’s not clear if just meeting the salary req is enough. I’ll try contact them and check.
Correct, they look at the W-2.
I read through a lot of helpful info in this thread and submitted my application last week under the Economy category using the NT160k criterion. The status was just updated to 待二審 (pending second review) this morning.
Would anyone be able to comment on the current timeframe of the application process?
I submitted one US W-2 form for the salary requirement along with my CV as reference. Should I anticipate a request for more documentation?
My 180 days are up at the end of July and I’m trying to gauge when I should make travel arrangements back to the US if the application isn’t determined before then. Any insight from those who have recently completed or are currently in the process would be appreciated. TIA!
Did you get an email of the status change, or did you have to check the site? I sumbitted my application on the 16th and then got a request by email a couple days later to.enter my old ARC number, but then nothing since.
Wanted to share a data point and thank the community for all the knowledge on this thread.
May 22 - Applied under economics
June 17 - Submitted Passport for Review
June 24 - Picked up passport and status changed to IC Card in Process
June 29th - Picked up Gold Card
As background, I have a PhD in Economics (submitted diploma), with 30+ peer-reviewed papers (submitted CV), was visiting faculty at a university in Taiwan a few years back, and run an economic consultancy with offices in US, Taiwan, and Shanghai. For proof of income, I submitted the a 1040 and Schedule K-1 (because it’s an LLC in the US).
6 Likes
Thanks a lot for sharing, this is very useful.
Initially I submitted mine on the 19th of May, very disappointing if I think about the fact I could have everything approved… haha
I had to re-apply under economics on the 2nd of June, let’s see if this week I will move towards the passport submission phase, or not.
Looking at your time-frame, I should be still in time to get mine by second half of July, towards the end, but my profile is absolutely less impressive than yours haha
Congrats on receiving your GC today and thanks for detailing your experience.
Your timeline is encouraging. Did you submit all of your docs in the beginning?
No email of the status change, just checked the site.
1 Like
Yes I did.