Thanks a lot for sharing, man. Encouraging to see that Audrey Tang is involved 
She is doing a great job to modernise government services.
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Was waiting to post until I finally had the Gold Card in hand, because there were some strange issues on the way but things got sorted out fine.
I applied for a Gold Card from America under the Economy category and based on the salary requirement, and I chose to pick up in Taiwan because I was worried about the time it might take for the card to get sent to America.
Timeline
2020-05-21 Submitted. āUnder Reviewā
2020-05-25 āå¾
äŗåÆ©ā
2020-05-26 āProfessional Review by Workforce Development Agencyā
2020-06-23 āPassport Submission by Bureau of Consular Affairs or Overseas Missions of R.O.C. (Taiwan)ā
2020-6-29 took passport to my local TECO office, which was one of the craziest experiences of my life because it was much, much more than a passport dropoff. But somehowā¦
2020-7-1 āUnder inspectionā
2020-7-2 āIC Card in progressā
2020-7-2 Complete - received digital resident authorization certificate
Then things got interesting, what with the COVID testing requirement and then the subsequent partial reversal of that rule.
With no clear information after calling so many different parties, I boarded a flight, and it worked.
2020-7-5 Entered Taiwan with the digital resident authorization certificate.
2020-7-20 after quarantine ended, picked up Gold Card from NIA.
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More than rules preventing it, I was worried of grey areas, which were a constant in the old regulations. Singapore PRs, for example, are aligned to citizens when it comes to work: they can be freelancers, they can open a company and work for it with no restrictions whatsoever, etc. The concept of āopen ARCā seemed to me more like Singaporeās Personalised Employment Pass, which would not allow for the above. But again, in Singapore everything is clear and stated black and white, while here it is open to interpretations 
which is not always bad.
If I secure my Gold Card (fingers crossed), I will share more about the progresses of my freelancing!
Congratulations! Can I ask which TECO? I have to go through the Los Angeles TECO, and they have not responded to email or phone calls (but it has just been a couple days). Also tried to see if I could change the TECO for the passport check, because I have heard that they are taking over a month to process, but no response yet.
Can anyone recommend an agent with experience successfully applying for Gold Cards? Thanks very much.
SF TECO. At that time (donāt know about right now) their office was open on a limited basis, and I just scheduled the passport check for a couple days later, then drove there and gave it to them in person. They took copies, asked strange questions, and gave the passport back to me. It only took a few days to get to the next step.
Not sure if you can go there because some things in the process are dependent on jurisdiction, but it would certainly speed things up if you could.
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Theyāve requested supplementary documents, so Iām working on pulling those together.
Has anyone had a technical issue uploading supplementary documents to the application portal?
I go the āUpload Documentā tab and choose the file to upload, but there is no actual āSaveā or āUploadā button. If I click āNext Step,ā it takes me to the āPreviewā tab, but the file does not appear in the list of āAttachment Uploadedā (all I see in that list is the documents from my original application).
Similarly, if I try to edit fields on other tabs of the application, my selections donāt save. (I can manipulate the drop-down menus, but then when I go to āPreviewā my old selections are still there.)
What should I do?
Iād avoid using an agent, to be honest.
The process is straightforward and takes between 3 to probably 6/7 minutes.
It does not require any particular information, just your name, where you live, category you apply and uploading documents.
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I encountered the same issue - the preview doesnāt appear to correctly reflect newly updated documents and fields, but once you hit save, they should take. Youāll see it on the confirmation page afterwards. I ended up with duplicate documents because I had re-uploaded my original docs again.
I tried to call to get help prior to hitting save but just got the run around. The people at the support number for the website only speak Chinese, so I didnāt get very far with them.
I also validated my passport at SF TECO in late June. I called them and they asked me to mail my physical passport, along with the passport validation form, a short letter documenting my request, and a USPS priority envelope with label so they could return the passport. It took them a day to validate and I had it back the next day after that.
Did you manage to find a workaround for this?
Hi everyone,
This thread and the FAQ have been super helpful for me during this process so I thought Iād contribute my own experience. Iāve seen some posts here saying that non-salary/1099 income is not accepted for the Economy category, or to call in advance and ask, and I think the FAQ site says this too. I didnāt see this before I applied, so I submitted my 1040 and the āsubstitute 1099ā form the main company I freelance for sent me at the beginning of the year in early June. Since the payment is nonrefundable anyway I decided to wait and see what happened.
In early July, someone from the āTransnational Workforce Affairs Centerā (literal translation, it was all in Chinese) emailed me asking for tax proof. I thought I had done this, so I called them and they told me they needed a W2 or 1099 and that the 1099 I submitted isnāt good enough because they wanted āthe official one with tables.ā Fortunately I was able to get that from my company and I sent it to them. About a week later, I was notified to submit my passport and today I received an email saying that I was officially approved.
Iām not sure if something has changed and theyāre being more lenient now, or maybe I was accepted because I was able to pass the income requirement with a single 1099. Iām not sure if it has any relevance, but Iāve had ARCs in the past, including one for the same kind of work I do now. However I was not asked to submit a CV or anything else besides tax documentation. I hope this is helpful to someone - I am not a regular reader/poster here but I will try to respond if anyone has any questions. Good luck!
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Thanks so much for joining and posting your experience, @blueskywhitesky.
It looks like the FAQ needs an update. Are you able to tell us which box on the 1099 your freelance income was put in? Eg 7 Nonemployee Compensation?
@fifieldt maybe could give you a very useful magic link, worth more than any agent. I believe he would give it to you forā¦ Letās say half the cost of an agent. Just a few hundred USD I guess.
SCNR
Really, as people mentioned before, just do it. Itās not rocket science.
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Yes, thatās right, Box 7 Nonemployee Compensation.
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I submitted an old 2017 W-2. If this doesnāt work, Iāll submit a 1099 as blueskywhitesky mentions, very helpful info!
Like you an others, I had issues with the upload Ming of documents. I called the Mr. Huang#. I also sent an email on the same issue. I then received an email from Mrs. Jian who asked that I sent the documents to her email address and she would add them to my account. Was a very nice process and chatted with her throughout my process. Office staff is very helpful. wchien@wda.gov.tw
Thank you so much, @jephhy and @Awvelo, for your responses. I have sent a note to Mrs Chien asking what I can do to get the updates made to my application before I submit it.
On another note, everyone, I want to share some information about my application in case it helps others.
I am an Economic applicant under the salary requirement. I meet the monthly salary requirement as worded in the regulations, but because I worked the job for only part of the year, my annual income shown on my U.S. W-2 tax form is less than [NT$160,000 * 12].
In my original application on 14 June, I attached a letter explaining my situation. I wrote, āPlease note that I worked for [company] for only part of the year (from [date] to [date]).ā I also stated what my monthly salary was at that job (in both USD and the NTD equivalent).
On 21 July (over a month after applying), I heard back:
Application result: documentation was insufficient. The tax statement (W-2 form) of 2019 shows that the yearly income on salary from [company] is X USD (equivalent to Y NTD, at the exchange rate of 2020/7/10, 1 USD to 29.075 NTD). The monthly average income is Z NTD, which has not reached the amount required (160,000 NTD). Please supplement the tax statement or salary certificate showing that within three years prior to applying you hold a position with monthly salary of at least NT$160,000.
Based on this message, and a subsequent phone call, itās not clear to me that the reviewers read my letter explaining my dates of employment. (I had also included in my original application the job offer letter from my employer stating explicitly what my monthly salary would be, and they donāt appear to have registered that either.) My best guess is that the reviewers just looked at the Wages line of my W-2, because that is what they are used to seeing, assumed that that was income earned throughout the year, and divided it by 12.
Mrs Chien advised me to submit a letter from my employer with their logo, my name, the position I held, my monthly salary, my dates of employment, and a signature from someone at the company. I have obtained this letter and will submit it once I can get my technical issues sorted out. I am also going to throw in paystubs as backup.
She said it could take them 30 days to review my supplementary documents/revised application, which is discouraging, but I am going to press on with it. I am not giving up hope.
I am sharing all this detail to spare others a similar fate. If you meet the monthly salary requirement, but your annual salary was less than 12x the monthly requirement because you worked the job for only part of the year, definitely call ahead before you submit your application!
If this works out, I will of course report back to confirm that the letter from my employer worked. Fingers crossed.
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Hi everyone.
I am new to this thread and the entire forum. Sorry in advance if I ask too many āamateurā or āill-informedā questions - I cannot seem to find a concrete source of information that relates to my set of circumstances. I am here, hoping someone will guide me.
I am wanting to apply for the Gold Card, under the Education category. From what Iāve seen, there arenāt many (very little, in fact) applications that are accepted, compared to the Economy category (please correct me if Iām wrong). Naturally, Iād be worried about this, but I am remaining optimistic.
QUALIFICATIONS
Bachelor of Arts (Majoring in Japanese)
Bachelor of Music (Majoring in Piano)
Postgraduate Diploma of Teaching (Classroom Music)
Master of Teaching (TESOL - Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages)
Alma Mater: The University of Melbourne, Australia.
I have just under 7 years teaching English as a Second Language to migrants (namely, refugees) both in the classroom and through distance education.
Over 12 years teaching piano, privately (though I doubt this would have any impact on my application if I do decide to go through with one).
I also have a government issued teaching license.
I do not qualify for the $160,000 NT salary requirement because, well, you know, Iām a teacher. Enough said, I guess ā¦
I guess the only category I (potentially) fall under is the education category, but will my profile be sufficient for this ever increasingly popular gold card? I am really hoping it will, and I hope more than ever, someone here could let me in on whether Iād be successful or not, or if it is even worth applying.
I thank you for reading my post. I look forward to any comments. Have a lovely weekend, and stay safe.
Fiona.
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Mhh, doesnāt sound too promising for my application as I am in a similar situation: Started working in July last year and first submitted my paystubs from January to May this year. They then rejected my application stating that they want tax information.
Just sent the updated application away on Monday - but of course the tax information for last year falls short of the 160k average monthly salary for the year. I stated that I only started that job in July last year multiple times (and one of the tax documents also says so), but after what you have written, it sounds like my application might get rejected once again in a couple of weeksā¦ 