I think that the link you cite will allow you to apply. I started here: General Visa Application .
I think that there are various circumstances that qualify a visitor for special entry visa. I think that all will require a letter of invitation from Taiwanese private enterprise or Taiwanese government agency. There may be other Forumosa>Legal>Visa & Residency threads such as Business visit (special entry permit) - #5 by rooftopclown that can tell you more.
For your other questions, see if you can find answers in the Gold Card threads or maybe Gold Card experts will answer.
10/22 - Gold Card arrived at Atlanta TECO
10/23 - I picked it up
I finally received my Gold Card! Joan from Atlanta TECO called me on Thursday last week and said it had arrived but they were closed until tomorrow. I went first thing in the morning on Friday. Her supervisor asked for my ID, compared the name and then had me sign a receipt. I finally have it in hand! Thatās just under three months start to finish, and there were no documentation difficulties or anything, just the Atlanta TECO being unfamiliar with the program, and probably being overloaded with Taiwanese making arrangements to return to Taiwan with American family members.
I booked my ticket back when it changed to āCompletedā on 9/28, giving myself 21 working days + a week, and it turns out it arrived quite early. Now I have an empty apartment and two weeks to kill before my flight leaves
Iām making a video about the gold card and wondered if there are any benefits that I have not thought of. Specifically Iām curious about access to public services, like access to NHI and putting your kids in local schools. Are there any other public service benefits you and your family would receive from the gold card that you would not get if you were on visa runs? Thanks!
I canāt talk about family benefits, but for the rest itās basically EVERYTHING. When you are doing visa runs, you are a tourist who canāt legally work, rent a home, buy a vehicle, enrol in NHI, buy local insurance, open a bank account (cough cough, sometimes screaming works for this ), get a phone contract (cough, cough, same ), etc. without mentioning that NIA might refuse you entry into the country after one of your runs if they feel that you are taking advantage of the 30/60/90-day visa free period. Unlikely, but there is always the chance.
Any ARC would give you the above benefits, but the uniqueness of the Gold Card is that you can change employer as many times as you want, freelance, open your own company without meeting the minimum requirements to give yourself an ARC (because hey you already have one), study or just take a break and enjoy the waves in Taitung.
I had a bunch of notes from my gold card application process that I was sending to a few friends, so I decided to write it all up as a blog post to explain a bunch of the tips and tricks that are scattered around the web. I donāt imagine itās too useful to folks who have followed this thread, but it might be useful to send to any friends you have who are interested in applying: https://notebook.wesleyac.com/taiwan-gold-card/
Comprehensive and well-written, with lots of useful tips and tricks. Cool! In case I will need another gold card at some point, I will check out your post again Thank you!
Ummm, no. You have the gold card for three years. And, you only need the 3M criterion if you need to give yourself an ARC from the company. And, if the proposed legislation passes, gold card holders should be able to get a PARC after 3 years, so hopefully Gold card directly to PARC.
Thanks Boaz25. I suppose I brought this on myself by asking what are the benefits over visa running. Yes, thereās all the stability stuff. I guess Iām mainly concerned with public service benefits. So NHI, public schoolsā¦and I guess thereās nothing else really useful besides that? To be transparent, I am trying to compile all the benefits over the digital nomad visas being offered by Estonia, Georgia, Bermuda etc.
Awesome idea, man, all the best I think that the Gold Card and the digital nomad visas have different philosophies behind. The former aims at bringing in foreign talent with the expectation that most will permanently settle in the country, while digital nomad visas are aimed at intercepting location-less professionals who are likely to switch to a new one every year or so. Like, both can be freelancers, but the Gold Card holder probably plans to live in Taiwan forever, while the digital nomad in Estonia will take the opportunity to stop by for a while before the next destination. I think this is why the Gold Card allows for joining NHI, bringing in family and (if approved) a faster path to Permanent Residency. Digital nomads in Estonia, if Iām not wrong, need to provide evidence that they have purchased a private insurance. As another comparison, the Gold Card kind of expects foreigners to find a job in Taiwan or run a business that would benefit the country. Estoniaās DNV is almost the opposite with the holder not really encouraged to work locally, unless itās an additional/minor task (referring to: https://medium.com/e-residency-blog/faqs-about-estonias-digital-nomad-visa-b04f12551e30).
Share with us the final article once ready. I didnāt know about Bermuda, I might find even more locations that I hadnāt thought of
OK, so letās consider the end of the 3 years is approaching and the one-man freelancing is going modestly well, perhaps at Gold Card level, but below 3M annual turnover (so youāre not employing yourself). Since you have no employment contract, by which route can the new ARC be obtained?
If you have enough income for the Gold Card, you just get the gold card for 2/3 more years (after 2 years [total of 5 years] you can apply for the APRC under current regulations). The gold card is based on income alone. I donāt quite get the disconnect here ā¦ It is not specific to the job or company that you have, and has nothing to do with the regulations that govern companies or issuing arcs through companies.
You would have to make sure that the type of income you are receiving is the type recognized by the gold card application (not dividends I think), but I would check into that with and accountant beforehand. It would probably make sense to set up the company to have everything paid to it, nd then you receive an income directly from it. Then there would not be an issue at renewal time.
And like I said previously, this will likely (hopefully) be a non-issue soon, and Gold card holders will just apply for their APRC when the 3 years is up (once the legislation is passed).
Thanks for clarifying my train of thought. As you point out; thereās a need to determine whether taxable income is a sufficiently recognized qualifier or whether a formalised employment is preferable. Thereās still time to await developments in legislation.
haha. Itās actually a video for youtube, and I already filmed it. But I have a spot where I could add text for the different social service benefits that come with the gold card. I love everything you wrote, and thatās pretty much exactly what I said in my video.
As for the other DNVs, in addition to Estonia and Bermuda, thereās also ones from Anguilla, Barbados, Georgia, and Croatia. These have all been rolled out since the pandemic, and more or less in response to the pandemic. (Although the Estonia one has been in development for about 2-3 years, but they finally made it official in July) I have heard Thailand and Indonesia are trying to create something as well but nothing yet.
Since joining the NHI to my understanding is only possible after half a year, it equally applies to Gold Card holders that a private insurance is (practically) mandatory, isnāt it?
Then preparing for yet another quarantine.
), get a phone contract (cough, cough, same 
), etc. without mentioning that NIA might refuse you entry into the country after one of your runs if they feel that you are taking advantage of the 30/60/90-day visa free period. Unlikely, but there is always the chance.
Thank you!
I think that the Gold Card and the digital nomad visas have different philosophies behind. The former aims at bringing in foreign talent with the expectation that most will permanently settle in the country, while digital nomad visas are aimed at intercepting location-less professionals who are likely to switch to a new one every year or so. Like, both can be freelancers, but the Gold Card holder probably plans to live in Taiwan forever, while the digital nomad in Estonia will take the opportunity to stop by for a while before the next destination. I think this is why the Gold Card allows for joining NHI, bringing in family and (if approved) a faster path to Permanent Residency. Digital nomads in Estonia, if Iām not wrong, need to provide evidence that they have purchased a private insurance. As another comparison, the Gold Card kind of expects foreigners to find a job in Taiwan or run a business that would benefit the country. Estoniaās DNV is almost the opposite with the holder not really encouraged to work locally, unless itās an additional/minor task (referring to: 