The developer of this building has not been able to sell any units on the market Moreover, the developer’s chairman Sheen Ching-jing (沈慶京) is in pre-trial detention on charges that he bribed Ko Wen-je and city councilors to get USD 500 million worth of extra floor space for his Core Pacific mall redevelopment projects. Long-term residents of Taiwan will remember him as one of the Four Celestial Lords of the late 1980s stock market. He has an extremely colorful past and is an excellent example of the venal mainlander business elite who used to run everything in Taiwan.
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His previous architectural Taipei wonder Core Pacific Mall was indeed one for the ages. Behold!
Some fun old articles about what it contained:
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Joshua Samuel Brown! Writing a blog entry! 
I miss those days.
Guy
Who are these 4 lords? Are they alive or dead???
I’ve heard the cost of this 12 story (if I remember correctly) mall was something like 1/3 the total cost of the 101 due to the imported granite. It was just too inaccessible without an MRT stop and completely surrounded by residential neighborhoods.
I lived next door from 2009-2011 and have fond memories of the cinema, the food court, wandering through the creepy abandoned theme restaurants on the top floor, and almost being taken out by one of the palm trees during a typhoon.
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It remains one of my regrets that I never visited this place before it was demolished.
The closest I came to the “failed mall” genre in Taiwan is the massive and similarly pointless Winddance Mall in Hsinchu City which flopped in the 2000s before eventually being taken over by the Sogo group and refashioned (not demolished) as Big City Mall.
Guy
You can read about them here. I think two are still alive including Shen of Core Pacific fame.
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Taiwan (and China) hand Ralph Jennings with a good new article highlighting that Taitung will also be a target destination with some support from the county government there.
There is still nothing on the BOCA website despite the supposed launch today. I predict a rough start over the next few months as Taiwan sorts this out. It appears that nothing is in place yet except the announcement.
It took the better part of a year for news of the Gold Card to reach all of Taiwan’s embassies. Taiwan likes soft openings. 
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Hopefully the process for the digital nomad is simple. A foreigner with a strong passport doesn’t have much reason to apply for a 6 month visa when they have 3 months visa exempt entry without any paperwork and can do a visa run to somewhere like HK on HK express for about $100 USD.
The process for the 6 months Japan digital nomad is quite complicated, and not worth the effort for anyone with 3 months visa exempt entry: https://www.reddit.com/r/movingtojapan/comments/1am3h3d/digital_nomad_visa_megathread/
Perhaps if they give a quick way to convert from digital visa to a regular ARC, or digital visa is quick to apply for vs. the 1 month wait other visas like GC. Haven’t looked at the details.
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What I heard is that it’s just a stock standard 90 day visitor visa, extensible for 90 days (as many are). will anything actually change, or is this just a modest update to internal processing…
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Might be a good idea to split this digital nomad/visitor visa into a different thread?
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I’m not seeing much here except maybe for the small subculture of ultra-frugal nomads from rich countries and possibly digital nomads from SE Asia. Although why either group would want to live in a more expensive place is a big question.
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Some details on the Digital Nomad Visa (translated):
National Development Council Directive
Republic of China (Taiwan), December 31, 2024 (Year 113)
Document No. 1131101527The “Guidelines for Qualification Review and Processing for Foreigners Applying for a Digital Nomad Visa to Taiwan” are hereby stipulated and shall come into effect on January 1, 2025 (Year 114).
Enclosure: “Guidelines for Qualification Review and Processing for Foreigners Applying for a Digital Nomad Visa to Taiwan”
Chairperson: Liu Jing-Qing
Guidelines for Qualification Review and Processing for Foreigners Applying for a Digital Nomad Visa to Taiwan
- These Guidelines are formulated to implement the Executive Yuan’s plan to attract digital nomad talent, specifically with regard to reviewing qualification requirements for digital nomad stay visas.
- Foreign nationals who are eligible for visa-exempt entry, engage in remote work by digital means, do not provide labor services to any enterprise or employer within the Republic of China (Taiwan), and meet certain conditions may apply to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or an overseas mission for the issuance of a digital nomad stay visa. Such a visa shall be valid for three months, allow multiple entries, grant a three-month stay, and carry no endorsements prohibiting extensions or other restrictions.
If the visa holder needs to continue staying in Taiwan upon expiration of the permitted duration of stay, they may apply for an extension with the National Immigration Agency of the Ministry of the Interior before the stay expires, without leaving the country. Each extended stay may last up to six months in total.- The “certain conditions” mentioned in the preceding Article refer to meeting any one of the following criteria:
- Having previously been issued a digital nomad visa by another country, with documentary proof provided.
- Being at least 30 years old and having earned at least US$40,000 in one of the past two years.
- Being at least 20 years old but under 30 years of age and having earned at least US$20,000 in one of the past two years.
- Applicants shall submit the following documents to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or an overseas mission:
- Proof of engaging in remote work by digital means and proof of meeting one of the conditions specified in the preceding Article (as per the attached table).
- A Republic of China (Taiwan) visa application form.
- A foreign passport valid for at least six months.
- Other required supporting documents. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the overseas mission shall forward the documentation regarding remote work by digital means and the applicant’s eligibility under the specified conditions to the National Development Council for review and will provide the review opinion thereafter.
Where necessary, the reviewing authority may consult with other relevant government agencies.
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Is interesting that the qualifying income is stated in USD instead of NTD?! Even more ineresting that it fails to say equivalent of USD xxx
Yeah, here is the original text:
三、前點所稱一定條件，指符合下列情形之一者：
（一）曾獲發其他國家數位遊牧簽證，並可提出證明。
（二）年滿三十歲且最近二年任一年年收入達四萬美元。
（三）年滿二十歲未滿三十歲，最近二年任一年年收入達二萬美元
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So can only American’s apply hahaha?
If see the attached image it also refers to the tax documents you can use from various countries. They will likely do the same as the Gold Card where they take the Bank of Taiwan exchange rate.
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Yeah but even the gold card criteria said equivalent of ntd
Correction gold card criteria says above ntd…
Given it says
of USD 40,000
, what happens if you make USD 50,000 are you precluded 
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Taiwan is issuing six-month visas to foreign “digital nomads” to help plug talent shortages linked to falling birth rates.
What talent shortages are digital nomads who work completely remotely outside of Taiwan expected to fill exactly? And what does that have to do with falling birth rates? Do they hope they’ll come here, sow their seeds and pump out a bunch of kids?
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