I had to get interviewed. Doesn’t everyone?
I thought you had to make an appointment to hand in documents.
It might not be a lot more hassle, but it is more trouble than renewing a spousal ARC.
However, it is only slightly more trouble one time.
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I didn’t last year. This was in Taipei, and I think you might have done yours in New Taipei? Maybe it’s different there, or for a marriage APRC?
It was a quite simple process. Just handed in the forms, paid, and that was pretty much it. I don’t remember being asked anything.
It was.
Same as @MikeN1 would get.
To be fair, i think i got a new and eager worker who was going above and beyond.
I was asked about investments, savings, why i wanted it etc.
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No interview. I just went in, handed in the documents and was done. Took only a couple of minutes.
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Mine was too.
I was asked about nothing.
Or maybe he thought to himself “oh this guy looks dodgy” 
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It was a woman. Maybe she wanted a bit of the big man now he wasnt relying on his wife for a visa.
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Also went from marriage ARC to APRC and no interview.
I was interviewed at NIA+ police visit and interview at my house for marriage ARC
I was police visited and interviewed at my house when I naturalised as well.
There doesn’t seem to be a formula. I think whoever takes your documents decides what to do. NIA woman was a b*tch so I think it was her way at getting back at me for not taking her BS.
HHRO who took my naturalisation was a dumb dumb woman likely born during the Qing Dynasty and think she just sends police to everyones house who naturalises.
Oh Miaoli.
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New Taipei may be more diligent than Taipei. Considering they (with Taoyuan) have to deal with bulk of foreigners in Taiwan, when you compare with Taipei or Keelung.
I just changed mine due to passport renewal. 1000 fee.
Some do, some dont. It’s at their discretion. They can make it easy as pie or worse than passing a kidney stone. There are loads of stories on either side of that aisle. Mine took nearly 3 years to obtain.
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When I went in to renew my ARC last month the lady was asking me if I wanted to apply — I’m not sure what the extra steps are, but the main reason I haven’t is I’m not sure if we’ll still be in Taiwan, or if we’ll be moving back to the states in 5 to 10 years (and applying for the exemption seemed like more paperwork)
If my wife ever passed away, I can’t see myself living here anyway so that’s not a major concern.
I would be very interested in naturalizing if they ever dropped the renunciation requirement, however
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I don’t know if they waive for Gold Card holders, but I didn’t pay anything when I updated my passport details due to renewal.
That is weird
You see people come up with reasons to justify anything to avoid some extra paperwork .
Solid plans to leave within 5-10 years
Don’t want to live here upon death/divorce of wife
Etc…
Bear in mind that I’ve heard of many who were similar to you but their plans changed.
I recently saw one who posted on a Facebook group trying to justify staying on an arc for 15 years saying he couldn’t justify the cost and believed he was leaving soon.
I can never understand those people.
Unless you have solid plans to leave within a year… (I mean solid… like a job lined up etc…) then there is no reason other than “I can’t afford $10,000 ntd” in which that case… you should either be already gone or seriously reconsidering your move.
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That’s why I naturalised. It’s permanent so if I want to go back to Taiwan, I can 
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I actually wanted to move back sooner, but my wife wants to get her nursing degree here (4 year degree) and transfer it to the states.
Taiwan is quite a bit easier/cheaper to raise little kids as well, and so the plan is to wait until our youngest is 5 so he can jump into kindergarten in the states.
Can you extend the over 180 days exemption indefinitely? My understanding is I can extend my marriage ARC indefinitely even if I’m not living here as long as I renew it at the proper time
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Excellent plan.
Nursing jobs are in extremely high demand in the U.S.
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Do you no longer have to get a home country police report? I actually once took the first steps to apply for an APRC, but it was just after 9-11, and the RCMP told me they were swamped with checking all the aliens in Canada, and it would take a year to get a police clearance report (and then have to get it translated- minor inconvenience, I know).
So what I suggest doing then is working on the paperwork for your spousal visa and lodging it asap. That way it can be processing in the background so you can have smooth transition back to the states.
You don’t need it now. However, I note the amount of foreigners that applied right after the requirement was removed… a big deal of them (not all) likely had criminal records.
Taiwan should not allow this… but yes you no longer need the police report from your home country.
You can translate it in Taiwan. For cheap. And fastUnlike nearly everything in Canada haha… And there are places around every court in every county happy to do it. I did mine myself and had them notarize/stamp it. Once you get it sent here, it’s pretty painless. The only thing for some is the interview that might yield bad luck. Otherwise, it’s easy as pie. And they like Canadian passports. Just don’t apply after a pedo or pot head in the news and it’s easy as usually for Canadians.
Edit.
Interesting. I’m with you, I like the idea of having it. Making it easier and less strict on time was necessary. And perhaps making it more about the interview and having better SOP setup.