How to get multi-year resident status in Taiwan through the Taiwan Employment Gold Card – Part II: Spouse application

In August 2020, we announced that after coming to Taiwan to shelter ourselves from the uncertainty of the COVID19 pandemic, we became Taiwanese residents and decided to make Taiwan our temporary home until we can resume our travel.

We became residents thanks to the Taiwanese Employment Gold Card program that launched in 2018. Since this program has plenty of great benefits but isn’t well known, we decided to write a detailed blog post to explain what this program is about, who it is for, what are the benefits, what are the requirements to meet and wrote an extensive step by step guide for anyone interested to apply based on our experience going through the process. (Check out our How to get a multi-year resident visa in Taiwan: the Taiwan Employment Gold Card [Part I – Online application] for more details).

This post is a follow up to that first post where we will be covering the process to bring your spouse on board, as a Gold Cardholder. Similar to our previous post, we will be going in-depth at the requirements and the steps you need to follow.

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER REMINDER:
The content on this site is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute either professional financial or legal advice. This post is based on our own experience with the Gold Card application process as of the time of publication. Please refer to the Official Gold Card Application Instructions for Foreign Special Professionals in Foreign Countries as your source of truth. We won’t be held responsible for any actions you might have taken based on the content of this post. For more information please review our disclaimer page.

What is the Taiwan Employment Gold Card (aka Gold Card)?

If you haven’t read our first post about how to get a multi-year resident visa in Taiwan, here is a refresher. The Taiwan Employment Gold Card is part of the Act for the Recruitment of Foreign Professionals, which was implemented in February 2018. As of June 30, 2020, only 872 Gold Cards have been issued (source) which indicates that this program hasn’t been very well publicized, especially for all the benefits you get (we will cover that in a little bit).

The goal of this program is to help Taiwan attract more highly-skilled foreign talent in several professions which are deemed of importance to the economy, under which qualified foreigners can apply for. These professions are the following: 

• Architectural Design
• Culture & Arts
• Economy
• Education
• Finance
• Law
• Science & Technology
• Sports

Who generally applies for the Taiwan Employment Gold Card?

If you want to find a job in Taiwan, you usually identify a company in the country, go through the interview process, and – if hired – have your employer apply for a work permit for you. You then get a resident visa that is tied to your employment status with this employer. This means that if you lose your job, you need to leave the country. (This is very similar to the H-1A Visa in the USA).

What are the benefits of the Taiwan Employment Gold Card?

The Taiwan Employment Gold Card acts both as a work and resident permit valid for 1, 2 or 3 years. It includes the following benefits:

• a resident visa – Your right to reside in the country
• an Alien Resident Certificate (or ARC) – This is the physical card that acts as your proof that you can legally reside in Taiwan
• multiple-entry permits – This allows you to leave and enter the country as many times as you need to (even during COVID19)
• an open work permit – This gives you the option to apply for any job in Taiwan without needing to be sponsored
• ability to apply for National Health Insurance – This lets you utilize the very good and affordable healthcare system that Taiwan offers. 
• ability to bring your spouse & kids to Taiwan under your resident visa
• ability to invite your parents/grandparents (your lineal ascendants) to visit you during your stay – This is pretty useful during COVID19 since foreign travelers are not allowed inside the country
• ability to enjoy discounted income tax (on any revenue earned in Taiwan)

What are the requirements to obtain a resident visa as a Spouse of a Gold Card cardholder?

The spouse of a Gold card holder, can apply for her own resident visa. As a spouse you will get the same benefits (see previous paragraph for full list) that the Gold Card holder, except the open work permit, which means the spouse won’t be able to work during your stay in Taiwan unless sponsored by a company. 

As of this writing, you need to gather the following information in order to apply (source):

• Application form
• Two color passport-size photos
• Passport and one photocopy of the passport
• Original and one photocopy of health certificate
• Original and one photocopy of spouse’s Alien Residence Certificate (aka Gold Card)
• Original and one photocopy of proof of marriage, authenticated
  

While most of the requirements are pretty straightforward, there are a few that need specific attention and we will be covering them here.

Original and one photocopy of proof of marriage

According to the official document from BOCA (source), your proof of marriage needs to be “authenticated by a R.O.C (Taiwan) overseas mission”. This means that you need to submit a request for authentication to the TECO office that belongs to the state/country where your marriage has been registered. (list of TECO offices here).

To authenticate your proof of marriage you need to submit the following documents (source from TECO in San Francisco, California). During the pandemic, some TECO offices won’t accept you in person and the only way you can submit your application and document is via mail. (if the office isn’t closed).

Here is the documentation required for a mail-in application:

• A duly completed document authentication application form.
• A photocopy of you and your spouse’s passport (or driving license)
• The original copy of your wedding licence / certificate
• A photocopy of your wedding licence / certificate
• Application fee (see note below)
• A return envelope (in the USA, only USPS is accepted – Do not provide a UPS or DHL envelope as we’ve heard they won’t be used – this might be related to the pandemic). 

Additional notes

• The processing fee is $15 per original document to authenticate and $7.5 per photocopy (at time of writing – please check with your local TECO for the latest fees)
• While your TECO office might offer you to authenticate the photocopy of your marriage certification, we’ve been told by the SF TECO office that it is the original that is required to apply for a spouse visa.

Original and one photocopy of health certificate

We did not have to submit this since we managed our application within Taiwan so we don’t have the specifics. The document from the BOCA website states the following:

1 – The health certificate should be issued within 3 months by one of the local hospitals designated by the Centers for Disease Control of Ministry of Health and Welfare of the R.O.C. (Taiwan) or a foreign hospital.  Health certificates issued by foreign hospitals must be authenticated by a R.O.C. (Taiwan) overseas mission.

2 – Visit the website of the Centers for Disease Control at https://www.cdc.gov.tw/En for health checkup items and the list of designated local hospitals.

Where to apply for a spouse resident visa?

Once you have gathered the required documents, you can apply for your resident visa (aka ARC card) either in Taiwan or through the local Embassy. These embassies are usually referred to as Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (or TECO) and you can find a list of them in the world here.

Pro-Tip #1: Due to the pandemic, Taiwan doesn’t currently allow foreigners to enter its territory. So until this restriction is lifted, you will need to provide this information to your local TECO office to receive your ARC card and be able to enter Taiwan. In normal circumstances you could get the marriage certification authenticated back home, enter Taiwan under a visa-exempt visa, and then submit your resident visa application within the first 180 days of your stay. 

Pro-Tip #2: If you plan to send everything to your local TECO office, send everything at once, meaning the documentation to get your wedding license certificated as well as the document to get your resident visa and mentioned that you need the certificate for the purpose of the resident visa. Note: we haven’t done that so check with you local TECO office if this is possible to process both applications at once if you need to do one after the other.   

How long does it take to get your Spouse’s visa?

Short answer: About 5-7 business days if you apply within Taiwan and probably a few weeks if you apply overseas due to additional processing times. 

Pro-tip #3: If both you and your spouse qualify, to speed things up (especially during the COVID19 pandemic) and avoid back and forth with your local TECO office, we suggest that both of you apply for the card and ask to pick up your card once in Taiwan. Once your application is approved, you will be able to download a PDF that you can use to board your plane and enter Taiwan while the border is still closed to foreigners.  

How to apply for the Taiwan Employment Gold Card? 

(If you don’t have the Taiwan Employment Gold Card yet, please check out our post: How to get a multi-year resident visa in Taiwan: the Taiwan Employment Gold Card [Part I – Online application]).

The application is done online via the Gold Card Online Application Portal.

Since there are a lot of moving parts, we created a nice step by step guide that goes through the application process where we share screenshots of the application portal as well as each email we received to help you apply as easily as possible without making a potential mistake that might significantly delay your application. 

If you are interested in receiving a FREE copy of our guide, please provide us your email address so we can send it to you.

Additional Resources

Here are further resources that we have been been using when we went through this process you can check out as well: 

• Official Gold Card Application Instructions for Foreign Special Professionals in Foreign Countries
• ROC Embassies and Missions Abroad
• Resident Visas application details for Foreign Spouses of Taiwan Residents
• Resident Visas application details for kids of Taiwan Residents
• Application details to get marriage license authenticated (SF TECO office)
• Forum thread on Forumosa about the Spouse process for Gold Card cardholders
• Forum thread on Forumosa about the Dependent Spouse process in general
•  Taiwan Gold Card FAQ (unofficial website with lots of great resources)

Our Bottom Line

If you have earned at least the equivalent of 1,920,000 NTD (~65,000 USD) in one of the past three years, you are eligible to apply for the Taiwan Gold Card which provides you with great benefits to come to Taiwan for around $300 USD (this includes a resident visa, multi-entry visa, open work permit, great health care, ability to bring your family along and much more). You can also bring your spouse onboard by gathering a few more documents so both of you can enjoy similar benefits (minus the open work permit for the Spouse).

We feel really grateful to have discovered this program and are thankful for Taiwan to have provided us with the opportunity to become residents. We feel that other people should be aware of this program and in this unprecedented time, they might prefer coming to Taiwan rather than staying in their respective country if they have the flexibility that we do

And because the process can be really confusing at first, we hope that this blog series about the Taiwan Gold Card (part I is here) will help you get up to speed and go through the application process for yourself and your spouse in a smooth fashion! 

Did you know about the Taiwan Employment Gold Card? Would you consider applying for it? What additional questions do you have about it? Please feel free to share any questions you might have as we will be happy to answer from what we learn by going through the process ourselves.