Taiwan (DNV)
Taiwan Employment Gold Card
Launched 2018.
- Income req
- $6K/mo
- Initial validity
- 3 yr
- Renewable
- Yes
- Application fee
- $200
- Permit fee
- $0
- Processing
- 4-12 wks
- Path to PR
- 5 yr
- Path to citizenship
- 5 yr
Income requirements
- Monthly minimum (USD): $6K
- Monthly minimum (native): 160,000 TWD
TWD 160,000+/mo (last 3 jobs)
TWD 160,000/mo (~USD 5,500) recent salary OR meet 8 specialty categories. Highly skilled professional standard.
Tax treatment
- Becomes tax resident: After 183 days
- Special regime: Gold Card holders: foreign-source income above TWD 3M (~USD 100K) tax-exempt for first 3 years
- Foreign income: First 3 years: foreign-source income above TWD 3M exempt. Domestic income at progressive 5-40% PIT. After 3 years: full residency taxation.
Taiwan Gold Card has the most favorable specific tax incentive for highly-paid foreign professionals in Asia outside Singapore/HK.
Remote work requirements
- Must work for foreign employer: No
- Local clients allowed: Yes
- Local employment allowed: Yes
- Self-employed accepted: Yes
- Salaried vs freelance: both
Family inclusion
- Spouse: Yes
- Children under 18: Yes
- Dependent adult children: No
- Parents dependent: No
Family reunification via derivative ARC.
Path to PR & citizenship
Permanent residency
- Available: Yes
- Years required: 5
PR (APRC) after 5 years on Gold Card with 183+ days/year presence.
Citizenship
- Available: Yes
- Years required: 5
- Language test: Yes
- Language level: Mandarin + civics
Naturalization at 5 years legal residence on Gold Card. Taiwan generally requires renunciation of prior citizenship for naturalization — significant for US persons.
Eligibility requirements
- Non-Taiwanese
- TWD 160K+/mo recent salary OR specialty category (tech, finance, academia, culture, sports, law, architecture, science)
- Clean criminal record
- Bachelor's degree typical
Disqualifiers
- Below income floor AND no specialty qualification
Recent changes
- 2018-02
Gold Card launched.
- 2021-2024
Categories expanded; processing improved.
Notes
Taiwan Gold Card = 3-year multi-entry + open work + 3-year foreign-income exemption + path to PR/citizenship. Best 'high-skill nomad' option in East Asia for US tech professionals. Renunciation requirement for citizenship is the catch.
EasyPassport is a document-organization tool focused on citizenship by descent. This page is reference research, not legal or financial advice. Always verify with the official program authority.