Since Baba and I are approved for the Taiwan Gold Visa, we were given a resident authorization certificate.
Upon landing in Taiwan, we will need to go to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) with this certificate and get our official Gold Card and ARC, or Alien Resident Certificate.
Naively, we thought it would be an easy process to get C and O their visas now that both of us are approved. We filled out the dependent visa application online and went to the Taiwan consulate to submit it, along with the required documents: authenticated birth certificates, vaccination records and our marriage certificate. We thought we’d get the boys’ resident visas in a couple of weeks and off we go! Right?
Not quite. We got a call from the Taiwan consulate telling us that the boys’ resident visas will last only 3 months. And since we won’t land in Taiwan until August 1st, they will not approve the visas until early to mid May. We will then need to report to the NIA immediately after arriving in Taiwan to get ARCs for the boys, which requires a separate application. This process can take up to 2 weeks. We need their ARCs in order to register for school so this step is crucial.
We’re honestly still confused as to why we need the resident visa from the Taiwan consulate if it only lasts 3 months, and then have to apply separately for the boys’ ARCs in Taiwan. We thought getting approved for a resident visa = getting an ARC. Baba doesn’t think the Taiwan consulate would mislead us into getting a resident visa if we didn’t need one, so we’re just going along in good faith. Maybe there’s a good reason why people hire immigration lawyers for this stuff. 😅
Within a week of going to the Taiwan consulate, we received our authentication certificates in the mail! They attached an official letter to each of the documents we needed to authenticate, which included the boys’ birth certifications and vaccination records.
Better yet, we also received our marriage certificate authentication from South Africa yesterday – yay! A letter with similar language was attached, but there were additional certificates with stamps and seals in the packet. Looks so official and all.
But the best news of all is….Baba’s visa application got approved!! After 2.5 months of waiting and following up, Baba finally got his very own Taiwan Gold Card Visa. That means he won’t need to go through the health exam (although we probably should still get his lung checked out 😆), and he would be able to work in Taiwan if he wants to.
This morning, Baba went into the SF Taiwan consulate to submit his passport for inspection. Once that’s approved, he will receive his temporary Gold Card and we can apply for the boys’ visas.
Slowly but surely, things are coming together. 🙂
Applying for a resident visa is like putting together a puzzle. There are a million little pieces: forms, documents, health exams, etc. that you have to get in order before you can even apply for a visa. It is very confusing and laborious at times. But hey, it’s all part of the journey.
To apply for C and O’s visas, we had to get their birth and vaccination records authenticated, or officially reviewed by a Taiwan consulate. There is an option of applying for the visa and authenticating documents at the same time but with only 2 more months left before we leave, I wanted to get the ball rolling as much as possible.
After 3 years of operating by appointment only, the Taiwan consulate in SF fully opened its doors on April 3rd and was first come, first served. We arrived at the consulate at 8:20am (it opened at 9am) and there was already a group of people waiting.
Once we were inside the office and got a number, the process was smooth and efficient. While waiting for your number to get called, a few consulate workers walked around and proactively assisted people with their documents. This was extremely helpful and they were all so patient and kind! They first spoke to us in rapid fire Chinese but after seeing the confused look on our faces, they switched to English 🤣. This is yet another time I regret not keeping up with my Chinese!
A really sweet girl named Doris helped us get our documents in order. There was an issue with Baba’s name on the kids’ birth certificates (one had his middle name and one did not) so we had to follow up with additional ID verification. But Doris accepted our application for authentication in the meantime, and by 10am, we submitted our documents and paid the fee ($15 for each document). The authentication process takes about 2 weeks.
In other news, the authentication process of our marriage certificate is done! The documents are traveling all the way from South Africa and should take about a week to arrive. I was initially nervous about this process, but the agent we worked with at Wakwazi International was really helpful.
Baba still hasn’t heard back from the Taiwan visa office about his application. In the meantime, he is also trying to apply as my spouse which requires a health exam. But we hit another roadblock. One of the health tests you have to pass is a tuberculosis test, and the radiologist who reviewed Baba’s first chest x-ray has some concerns which means more blood tests and CT scan – which also means a delay and more out of pocket medical expenses.
Baba pushed the CT scan appointment as far back as possible, in hopes that the Taiwan visa office will get back to him before then and he gets approved as an individual. An individual visa will spare him from getting a health exam. I hope this is the case too.
The pieces are slowly coming together yet at the same time everything feels untethered. There is a lot of uncertainty. I suspect it’s going to feel this way for a long, long time so I guess I better get used to it.
Whew, it’s been a minute! I have some good news and bad news. First, the good news: my application is approved! I’m now officially a Taiwan Gold Card Visa holder. Bad news: Baba’s application is still in limbo and there are still so many things to do before we can all officially move to Taiwan.
Our visa application process hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. A couple of weeks after I submitted my employment certificate, I received a response that my application does not belong under the Field of Economy but rather the Field of Finance because my former employer is in the insurance brokerage industry. The problem was, I wouldn’t exactly qualify under the Field of Finance. In addition to needing to have earned NT$160,000 a month, I would need some kind of financial expertise which I don’t have.
We decided to write a letter of appeal. I argued that while the my company could be classified under the financial industry, my job responsibilities and degrees are purely in business.
Meanwhile, Baba also received a similar response. His application under the Field of Economy was denied but they offered to do a special review with the National Development Agency. We learned that this process could take 1-2 months. We were already approaching March and plan to leave on June 3rd so we didn’t have the luxury of waiting.
We felt stuck. Doubt started to seep in and I was stressed. We started googling visa requirements for Spain. Although we could qualify for their Non-Lucrative Retirement Visa, timing would be extremely tight. And do we apply for Spain while waiting to hear back from Taiwan? How much time should we give Taiwan to get back to us? Is there anything we can do now for Spain’s application that is easy and low-cost in case our Taiwan visa gets approved? Why didn’t we apply for our visa earlier?! We had many questions but no answers.
But then, on the evening of March 6, I received the fantastic news: my application got approved! The next step was to submit my passport for inspection, and go through a final review by the National Immigration Agency. On March 15, I received my temporary Taiwan Gold Card. (I will need to pick up the official Gold Card when we’re in Taiwan.)
Baba’s application is still under review. At this point, he had written a letter to the visa office with more information about his work experience and education. He requested that his application be approved under the Field of Finance since his former employer is in the finance industry and he had worked closely with finance managers.
Initially, the visa office denied Baba’s request to move his application to the Field of Finance. They told him they need to do a further review of his “unique expertise.” But just this morning, Baba received an update that he could apply under the Field of Finance. Wish they could’ve made this decision when we made the initial request – that could’ve saved us 2 weeks!!
At this point, Baba could technically apply as my spouse but he won’t be able to work in Taiwan and there is more administrative work. For one thing, he would need to get a health examination that includes a chest x-ray, syphilis test, skin exam, among other things. He would then need to get a health certificate from his doctor and get the certificate “authenticated” by the Taiwan consulate. For now, our plan is to do two things at once: Baba re-applies under the Field of Finance and goes through the health exam in case the former option doesn’t work out.
But wait, there’s more! We have kids! Before we can apply for visas for C and O, Baba and I have to prove that we’re married. (Apparently, Taiwan doesn’t recognize children born out of wedlock 😆.) But the joke is on us, because our marriage certificate is from South Africa which complicates things a bit. All documents issued outside of Taiwan must be authenticated by the Taiwan consulate from where the document originated. Well, we obviously don’t live in South Africa so we had to hire an agent to help us with the authentication process of our marriage certificate. The Taiwan consulate in SA sent us a list of agents, so I contacted one, wired him money and prayed that this isn’t some elaborate scam. Our agent told us the process can take 4-5 weeks so we continue to wait.
In addition to the marriage certificate, we have to provide and authenticate C and O’s birth certificates and vaccination records. We also had to get a health exam and certificate for C, which of course needs to be authenticated too. (Children under 6 years do not have to get a health exam so O is spared.) Thankfully, since these documents were all issued in the SF Bay Area, we can bring them to the Taiwan consulate in San Francisco ourselves. And this all needs to be done before we fill out the actual visa application for the boys!
At the very least, my application is approved so there’s a high chance the rest of the family can get their visas too. But there’s still so much do to before we get there. I’ll post another update as things move along!
A few days after we submitted our visa application, we received a request to submit supplementary documents.
“Your CV was not considered as work certificate and was not accepted. Please provide local or foreign employment certificate with related work contents in economic industries or field. And the certificate shall be issued by the company shown on your tax statement which paid salary and hired you in the financial year. Also, the certificate shall have your employment period, work position and content, company logo, company information and signature of person or supervisor in-charge.”
At first glance, I thought this sounded concerning. Did we make a mistake on our application? Did they find something suspicious?!
Though uncommon in the US, it turns out that an employment certificate is a customary practice in Taiwan. The certificate is basically a short letter in which your company verifies what you wrote on your resume is true. It needs to be on company letterhead and signed by HR or your supervisor. Thankfully, we just needed to provide one employment certificate. The certificate had to be from the company that is on the W-2 we submitted.
Example of an employment certificate:
Worried that our old employers would be confused about an employment certificate, Baba and I drafted a letter they could repurpose. Fortunately, both companies seemed unfazed by it and sent back a signed certificate/letter within a few days. Whew, one hurdle down! We uploaded the certificate in the applicant portal and again, now we wait.
I have no doubt Madrid would be an amazing experience but ultimately, we thought we’d feel most “at home” in Taipei. We understand Asian culture, have some exposure to the language and are happy to binge on dumplings, hot pot and noodles all day!
Many people have asked if we chose Taiwan because we have family there. We don’t! We have zero ties to Taiwan. We are Chinese, but our parents were born in China and Vietnam. We chose Taiwan because it fit most of our criteria.
We just submitted our application for the Taiwan Gold Card Visa. This work/resident visa allows the entire family to stay in Taiwan for up to 3 years, and access to Taiwan’s National Health Insurance system, which is supposed to be top notch. To qualify for the visa, you must have worked in the following fields:
Each field has its own requirements. We are applying under the Field of Economy aka business. Within this field, you must have either worked in specific roles or made a monthly salary of NT$160,000 (or $5,400 USD) in the past 3 years. Because of a huge influx of visa applications during the pandemic, Taiwan now requests a curriculum vitae to verify that applicants are working or have worked in relevant fields/industries. But comparatively speaking, the requirements are pretty straightforward.
The application itself was easy too. Aside from having to update our resumes, the application had only 5 sections and took about 30 minutes to complete. There are also step-by-step instructions, and live support via email and chat.
The visa application review process takes about 2 months so now….we just wait. The immigration agency might come back and request additional documents or worse, reject our application. (In which case, Spain here we come?!) Some people asked why we didn’t apply sooner. The 3-year time limit for the visa starts the day your application is approved and not from the day you arrive in Taiwan. If we were to stay the full 3 years, we’d want the boys to finish the school year, which would be around the time our visa application gets approved (assuming all things go as planned). Fingers crossed this all goes smoothly!
After deciding to move abroad, the next daunting task was deciding where to move to. We considered several factors:
Easy visa requirements Baba and I wouldn’t be working while living abroad (at least not full time) so we don’t have the option of a work visa sponsorship. We also don’t have citizenship in any country outside the US so that route wasn’t feasible either. There are people who do “visa runs”, in which they fly out of the country for a day and their tourist visa would then be renewed for ~90 days upon their return. We considered this option but concluded it would be too stressful with the kids, and we wouldn’t be able to get the same benefits as someone on a resident visa. We had to find a place that offered other alternatives for long term residency.
Lower cost of living Since we wouldn’t be working, we wanted to find a place that has a low cost of living. Or, at least lower cost of living than SF which honestly, wasn’t hard to find.
Culture & language One of our goals for living abroad is to experience a different culture. So while we love our friendly neighbors up north, living in Canada would probably be too similar to our life here. We want to experience a bit of a culture shock that will challenge us. A big part of experiencing a different culture is learning a new language too. With that said, we want to learn a language that will be useful to us.
Weather As San Franciscans, we’ve been spoiled with year-round mild weather. We complain when the temperature is above 70°F or below 60°F. It’s naïve to think that we can find a place with a similar climate, but as long as there are no blizzards and intense heat waves, I think we can learn to adjust.
Good food With the exception of O, the three of us are big foodies. We will travel for miles in search of good food. So the country we move to definitely has to have a vibrant culinary scene. We often crave Asian food, so bonus points if a place has great Asian cuisine. Food is probably the second most important factor to us, after safety. I’m serious. We live to eat.
Safety As a young family, it goes without saying that we’re looking for safety. And with the rampant gun violence in the US, homelessness and crime in San Francisco, it wasn’t hard to find a place that is safe. We also wanted to live in a place free of trash, the stench of urine, and dog poop. Is that too much to ask? (We love you SF, but you’ve got some problems right now.)
Afterward, we created a spreadsheet of possible places to move to (it was allll over the map), and ranked them in each of the above categories. We eventually narrowed the list down to two options, which I’ll share more in the next post.
Moving abroad was something we planned and toiled over since 2017(!). Then Covid hit, and we encountered challenges that made it seem impossible for us to get a visa anywhere. So for awhile, we had to come to terms that this idea may never happen. We started talking about the next best thing, which was to spend the summers abroad.
But in 2021, there was a break in the clouds. Covid restrictions slowly lifted, and Baba found a workaround in the visa that we could qualify for. Moving abroad suddenly seemed viable again. It’s been a roller coaster ride…and we haven’t even moved!
Hongs Abroad 