Taiwan

The Employment Gold Card has been available since February 2018. It combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate and re-entry permit into a single document, valid one to three years. It comes with an open work right and the ability to found companies. Government fees run roughly USD 100–310, depending on the validity period and whether you apply from abroad. There is no investment requirement. As at 28 February 2026, there were 8,372 valid Gold Cards in circulation, out of 15,924 approved cumulatively.

Under the economy field, you need an average monthly salary of at least NTD 160,000 pre-tax, roughly USD 5,000 a month, or USD 60k a year, in any one year within the three years before applying. Here is the critical part. This is assessed using a foreign annual tax statement divided by twelve, such as a W-2, P60 or T4. Self-employment income, dividends, distributions and unevidenced consulting fees frequently fail to qualify. This is the single most common reason for rejection. There are also eleven other recognised fields, each with its own ministry-assessed criteria, plus a special-expertise catch-all.

You do not need to hold the card in any active sense. There is no minimum stay required to keep it. But permanent residency, known as the APRC, is different. That requires 183 or more days a year for five consecutive years, reduced to three years for Foreign Special Professionals holding a Gold Card, with the same 183-day condition still applying. Anyone treating the Gold Card as a paper residence will never convert it into something permanent.

Yes, and it holds up. Foreign Special Professionals get 50% of qualifying salary income above NTD 3m excluded from taxable income for five years, as long as you had no Taiwan residency in the preceding five years. Overseas income sits outside the ordinary income-tax base, and Gold Card holders also get a five-year exemption from the Alternative Minimum Tax on overseas income. The reliefs do not cover investment income, and you should model out year six, when the AMT can begin to reach overseas income above the threshold.

Capital gains on listed securities are effectively 0% for individuals. The securities transaction income tax is suspended, replaced by a 0.3% transaction tax. Real-property gains are a different story, taxed at 15–45% depending on holding period. Inheritance and gift tax run a progressive 10–20%, low by regional standards, and there is no wealth tax and no exit tax. Overall, this is a mild tax environment compared with Japan or Korea.

It is possible after five years of continuous residence, but the real barrier is renunciation. Taiwan generally requires you to give up your existing citizenship before ROC citizenship is granted, which creates a window where you hold no citizenship at all. There is also basic Mandarin and civics testing. Very few foreigners take this route. For most people, the APRC, Taiwan's permanent residency status, is the realistic end point.

It is the obvious risk, and honest planning names it. For a one-to-three-year Gold Card, it is not a reason to stay away. The value is exceptional and the commitment is light. But it is a reason not to concentrate family assets or a primary-residence plan in Taiwan. Treat the Gold Card as low-cost optionality in Greater China outside the PRC, not as the anchor of a twenty-year plan.