Suggestion: List of private firms and/or individuals that can advise a gold card applicant

[casey]

I'm considering applying for a gold card, but am unsure about if I qualify, what category I should apply under, and what supporting documents I sould include in my application.

I'm reaching out to the government agencies listed on the site, but they are slow to respond, and not always super helpful.

It might be nice to include links to private firms, like immigration lawyers, that can be contacted for paid advice and assistance regarding a gold card application.

Thanks so much for the site, it's an awesome resource!

[pqvst]

Out of curiosity, what information do you feel the website is currently lacking in terms of helping you figure out which category you would qualify for? Any feedback would really help us to improve the content!

I'm guessing you've already checked the Gold Card Qualification Checker?
https://visafinder.tw/gold-card-qualification/

If you need professional advice, your best bet is probably to find a Taiwan based immigration lawyer that can help you.

[casey]

Out of curiosity, what information do you feel the website is currently lacking in terms of helping you figure out which category you would qualify for? Any feedback would really help us to improve the content!

Absolutely! I'm a programmer, and have worked in VR and blockchain, as well as for major companies, but I'm unsure if having worked in those areas is enough to qualify for the technology track, or if I would additionally need to have demonstrable research achievements, like patents, etcetera.

I'm guessing you've already checked the Gold Card Qualification Checker?
https://visafinder.tw/gold-card-qualification/

I have, but it wasn't clear to me whether I qualified. It said that I might qualify, but for instance, I don't know if having been a software engineer in VR and blockchain was enough to make me "exceptional".

If you need professional advice, your best bet is probably to find a Taiwan based immigration lawyer that can help you.

It was easy to find Taiwanese immigration lawyers, but I wasn't sure if any of them were good, so a list with some pointers to firms that others have had a good experience with would be the kind of thing that would be very helpful.

[fifieldt]

Thanks so much for jumping in and providing ideas @casey, very much appreciated.

To speak to the qualification and document requirements a little: this is indeed the 'tricky' part of the application. No one quite knows what's needed to support each category (even the professionals). Different government departments are interpreting things in different ways, and it's clear even they are still working out the program.

Eventually, we want to gather knowledge from the community of people who have successfully applied and provide real-life examples of the kind of documents people submitted for each category.

To date, I haven't heard much feedback about any legal/migration shops helping applicants, which makes sense given that this is designed as a self-application approach. Those that had help mostly received it from their large corporate employer, who has people that handle visa applications. Others who enquired to lawyers were surprised by how large the fees were for assistance. I'll ask around for some more information to see if anyone had a good experience.

If you're used to working iteratively, and have a little bit of time up your sleeve, one thing you can do is simply pick a category and apply. This is possible because 1) if the documents you provide are insufficient, you get several chances to revise them and 2) you can change the application category after submission free of charge. The only issue with this approach is each time you need to run through the skill verification process it will take ~20 days.

[casey]

Thanks so much for jumping in and providing ideas @casey, very much appreciated.

You're totally welcome, I really appreciate the site!

Eventually, we want to gather knowledge from the community of people who have successfully applied and provide real-life examples of the kind of documents people submitted for each category.

I think that would be super helpful, along with knowing a little bit about the background of successful applicants. (Which could be anonymized to avoid giving away personal details.)

To date, I haven't heard much feedback about any legal/migration shops helping applicants, which makes sense given that this is designed as a self-application approach.

That makes sense. I suspect that since it's self-help, immigration firms might not have much advice because they haven't helped many people through the process.

If you're used to working iteratively, and have a little bit of time up your sleeve, one thing you can do is simply pick a category and apply. This is possible because 1) if the documents you provide are insufficient, you get several chances to revise them and 2) you can change the application category after submission free of charge. The only issue with this approach is each time you need to run through the skill verification process it will take ~20 days.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give that a shot.

I might try to collect all relevant documentation I can think of and submit everything, since I can't imagine that extra documents would hurt me.

[casey]

Since there may not be immigration lawyers that have any experience with the gold card process at the moment, I think this issue could be closed, since it isn't immediately actionable.

[fifieldt]

OK. So we don't lose this, I've added it to the list of "missing content" at #11 . The community at Forumosa is probably going to be helpful for you as you proceed - post on the gold card threads there and you will get additional helpful advice.

[casey]

Sounds good, thank you for the info and suggestions!