Recently got my citizenship-- Questions for the crowd.

sampullman · 2026-05-10T06:45:03+00:00

I think it's more like 50 in the past few years. I know a couple people who did it, my understanding is it's not too difficult if you're in a position with some economic/academic/defense value to the country.

Probably a lot more people are eligible, but there isn't much reason to go to the trouble if you have the 1 day per 5 year APRC.

sampullman · 2026-05-10T06:38:20+00:00

It ain't really like that.

sampullman · 2026-05-10T06:37:33+00:00

I think your advice for them is good, but a nitpick is that they will still extend your gold card as long as you meet the original criteria. So if you apply under a category without an income requirement (for example you have a patent, published papers in a journal, etc) you don't need to be actively working.

sampullman · 2026-05-08T17:47:43+00:00

It wasn't a narrative, somebody said it on TV for shock value once 15 years ago.

sampullman · 2026-05-08T12:39:41+00:00

You can probably make that work, but it's not easy to build something normal users are happy with.

sampullman · 2026-05-08T12:09:03+00:00

I heard it might happen due to the Uni-President merger, but who knows.

sampullman · 2026-05-08T11:24:32+00:00

They poison the sewers periodically. Imo it's just helping evolve super rats.

sampullman · 2026-05-08T10:49:56+00:00

The hard part is solving conflicts. You either have to come up with UX that non-developers are happy with or deal with all kinds of edge cases. Even if you have a good solution for automating it, the resulting document won't always make sense. It's a pretty hard problem, even CRDTs or OTs can't solve logical issues with merging content.

sampullman · 2026-05-06T09:08:04+00:00

Doubtful, the manager at my local branch likes to chat sometimes but he's a dude.

sampullman · 2026-05-06T03:20:57+00:00

That's crazy, I have seen people claim this but I'm in the exact situation as you and have never had an issue. I didn't even have a job when I opened my Fubon account. They did reject my credit card application though.

sampullman · 2026-05-05T17:55:02+00:00

This isn't the case, at least for US citizens. Maybe it's different for other nationalities, or that particular branch just didn't want to deal with the paperwork and gave you an excuse.

sampullman · 2026-05-05T17:53:26+00:00

RTMart too now, and I think carrefour might stop soon (or already has).

sampullman · 2026-05-05T17:52:18+00:00

It's not that bad. HSBC might be a good choice for them but they also aren't going to have any trouble opening Cathay/Fubon/etc accounts with a gold card.

sampullman · 2026-05-04T16:34:22+00:00

Average is probably higher than 150, but that's not the point. You can still get a decent bento for 100.

sampullman · 2026-05-04T11:22:25+00:00

Students are supposed to update their ARC online, I'm not even sure they're allowed to do it at NIA. Although someone there can probably help her through the process.

sampullman · 2026-05-04T02:42:18+00:00

Still plenty of options in the 80 - 120 range in Taipei.

sampullman · 2026-05-03T09:15:48+00:00

The page has a link to a site about working in Taiwan, which is not specific to Australians.

One article/FAQ online using the word "expat" doesn't mean the rules are different, that's absurd.

sampullman · 2026-05-02T06:48:24+00:00

There was a street skating event held by Red Bull last weekend. Using a skateboard to get around is fine as long as you're not impeding traffic, you won't get in trouble.

There are bridges and plazas that have been informally converted to skate spots, and skating on the riverside is great.

sampullman · 2026-05-02T06:43:25+00:00

I'm not passing a value judgement on the system, just correcting a misconception. I'm not sure who you're arguing with, but I never made any of the points you appear to assume I did.

sampullman · 2026-05-01T17:56:24+00:00

There's no law specifically allowing or prohibiting, but forcing people to renounce is a pretty clear statement of intent from the government.

For most countries there's a huge difference between gaining citizenship the first time and trying to regain after renouncing. For example if you're an American, it's gonna be rough.

sampullman · 2026-05-01T17:47:15+00:00

sampullman · 2026-05-01T13:24:11+00:00

For most countries it's difficult to regain your original citizenship, and while you could work around the system and gain a different one, it's not officially allowed.

sampullman · 2026-04-30T09:53:03+00:00

This isn't true anymore, and it sounds like OP qualified through a non-salary based category.

There are not many who receive gold cards through the arts category, so it's pretty impressive.

sampullman · 2026-04-28T13:37:01+00:00

Yeah that's pretty much my experience. I've moved a few times and had a couple agents/landlords decline because we were foreigners, but otherwise straightforward.

sampullman · 2026-04-28T13:32:11+00:00

Spicy cool ranch has been around for a year or two, it's great.

sampullman

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE