Canadian CPA CA in Taipei

 As I am pretty certain anyone following along has noticed, I did not quite enjoy my time in Taiwan (understatement). When I first decided to relocate to Taiwan, part of my assumption was that if things did not work out, I would be able to relocate elsewhere in Asia or Europe without the need to return first. This turned out to not be a possibility. As a result of this, and issues when exiting I thought it would be appropriate to write about my exit adventure, so that others are forewarned should their stay in Taiwan prove to not meet expectations. At the time of writing this I have already been out of Taiwan for 3 months. Trying to relocate elsewhere and the barriers Taiwan erects: Here are some of the countries I tried to get long tern visas for and the reasons I was not able to get them: Cambodia - offers one of the easiest paths to obtaining residency with very low requirements. However, as Cambodia is fully aligned with China, there are no embassies or trade offices in Taiwan ...

 After a lot of deliberation, and with a bit of inspiration from a fellow gold card holder who's post can be found here , I have decided to write a post about whether you will find Taiwan suitable to you. Please note, that the following are my own views and observations, and you should always try to seek as many opinions as possible before deciding whether Taiwan is for you. I have personally found that Taiwan is not the place for me, so if you are looking for a post that will affirm your decision to relocate to Taiwan, you may want to find an alternate blog, or perhaps you may decide my reasons are not a deterrent for yourself. Before I get into details, there are a few cultural differences that I would like to highlight: Taiwan is #1 - there is a mindset in Taiwan held by both locals and foreigners that Taiwan is the #1 place on earth, despite a lack of immigration or anything else to suggest it is indeed #1. This applies to handling of Covid, living standards, healthcare, educat...

As a follow up to my previous post, as to why Taiwan, came the part of how to make Taiwan work for a relocation. Just as I was heading home on December 11, Covid was taking a hold in Asia. Unlike western nations that wouldn't realize the potential impact Covid would have until around mid-March, in Asia precautions were being implemented everywhere in December. Landing back in Toronto it seemed that the reaction in the pacific rim was just an exaggerated response to a problem that did not exist. This obviously all started to change. As I was heading back to Canada, I began making plans to relocate around July 2020. I started looking into the different visas, and how to be able to stay in Taiwan for a minimum of five years. I figured out that being Canadian meant I could spend up to 180 days in Taiwan on a visitor visa. As I work remotely, I figured this would work for me, as it would provide me with sufficient time to find a local job or something similar for me to obtain an ARC (...

Why Taiwan? Is probably the most common question I get when I tell people I have chosen to relocate to Taipei. The answer to this question will most likely surprise you. I considered moving to Asia starting in 2016, and at the time I was focused on relocating to Thailand. Who hasn't seen all of those amazing pictures of beautiful beaches, mountains, jungles, elephants, temples, and of course the food. I was pretty certain that nothing would deter me from making my way to Thailand. That said, I took the advice of others and started looking into it in detail, and decided to go see the country for myself in November 2019. On November 9, 2019 I set out from Toronto to Bangkok to start a 29 day Thailand adventure that would take me to 11 various spots in the country. At the time I booked my flight, the best deal I was able to find was using Eva Air. As my goal was to get to and from Bangkok, I didn't give much thought to where my layover would be as there were no direct flights ...