The Taiwanese government gave me $10,000*

One New Taiwan Dollar (NT$) is usually worth around five New Zealand cents, or three US cents.

NT$10,000 is therefore worth NZ$500 (or US$300). And thanks to a one-off Taiwanese government initiative, I now have that much cash in my wallet.

This happened because the government just gave all citizens and permanent residents a one-off cash payment, ostensibly to help offset the effects of US tariffs and rising inflation.

But as an economics graduate, I feel obliged to note:

• Inflation in Taiwan is currently 1.6%, which is considered ideal by most other countries. (The Reserve Bank of New Zealand, for example, targets a rate of 1.5%, and the US Federal Reserve’s target is 2%.)
• The Taiwanese economy is already booming, with GDP growth forecast to be around 7% this year. The handout may boost this to 8%, which is stunningly high for a developed economy.
• Cash handouts, ironically, are inflationary.

…So the word “ostensibly” is doing a lot of work here. The economic logic is not infallible. But still, getting $10,000 feels pretty good.

I’m especially lucky to have benefitted from this policy because I received my Alien Permanent Resident Certificate (APRC) just in time.

By pure coincidence, the final step of the APRC application process involved paying the National Immigration Agency a $10,000 fee. So, in effect, I paid the Taiwanese government $10,000—then a couple of months later, I got that money back.

Permanent residency for free is something most migrants around the world can only dream of.

(It wasn’t actually free, of course. Other costs on the immigration pathway typically include document verification, medical and police checks, and application fees for inital visas. But still, $10,000!)

I got my money from an ATM at 7-Eleven. Under “Withdrawal”, there was an option called “Cash for Everyone”. I entered my APRC and National Health Insurance numbers for verification, and boom! I received ten $1,000 notes.

The receipt even included the friendly comment “From Executive Yuan”—the executive branch of the Taiwanese government:

Thanks, Executive Yuan! Your policy may or may not make economic sense, but it definitely makes me $10,000 richer 🥳

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