An Invisible Wall at the Bank Counter: Why Immigrants in Taiwan Can Live 20 Years and Still Be Rejected

For many foreign nationals and new immigrants in Taiwan, the hardest barrier to daily life is not language, housing, or employment—it is the bank counter.

In an exclusive interview with Storm Media on February 2, Chen Hsue-hui, Secretary-General of the TransAsia Sisters Association Taiwan (TASAT), said Taiwan’s banking system is built around a rigid idea of the “typical user,” one that systematically treats cross-border residents as high-risk customers regardless of how long they have lived in the country.

“The system assumes a very narrow life path,” Chen said. “If you don’t fit it, you become invisible.” （Related： Lai's Approval Ratings Show Signs of Recovery as Opposition Loses Public Support ｜ Latest ）

Homemakers Reduced to “Credit Ghosts”

To identify where exclusion occurs, TASAT recently partnered with Taipei Fubon Bank to launch a seven-language Financial Literacy Questionnaire for New Immigrants and convene a series of focus groups. The findings revealed a pattern that participants described as humiliating and routine.

Applicants reported being questioned as if under interrogation about why they needed an account, asked to provide unnecessary private contact details of employers, or rejected outright after listing their occupation as “full-time homemaker.”

Chen shared one case that has become emblematic of the problem.

A woman who has lived in Taiwan for twenty years, with stable family assets, applied to open a new bank account. Because she did not have a formal payroll record, her application was repeatedly denied. Her children then transferred money to her account every month for six consecutive months to demonstrate financial stability. When she reapplied, the bank still rejected her.

“This is what happens when the system only recognizes salary slips,” Chen said. “Family-based economies simply do not exist in its logic.”

The result, she argued, is a population of long-term residents who are effectively turned into “credit ghosts”—present in society, but absent from the financial system.

Three Trips to the Bank—and Children as Translators

Beyond documentation hurdles, language remains a heavy, often hidden cost.

Second-generation participants in the focus groups described a familiar routine: their mothers typically need to visit a bank three times for a single task. The first visit ends in confusion over complex administrative terms. The second is to submit missing documents. Only on the third trip is the process completed.

Because most banks lack multilingual forms or clear explanations, children are frequently forced to take time off from school or work to serve as unpaid interpreters and guides.

“This is not about individual mistakes,” Chen said. “The system is designed for Mandarin speakers with fixed salaries—and everyone else pays the price.” （Related： Lai's Approval Ratings Show Signs of Recovery as Opposition Loses Public Support ｜ Latest ）

Expats See the Same Wall

The problem extends well beyond immigrant households.

According tothe 2026 Business Climate Survey by AmCham Taiwan, foreign professionals rate Taiwan highly for safety and quality of life, but consistently rank banking services among their lowest areas of satisfaction.

Chen said the data mirrors what TASAT hears on the ground. “This is not a series of isolated incidents,” she noted. “It is a structural barrier.”

“Banking is not a luxury,” she added. “It is essential infrastructure for everyday life. If access depends on fitting a single social template, Taiwan’s image as a ‘friendly’ society will remain superficial—welcoming to tourists, but not to residents.”

Pushing for Structural Change

TASAT plans to continue collecting case evidence and to open dialogue with financial institutions and regulators, including the Financial Supervisory Commission. The goal is not preferential treatment, Chen stressed, but transparency and intelligibility.

“We are asking for systems that people can understand,” she said. “Fair rules, clear explanations, and recognition that modern societies are diverse.”

Until then, for many who already call Taiwan home, the most daunting frontier remains unchanged—on the other side of the bank counter.

（Related： Lai's Approval Ratings Show Signs of Recovery as Opposition Loses Public Support ｜ Latest ）