The only reason to come to Taiwan during the incorporation process is that most local banks request the representative to visit the bank in person for bank account opening. Thus, if you want to assign a foreigner as the representative for your Taiwan business entity, the representative will need to come to Taiwan 2 times for the preparatory and official bank account opening.
The Taiwan banks can be categorized into 3 main types, government-owned banks, private-owned banks, and foreign-based banks. In order to facilitate the incorporation process, some banks can accept a Power of Attorney (POA) instead of visiting Taiwan in person.
Government-owned local banks
It is very easy to open a bank account in government-owned banks. However, they do not accept the POA for bank account opening and request the representative personally to visit the bank in person;
Private-owned local banks
They provide more flexibility to clients as they are more aggressive to attract customers. However, each bank has its own policy and the relationship is also important;
Foreign-based banks
Foreign-based banks provide the most flexibility for the bank account opening to clients. For example, some banks accept POA and some banks will arrange web meetings. However, they usually set certain requirements, e.g. annual sales, capital amount, certain industries. Their target clients are usually large-sized and multinational companies.
Selecting a proper bank to open the bank account during the incorporation process is important. Sometimes, the incorporation might be significantly delayed by miscommunication with the banker. Thus, you should assign a Taiwanese agent or a person who can speak Chinese to support the bank account opening.