for anyone who did renew, y'all investment is not necessarily wasted, but likely has dimished in value.

Below is an excerpt of what the new upgrade entails (emphasis mine) and this is last updated on 03/2024. Basically this means, in the near future, the benefit of paying the 3000NTD is expedited arrival immigration clearance, where e-gates are only available to registered foreign national. On departure, everyone holding an eligible passport can use e-gate for departure immigration clearance. Me thinks this is not a good investment of ~US$95, unless you travel into Taiwan super frequently and dont have checked bags.

Source:
https://www.immigration.gov.tw/5475/...141401/233630/

Ⅱ. Highlights and Achievements
1. Features of the third- and fourth-generation e-Gate
(1) The system is compatible with previous generations of e-Gate. Thus, users do not need to re-enroll.
(2) Foreign persons are eligible to use the third- and fourth-generation e-Gate in departure.
(3) A dynamic facial recognition function is applied to accelerate immigration clearance processes.
(4) Those who have heights falling in the range of 120-200 cm are eligible to enroll for the e-Gate.
(5) Instructions in 40 languages are provided to better serve multicultural users.