Are Unpaid Internships Legal, Or...?

[cleovii]

Hi all! Nice to meet you!

My company’s telling me that I don’t need a work permit. I would work for them part-time and unpaid as an intern (non-specialized work) with a tourist visa. I recently graduated with my bachelor’s; so, I’m not a student, I have less than two years of professional experience, and I don’t have my Master’s. There is no contract in sight. Is this legal?

Follow-up question: Is there a way to work for them legally?

Thanks so much for the help!

[finley]

It’s illegal. There have been a few cases of people doing ‘work’ (eg., busking or volunteering) and getting deported.

[cleovii]

Thanks for the quick response! Yeah, I read on the gov’t sites that penalties would include a fine, deportation, and three-year ban. I guess I won’t be doing any kind of “volunteering” here, haha.

[arcticsquid]

In order to do internship in Taiwan companies using Youth Mobility Visa (basically a standard visa that said you don’t need work permit)

You must be registered as a student in a university.
http://www.boca.gov.tw/public/Data/61291164471.pdf

Nationals of Australia, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Japan, (South) Korea, New Zealand, Poland, and Slovakia are given a multiple-entry visitor visa valid for one year.

Nationals of the UK are given a single-entry resident visa valid for three months.

Nationals of Austria are given a multiple-entry visitor visa valid for six months.

The company could pay you (not always do, it’s not their obligation to do so).

Other stuff
http://www.boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1314&ctNode=783&mp=2
http://www.boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1315&ctNode=783&mp=2
http://www.boca.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=1316&ctNode=783&mp=2

[cleovii]

Thank you for your response and the links! From what you said, I can’t do the Youth Mobility Visa because I’m not a university student, and as my country isn’t one of those listed for the Working Holiday visa, I’m also out of luck there.

I guess I’ll just be vacationing in Taiwan for a while Thanks again!

[yyy]

You don’t need to be a student to get a youth mobility (aka working holiday) visa, though you would need to wait for your country to be added to the list. But supposing you had a WHV, your status as a student would (apparently) just be an extra detail employers could use to avoid minimum wage etc. (I’m not convinced that this practice is legal.)

More info about WHV’s here:

Working Holiday Visa - Experience, tips and advice

I have been in Taiwan on a working holiday visa since last year. I am the only person I have met in Taiwan (except for a few Japanese and Koreans) with this visa, so we’re trailblazers in a sense. When looking for information before coming here, there really was a dearth of good information around the internet. There was some around Forumosa, which did help. The more thoughts out there the better, I suspect. I thought I would put down a few points to potentially help others who might be thinkin…

There is also such a thing as an internship visa, as explained in this thread:

Internship Visa Questions

Ah, this is interesting. The Canadian TECO’s website says nothing about internship visas* and lists interning as a valid WHV activity, but the Aussie TECO’s website tells a different story, and it turns out the information on BOCA’s website is closer to the Aussie TECO’s info. *i.e. visitor visas with “FT”, in two flavors: 實習 and 代訓/受訓 https://www.boca.gov.tw/content.asp?mp=2&CuItem=2067 (English) https://www.boca.gov.tw/content?CuItem=1259&mp=1 (Chinese) https://www.boca.gov.tw/content?CuIt…

Also, some kinds of volunteer work are now permitted, but apparently not for tourists:

Most volunteer work now OK without work permit

[Cross-posted from Forward Taiwan @ FB] Here is Forward Taiwan’s translation of a new letter of interpretation from the Ministry of Labor that significantly expands the scope of unpaid volunteer work that foreign nationals can do in Taiwan without a work permit. In a nutshell, foreign nationals can now work as unpaid volunteers on public interest projects such as beach cleanups, animal shelters, or other informal projects. Previously, foreign nationals could only volunteer at registered charit…

[cleovii]

Thanks so much, yyy! That’s a ton of info. I think I’m a bit SOL on the “work in Taiwan” front, unfortunately. Thanks again!