Oops, I think I have found the info I need from this page http://english.doe.gov.taipei/News_Content.aspx?n=E976AEB9B32E695D&sms=5B794C46F3CDE718&s=86CD0B5D82AB4962
Children with foreign nationality should be registered in Taipei City (a valid passport and an Alien Residence Permit are required) and at least 5 years old by Sept. 1st in the year of application.
Minimum age is different depending which places you’re considering. Most public ones start at 3 yrs I believe, but sometimes the younger ages aren’t represented because the older kids get first priority.
Even the “public” ones aren’t the same as you’d find in the US (not sure about other countries). In the US, kindy is just another grade in primary school, but here primary school starts at 1st grade and all kindys are considered a separate entity, although the public ones are hosted on the grounds of a primary school campus, and because they are subsidized by the govt, the costs are lower than a private school.
For timing, I think you might just be in time to register. If memory serves, it is the beginning of May.
If yours is younger that 5, the later part would be applied.
“Second phase: after the first phase if there are still vacancies, children at least 4 years old can be enrolled without school district limitation (5 year-old children have the priority in the order of registration). In case the number of applicants is over the maximum capacity of the school, an admission draw will be held.”
This is a Chinese document on taipei city kinder enrollment.
臺北市107學年度公立幼兒園招生公告
https://www-ws.gov.taipei/Download.ashx?u=LzAwMS9VcGxvYWQvMzQyL3JlbGZpbGUvMTAxNzMvNzYzOTc2Ny8yZTFmMWY0Yi05MzFjLTQwODItYTYwOC05ZWEwMDc4MmFkNDYucGRm&n=MTA3MDMxOSDoh7rljJfluIIxMDflrbjlubTluqblhaznq4vlubzlhZLlnJLmi5vnlJ%2FlhazlkYoo5YWs5ZGK54mIKS5wZGY%3D&icon=.pdf
The above link seems not working. Please do google search by “臺北市107學年度公立幼兒園招生公告” to check it.
mine is still 3 yo by Sept 1st of this year, should I give it a try or just wait until next year?
I’d go talk with someone at the kindy and see what they think. Some kindys are so popular or located in highly populated spots so unless your kid is 5, they basically aren’t getting in. Others have so much empty space that lots of younger kids have a good chance to get in. But be warned that all they can do is give you a guesstimate about the chances that your kid would have a spot. If they get some surge in older kids enrolling, they will get first priority.
Your kid’s category is normal 3 yr old, so the last one on their priority list. After the first phase on May 25, you can confirm whether there remains any spot.
The date of the 2nd phase is May 27. You should register to a kinder you want to enroll your kid between 8:30am and 1:00pm, then if necessary, they will do lottery at 2:00pm.
(四)第 2 階段
1.日期：107 年 5 月 27 日（星期日）
2.時間：
(1)登記：上午 8 時 30 分至下午 1 時止
(2)抽籤：下午 2 時整
(3)報到：抽籤完畢後隨即辦理至下午 4 時止
I’m afraid his kid is in fact in the 2yo category. If I remember correctly, the cutting age is checked in last day of August.
There are even parents who choose to have the baby being born earlier, so to avoid having their education being delayed by one year…
There are some kindys that take 2yo, but definitely not many.
I’ve never heard of any public kindys taking 2yr olds. Are there some that accept that age? Even for private kindys, it can be hard to find one that starts at 2 that isn’t a nursery, but they are around.
Fyi
You can check here which public kinders have 2yo classes (2 歲專班).
臺北市107 學年度公立幼兒園普通班（招生班級數）一覽表
pdf file from the following site
thanks for your info guys, really appreciate it. 
Thanks for all the great info here. Apologies if I am asking questions that have already been answered, I read through the thread quickly very early this morning and now my memory is fuzzy as I try to type some followup questions.
My main question is regarding my older son, who should be starting 1st grade in Sept 2022. I will have a gold card and we are planning to move in Aug 2022. Is it possible for us to get him enrolled in a school during this upcoming Spring enrollment period or will we have to do it in person? I have an aunt who lives in Xinyi who can help us with any necessary paperwork, and even lend us her address (we could conceivably live with her although the plan is to get our own place) but in her initial questioning with friends she thinks we must relocate to Taipei and register an official address before we can enroll in school. Is there any way around this? Otherwise, would you suggest we come for a visit in April/May to take care of this stuff first or could we roll the dice and show up August 1st and have enough time to sort out school?
Other thoughts/concerns are that it would be nice if my son can attend a CSL program, but that’s not a necessity. Definitely planning to live in Xinyi or Da’an so hoping for a school in those areas. Thank you!
I don’t really know. The best bet is to get your aunt to talk directly to the school and explain the situation and ask them for their advice/regulations. I feel like after Covid a whole bunch of people had come to Taiwan so the rules/methods are probably clearer now than they were a few years ago.
A few more thoughts:
-If you don’t care on school, then you are probably in good shape working out address and enrollment.
-The schools with CSL may be a good place to start, but I think even there you are not guaranteed permanent enrollment (after, I think I remember, 2 years, you’d go to the school in your district).
-It may be you could use your Aunt’s address for your ARC and then when the school is finalized look by an apartment near the school and in the same district. (For instance, our problem was that we really wanted to be by the school-across-the-street and the Education Department was going to put us at one a 20 minute walk away.)
I remember going there in person and making copies of our ARC cards, passports, rental agreement. Should have your Aunt meet the school and talk about it. See how far she gets.
Depending on that maybe you should visit in April/May.
Just to clarify here, you’re saying the concern is that after 2 years he might have to change schools? (I did read that the CSL enrollment only lasts 2 years). If this is what you’re saying then it’s not much of an issue for us cause we very possibly will not stay in Taipei after 2 years, and certainly moving to a new district/school would be totally fine.
Thanks to both of you, so I think we’ll try for the Xinsheng CLP and have my aunt find out what we need to do for that specifically. Then possibly make an alternate decision once we understand the roadblocks. Sending her on a mission to find “any decent school” is way too broad lol.
Edit: I forgot recently reading that Gold Card without an employer-contract is not sufficient for Xinsheng. Well I’ll still bark up that tree and we’ll see what happens.
Still thinking/hoping we can wait til end of July 2022 to move to Taiwan and have enough time to enroll our 6 yo in 1st grade for the fall.
Officially it sounds like he’ll need his ARC to be able to register, so I was wondering how long the process was to get his ARC after we arrive on dependent visas. Is it a fast turnaround?
about 2 weeks.
I was the main ARC holder and rest of my family were dependent, I submitted all the documents together and got it all back within 2 weeks.