Rule of Law? (2017)

Bit heavy handed this. There are hundreds of foreigners working free-lance in Taipei doing editing/writing/translating etc. Its technically illegal, no one has ever been fined or deported for it and there is even a NTD 180,000 annual tax exemption for the work.

I’m not questioning your worldliness, Mr. Bear, but we’ve been through this before.

Employment Service Act
http://law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?PCode=N0090001

Article 43
Unless otherwise specified in the Act, no foreign worker may engage in work within the Republic of China should his/her employer have not yet obtained a permit via application therefore.

Article 68
Anyone that violates Article 9, paragraph 1 of Article 33, Article 41, Article 43, Article 56, Subparagraph 3 or 4 of Article 57, or Article 61 shall be fined therefore an amount of at least NT$ 30,000 and at most NT$ 150,000.

Anyone that violates Subparagraph 6 of Article 57 shall
be fined therefore an amount of at least NT$ 20,000 and at most NT$ 100,000 per national worker so dismissed or laid off.

Any foreign worker who violates Article 43 shall be immediately ordered to depart from the Republic of China and banned from further engaging in work in the said territory.

Where a foreign worker has violated the provisions of Article 43 or where any of circumstances as referred to in Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 74 has arisen or existed, but such foreign worker fails to depart as ordered by the competent authority from the Republic of China by the end of the specified period, the entry and exit administrative authority may enforce such departure and may provide therefore provisional shelter prior to deportation.

You are correct about the tax exemption. :slight_smile:

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It’s also an act of sedition to display a PRC flag in public. These are just words on paper.
(actually I have no idea if its still an act of sedition, just seemed a cool form of rebuttal). But yeah, we’ve been through this before. My point is this law has never been enforced against a digital nomad. It is very much enforced against kindy teachers. There’s plenty of laws on the books here selectively enforced, its not necessary for Forumosa as a forum to tut tut every time someone suggests ignoring one. This is the tax forum, the question is what tax laws are enforced against foreigners.

No meerkat on this island has ever been eaten (afaik), ergo none ever will be.


What we try to do here is to point out useful information about the law, not to advise people not to follow it because some, or even many, people have been getting away with a particular violation so far.

I always wonder what people who like Chinese culture but dislike the rule of law are doing in Taiwan when the mainland is so close by. :idunno:

Yeah but, nah but…“rule of law” is all very well but in a society where selective enforcement is the norm its pedantic to just quote chapter and verse and then say we don’t like to discuss legal niceties. Every society in the universe has laws on the books that are not enforced. The point of a legal forum is to openly discuss how to distinguish the enforced laws from the unenforced ones. Are you saying that all free-lancers should move to China simply because there is a law on the books that says you must have a work permit in order to receive payment for services rendered in Taiwan?

You know of course that every foreigner who volunteers at the animal refuge centers, every foreigner who sings a song at Daniel Pearl or the Urban Nomad gigs is in flagrant disregard of the terms of their work permit?

Meercats my arse.

It’s not a question of payment but of work, as your mention of volunteering illustrates. Speaking of which, you missed the announcement a year or two ago? Some kinds of volunteer work are now permitted for some kinds of foreigners other than spouses and PR’s.

Appreciating the rule of law doesn’t mean I’m blind to its faults. I firmly believe the work permit situation in Taiwan is stupid, like many other things.

How best to deal with that?

  1. Break the law and talk openly about it (yes this forum is in the open :eye:), saying everything’s fine. If a xenophobe reads it, it supports the theory that Barbarians don’t respect the law and so on. If a more relaxed person reads it, it supports the theory that the status quo is good enough.

  2. Talk about how stupid the situation is and how smart the government would be if it took action. This is the approach I favor, even though it’s depressingly slow and perhaps futile. But people have been talking about stupid laws for a long time (not just here of course), and now and then the government does make a relatively smart move.

Exactly what I would propose to improve the work permit system is for another discussion.

As for the meerkat analogy (Life of Pi in case anyone is confused), if I told you the story of a foolish foreigner who was going to sue his employer but backed off when the employer blackmailed him about his side gig, would you still say it doesn’t matter because he didn’t get eaten in the end? Or another foolish foreigner who was going to testify in someone else’s labor lawsuit but didn’t when he realized it would have meant admitting he (and the employer) had violated the ESA?

Hopefully the government will develop a more reasonable system and not let decent people fall into situations like the above hypothetical scenarios.

Even so, having seen how things are in several countries and regions over the years, I prefer to do business etc. in a society where I know I have recourse to the law in case things go wrong.

It depends. If you’re a resident who is protesting the fourth nuclear power plant, then obviously you’re violating your visa purposes and must be deported. However, if you’re just stopping by on a tourist visa to engage in hate speech and arguing against equal rights for a minority, then please come this way, Ms. Faust, so we can escort you to address the Legislature. Oh, and here’s your fake white doctor coat to make people believe you have any kind of medical training. Have a nice day!