As mentioned with @jimipresley, it is indeed the standard support for expats in the business but the salary doesn’t quite match because well, I’m technically v junior.
Having said that, any recommendations on where to live in Taipei as young professional? Vibrant, happening places where I can also live a good standard of living?
@jimipresley Woah and a pool? Please share the area hahah. A pool would be very welcome. Guessing it would be some way away from the city?
82.5k housing allowance is just bizarre when your base salary is 100k. If there’s no conditions attached (I’m not familiar with how housing allowances work), I’d rent a normal 15k/month place from someone I know and pay him 82.5k in monthly rent if he agrees to split most of it. Easy way to bump your salary by 50%. I’m not suggesting you do anything illegal, just read the fine print and see if it’s allowed. 15k gets you a respectable 1 bedroom apartment in most parts of the city, there’s some new constructions near Banqiao in that price range.
The business will be paying the agency directly, (limited in choice with agencies also).
I‘m assuming they have an agreement in place for the housing, though I care not to delve into why it’s so generous for a junior but i believe it’s their standard expat package. The seniors in the business are probably receiving much bigger housing allowances.
On the payment side I believe they take care of most of the housing stuff, I just provide them with a description of what I’m looking for/areas etc
I don’t think this is true.
It may depend on your standards but there’s plenty of options on 591, filter on 1 bedroom, 10-20k range: https://rent.591.com.tw/?kind=0®ion=3&rentprice=3&floor=0,0&pattern=1
Those aren’t likely apartments, but a room in a shared apartment if in Taipei City proper.
Everyone from overseas gets the same housing allowance, it just happens to be a bit odd considering your base.
You will get a pretty decent apartment with it though, i suggest you check around Da-an park. There are some newish apartment buildings surrounding it, get one of those.
Every company is different but housing allowances are typically calculated based on the cost of living in the area. If you’re relocating to HK you should get more than if you were going to Taipei.
You should definitely also ask for at least one flight home per year and all moving expenses.
Yeah be wary of tax implications, housing provided by employer is taxable. MIght take out a significant amount from the 100k salary.
Have a plan B
PTO?? Man you must live in a fantasy land.
In the minds of Taiwanese employers, you don’t get paid if you don’t work. And your lives belong to him so you have to be on call at all times.
Even if officially they provide PTO they’ll find all kinds of ways to not let you take them, and not pay you for them should you have unused PTO in the even you get terminated for any reason.
Welcome to Taiwan.
Like everyone said, this housing vs salary is quite absurd, but you’ve clearly confirmed with them. I could see how this housing allowance would be adequate for an expat family and they just keep the same number even for a single guy.
It is a shame and a waste that you can’t just get paid more. I’m not living in Taipei but I struggle to see how I would spend more than 60k for the swankiest bachelor pad. Congrats!
8 yo 15k studios in New Taipei and older parts of Taipei. If you want Shida or Xinyi, yeah, starts at 18k up. But there are plenty of options. No need to pay 25k off the rack.
However OP has a generous allowance, he can pick and choose. Problem is he is thinking like UK. I had a classmate who said she worked in UK commuting nearly two hours, no problem doing it here. She and a couple more foreigners moved into this huge, cheap house in Rose Garden City, you know, in the hills of Xindian, an hour away from the nearest MRT station. Then, Nari hit. Remember the gridlock? Not good times…for 3 to 6 months.
Sure you can live far from the city and drive but OP wants action, parties, eating out…living close to Zhongshan would be ideal. The hills of Xinyi behind the Medical University or Nangang or anywhere he needs to pay 400 NTD can after a night out is a no no.
I’d go when you can get direct MRT to work (or walk or bike). Main expat communities if you want a lot of other foreigners around are Xinyi/Da’an and Tianmu. I’d likely go with Xinyi. If you can go that high on rent, you may want to see what amenities they can include (gym, pool, parking space if you’ll have a car, etc.). Have a great time!
Jeez what jobs have you had in TW?
If the job falls under the LSA, that outlines the minimum number of PTO days per year, based on service time. Maybe it’s dumb luck or the exception proves the rule, but the place where I work does not fux with that.
I must, because ten days is what I get in the way of PTO every year. 
Yes. Taipei can change drastically from one neighborhood to the next in terms of “vibe.” I recommend living within walking distance (like, 5-10 min) of an MRT station in a busy area close to the city center like Xinyi or Da’an. The area around Zhongshan is worth considering, too.
My rationale for this is the closer you live to an MRT stop and fun places to eat, shop, and drink, the more inclined people will be to come visit you at your house as it’s both easy to get there and fun to hang out there. Although, if you’re making friends with similarly high earners, this may not matter as they’ll likely have their own forms of transportation. Plus, your apartment will probably be super nice, so I’m sure people will want to come over anyway.
Taipei unfortunately goes to bed pretty early for a biggish city but those areas I mentioned above stay “alive” about as long as anyplace does around here.
Where will your office be located? A short and easy commute is the key to happiness here, IMO.
Sounds like one way or the other some money will be made there by someone.
The numbeo price for a one bed in the city centre is 17,000 NT.
I think it’s seven in the first year (full year) ten days in the second year mandatory leave now .
Years ago you used to get no private leave in the first year. Every time you changed job you had no private leave . Tough times.
Multinationals (non-Taiwanese companies) in Taipei basically pay as follows:
Individual contributors: 40k - 60k
Manager: 100k - 150k
Senior Manager: 150k - 250k
Director: 300k+
There is a huge gap between individual contributors, which is often stacked with tons of local recent graduates, and management. Way bigger gap than in the US or UK. If they “make it” and get to manager level, they can make some serious money for Taiwan. That’s the attraction of going to work for a multinational if you’re a young Taiwanese professional.
Senior Manager/Director even more so, though few locals get those positions in MNCs, it’s usually expats or Taiwanese who have gone abroad to a good MBA program. I’ve never encountered a VP based in Taiwan in my industry but the pay would probably be same as the US, like Director level is. Anyway for VPs it’s mostly bonus.
So I’m not too surprised @Justanothernengineer got offered 100k, they probably slotted him in a management pay grade to get him over here, even if he won’t have anyone reporting to him. What seems weird is his housing allowance being almost as big as his salary. Put together, it’s a shockingly large amount if it’s a Taiwanese company, not so much for a multinational.