Can a foreigner sell things in a Night market?

What are the restrictions for selling goods/food in a night market? Do you need a work permit? You wouldn`t be working for anyone but yourself, so its very unclear if its legal work or not. You have to pay rent every night is all I know. But what about the legalities of setting up your own little stand?

Pretty clearly illegal if you ask me.

How about if you’re here totally legally (married to a Taiwanese person, for example)?

With the right permits, etc, it could be legal, couldn’t it?

If you are married to an ROC citizen there are a lot of things you can do that other foreigners can’t.

If it is illegal, how do you apply to make it legal? You don’t work for a company, or for anyone else for that matter, so how can you get a work permit?. I have an ARC already. But how could I work legally in this field as night markets are not illegally set up on the streets, the people working in them must need some sort of license or something.

See article 46 at…
law.moj.gov.tw/Eng/Fnews/FnewsCo … msgType=en

There are some recent discussions of related issues in the General Legal forum and even in the Work forum.

most good spots are run by mafia like organisations. so you might be (legally or not) selling stuff but in trouble if someone doesnt like you make money.

however i have seen foreigners selling food in night markets in both taichung and taipei.

Toe tag, so what does article 46 say in terms of understandable English…i can get past the legal babble.

And 5566 yea i’ve heard of the mafia related stuff, but no idea on where i want to go to, not sure if theey have presence there. I know alot of places they can only control the street curbs and illegal non-rent paying shops (ie the ones that fold up and run from the police) and also the severly handicapped beggars.

Foreigners are not allowed to work in Taiwan unless they have permission to do so from the government. If you do not have that permission, the work you are doing is illegal. It is not to my knowledge possible to get a work permit to sell things in a night market.

The only exception to the rule (for all intents and purposes) are those married to an ROC citizen who do not need to get a work permit to work.

Do you know who I could contact about it? I tried finding foreigners last weekend in the markets but the only one I met was married, so that didn’t help me much.

PARC holders and those married to citizens could do this in theory. You need a permit (even if you are Taiwanese) in most places and new ones are often only available to low-income households. This is a legal category, and you need to be truly destitute and alone in the world to qualify. You might also need to pay protection money to the mob. I’d suggest trying something else.

There is a market in these permits in Yong He. Around NT$30k a month I have heard.

IANAL, but AFAIK, it says you can only do the jobs listed in section 46.
(Unless you’re married to an ROC citizen). There was a long thread about
this last week, but for some reason its in the General Legal forum and not
the, um, WORK forum. There’s more fine print, on top of being limited
to section 46 jobs, you need specific permits for each of those. And if you
have a permit to teach at branch 12 of a buxiban chain and you get
caught subbing for 1 day at branch 17 they can deport you.

But aren’t there already “foreigners” selling things, namely food, in night markets–in Taipei, at least?

The Turkish ice cream in Tonghua night market, the kebabs in Shilin night market, the Indian food in that night market near Yanping North Road, and the rotis in Xindian/Bitan. All of these food stands are run or staffed by foreigners–or perhaps someone can correct me if these people have Taiwanese citizenship or Taiwanese significant others.

So, it is already being done, but I don’t know all the legalities of it. Perhaps the next time someone purchases a roti or a kebabs from one of these stands, then the vendors can be asked about this.

I talked to a Turkish guy who sells ice cream in Taizhong. He does very long hours but has fun entertaining the public by juggling the ice cream cones. As far as I remember he is neither married to an ROC citizen, nor self-employed. He is employed to sell ice cream and presumably has a work permit and ARC on that basis.

There used also to be a couple of Peruvian guys who sold silver ornaments on the street in Taibei and Gaoxiong. It was definitely illegal. They were vicious evil bastards so I hope they got deported.

My guess is that 90% of nightmarket stand holders do not have any kind of permit … they are so illegal you can’t imagine … who cares anyway … most foreigners that sell there are in the same boat probably, just hoping no one checks on them
Most nightmarkets are controlled by some people that rent private space or get permission from the local government, pay their dues and than collect from stand holders. So who cares who is selling what, as long as you pay your fees …

What about the deportation rules? Do they deport you immediately if you are caught? Do you get a warning? I haven’t heard any stories about people being deported except from government sites, which made it sound like they would about rip your head off and send it home in a box.

[quote=“sinepythgimeht”]What about the deportation rules? Do they deport you immediately if you are caught? Do you get a warning? I haven’t heard any stories about people being deported except from government sites, which made it sound like they would about rip your head off and send it home in a box.[/quote]Does that matter ? It’s illegal, don’t do it.

They first eat your food and than throw you on a plane …

If you are married you can have a night market stand

If it is less then 4 pings you do not need a business license

If you can work it out through MOEA and have a proper stand and Speak/read chinese or use an accoutant you can have a night market stand. It will be more expensive.

If you don’t really care and want to take a chance you can have a night market stand, though you could be deported. The Roti dealer in Bitan has had the cops take him home to see his ARC and they have asked to see it in the past.

Mafia are often not involved. Though your neighbors may be difficult to deal with and possibly very ignorant.

The hardest part is actually finding a good spot.

Good Luck,
Night market master Okami