In September of 2014, I plan to move from Canada to Taipei with my wife, who is a Taiwanese citizen. I’ve been looking online to see what sort of chemistry-related jobs are available, and so far the search isn’t going too well. I do think I’ve got a pretty solid resume. In August I will graduate with a MSc in Chemistry, I’ve got a handful of original research publications in good journals, I’ve won several academic awards including one at an international conference (research awards, not something irrelevant such as an award for getting an A+ in school), and I’ve got several years of research experience involving various aspects of analytical chemistry (vibrational spectroscopy, SEM, nanotechnology, electrochemistry and biochemical detection). On top of that, I work well with others and I’ve got good life experience, such as having visited over 20 countries around the world, and that I can speak English, French, and Spanish fluently, pretty good Italian, along with German and Portuguese to a limited extent (Mandarin is still a work in progress… 
). I think I would be a competitive candidate for a chemistry-related job in Canada, either a research job or one that could involve international business, but I can’t seem to find much online in Taiwan. Everything advertised seems to be about either teaching English, computer programming, or semiconductors. The “good” chemistry jobs seem to be only faculty positions at universities, which of course require a PhD. I have a suspicion (but no facts to necessarily back it up) that entry level / low-pay routine lab work jobs may not be advertised online in English, because it wouldn’t be overly common for a foreigner to be searching for this sort of work in Taiwan. Can anyone point me in the right direction / give suggestions about where I can find an appropriate job in Taiwan? Any help is much appreciated! 
You’re also going to be very unpleasantly surprised by the wages you’ll get in an entry level chemist job.
Good luck!
Have you considered going into the textile industry? Plenty of chemistry going on there. For Taiwanese wages of course.
Eclat is the big textile player here in Taiwan. Maybe check them out.
Surely your best bet would be some kind of Sales/Marketing/Sales Engineer position for a Taiwanese chemical company. Usually Taiwanese companies are looking for people with science backgrounds who can speak English and actually have some level of communication skills.
I agree. You’re not going to get a job in the engineering side, and you wouldn’t want to. Engineers are treated like shit, and paid accordingly. That’s why everybody here wants to be a “manager”.
In Taiwan, your marketable skill is that you’re multilingual, not that you’re a scientist. Look for the companies that do business abroad and approach them directly. I recommend setting up a consultancy business here in Taiwan; that gives you a reason to approach them (you’re proposing a business-to-business arrangement). Employees generally don’t cold-call potential employers, and you wouldn’t want to be an employee here anyway.
With your background, I suppose you could start with the semiconductor fabs (TSMC and UMC), although I suspect they’re pretty well-staffed already.
There are quite a few companies working in the biosensor field i.e. glucose and other analyte testing. They certainly have a need for good chemists, the work may be quite interesting, but as per above, the pay will not be good.
I’ve worked in labs here, but they don’t wont give you a good academic position without the PhD, even then you wouldn’t get paid well compared to overseas either.
If you are interested in true innovation, Taiwan is not the place to come to. You will not be working on anything really cutting edge here, even if you propose it, they will not go for it because they are actually very conservative and risk averse. Taiwan is good at taking an existing product or process and improving on it in terms of efficiency or cost. For instance in the biosensor field , they have done well in mass production by continually shrinking the electrodes and reducing the reagent cost per test. They haven’t actually invented any new chemistry though.
Your wife is Taiwanese which gives you a really nice type of visa which means you could, if interested, start up your own company. Taiwan is ripe with sourcing advantages, especially for exporting to your home. I am not into chemistry one bit, but more into biology and i make money from that on my own because like you i have that nice visa which permits more freedoms than most others.
You could be a slave in a company or work for the tattooed men in a shack behind a place for a thing, at a given time. Taiwan has a lot of people graduating form science backgrounds, so unless you are special, it may be disappointing for reasons mentioned above. but if you are outgoing, smart, polite and eager, Taiwan is your oyster.
I saw a show about cooking meth, you might want to think about it…
What you saw wasn’t a show, was the GREATEST show ever 
(Yeah, I love Breaking Bad, and for several reasons )
I hate to burst your bubble tea, but the other posters are right. The job market for chemists worldwide is terrible. In the US, the average typical salary for a chemist is in the $30-$45k range. Go to Indeed.com and search the Taiwan job postings. Go to Glassdoor.com and search the Taiwan salaries (they’re puny in comparison to Canadian standards).
As a recent graduate, your resume won’t have the necessary job experience to line up a decent job in Taiwan. Companies won’t care about your publications; they care more about how you can make them a profit. You’ll also be discriminated against due to a language barrier. I’d strongly consider landing a written job offer before moving here. Job pay is low and property prices are absolutely enormous.